In this article, we’ll be discussing a Hydraulic-Type Time-Difference Brake Apparatus by Ginda New-Tech, US patent 11,136,091. The publication date is Oct 5th, 2021 and the filing date is Aug 3rd, 2016 (PCT). This patent is granted.
Brief Summary (tl;dr)
Ginda New-Tech have developed a hydraulic braking system, where a single lever can control both the front and rear brakes. This system uses what they’re calling ‘time-difference’ mechanism, which allows the rear brake to be applied prior to the front brake using a simple slotted piston rod for the front brake cylinder. Additionally, the system is set up to provide a larger braking force to the front brake compared to the rear brake due to the fact that the front brake pivot is further away from the lever pivot compared to the rear brake pivot. Very simple idea, love it.
Background
Europe and the US aren’t the only places on earth where biking is a hobby, yet that’s where the primary focus is. See Enduro World Series or World Cups. In fact, bikes can be a primary source of transportation in many parts of the world, including the far east. There seem to have impassioned people that want to create and invent products to improve the bike, that wouldn’t normally be associated with Western products. I actually see a lot of them come through the USPTO.
From what I can find, Ginda is a small manufacturer (maybe just the one guy) out of Taiwan. So small, in fact, that the offices building is a shipping container. Here’s a quote from their Instagram:
After these months of hard work, GINDA’s Secret Base-Single Garage📣 It was finally born🎉
Ginda’s claim to fame is a previous patent and product for what they call the Double CBS system (combined braking system), seen below. As you can see, it’s a cable-type system. In short, it offers the ability to sequentially apply both the rear and front brakes with a single lever.
Here’s a little more information about them.
GINDA NEW-TECH CO., LTD is a company founded by the founder Chang Jui-Lung in 2014 in order to promote bicycle safety brake system. Mr. Chang Jui-Lung is a physics teacher at St. Dominic Catholic High School in Kaohsiung in Taiwan. Hearing the feedback from colleagues, he analyzed the accident of the bicycle rollover with a purely physical structure, and calculated the safest braking method. In order to achieve the best braking efficiency, Mr. Chang spent six years developing a variety of methods to automatically generate the braking time lag and the distribution of the braking force, and eventually invented a brake system with the safest braking technique and the shortest braking distance.
Intended Novelty
The intended novelty is the use of a lever and two pump mechanisms (cylinders) to apply a braking force to the rear wheel, then the front wheel, using only one mechanism. The front wheel brake applies a larger braking force compared to the rear wheel brake, and front braking occurs after the rear wheel brake is applied. Pretty specific.
Why
Basically, Ginda is saying the fact that the lines are longer to the rear brake, compared to the front brake, the ‘the starting time of the rear wheel brake will be slower than the starting time of the front wheel brake’. Therefore, there is a difference in braking times and forces, which can lead to crashes if you don’t now how to actually brake.
Ginda make it pretty clear that this idea can also be used for a motorcycle or E-bike.
What
This new system is similar to the already-available Double CBS system, but with hydraulics rather than cables. It seems as though Ginda believe in this idea and are moving onto another iteration.
So, the part of the title that we should be focusing on is the ‘time-difference’ part. What does that even mean? FIG. 1 shows the lever system with the time-difference method, which is just a slot in the driving rod 11. That slot in the rod will delay the front brake from being applied. Simple and elegant.
We know that grabbing the front brake only is a recipe for disaster. As a result, Ginda wants the rear brake to always be applied before the front brake. Shown in FIG. 2, as you depress the lever, the rod 10 will actuate the cylinder to the rear brake 50 because it’s fixed, but not the front brake 51 due to the slot.
If you’ve ever ridden any bike, or literally anything that has brakes, you’ll know the majority of braking effectiveness is a result of the front brake due to, in part or in whole, the mass shift of the whole bike system (rider and bike). So, Ginda wants the front braking forces to be higher than the rear braking forces.
FIG. 4 below shows the brake at full compression. It’s a pretty simple lesson in geometry. The lever arm from the brake lever pivot 141 to the rear brake pivot 100 is shorter than the lever arm length to the front brake pivot 111. As a result, the throw applied to the front brake will be larger than the rear, given the same lever distance. The additional throw should depress the pads further, but it would also be a little harder to pull the lever. That’s it, nothing extraordinary, just geometry.
FIG. 5 shows what is probably going to be the final product, based on what the other DBCS looks like. In this configuration, both brakes can be actuated with either lever at any given time, but only one is needed to actually stop the bike.
Conclusion
Before you comment “iF yOu NeEd ThIs, yOu SHoUlDn’T bE BikIng”, this is probably for those that don’t hit those sweet 2” drops like you do. This is for the commuter or novice.
I absolutely love this, so much. Not just because it’s a cool little idea with a clever and simple design, but because this physics teacher runs Ginda out of a shipping container, inventing shit, getting patents granted, and following through to production. That’s some real shit. Small-time inventing is still alive; you just have to look for it.
Anyway, I know this isn’t the usual box-office smash hit that we all love to hate, but I have to respect the simplicity, ingenuity, and grind that it takes to do something like this, for any small inventor – especially being overseas and getting this granted in the US. Good on him.
Edit: I got a comment on my IG from u/thebreakfastbandit that I didn’t even think of, but I want to include it. He says this would be great for the adaptive rider that may not be able to use two hands. I totally agree.
If you’re a larger manufacturer with a similar idea, maybe consider licensing or buying from Ginda.
http://www.ginda-tfs.com/ (watch the video, it’s great)
I was always told to apply the front brake slightly before the back (on a motorbike). The internet confirms it…”Apply the front brake slightly earlier than the rear and apply greater pressure to the front brake.” Also on any bike you need control of both brakes independently. If motorbikes don’t have ABS they now have to have linked brakes where half the front power comes on with the rear brake and then you have additional front power. This works OK but the idea above is an answer to a problem which doesn’t exist. I enjoy your technological posts. They get me thinking but quite a few, whilst not such great ideas, are still a good read.
Andrew.
I’ve always succumb to the “back brake for control, front brake to stop”. I rarely ever hit the front unless I need to actually decelerate. Appreciate you reading
I am working on something very similar for a school project, and your website has been a great help to find patents such as this and the SRAM anti-nose over device. It’s also just a great morning read.
I had considered a design with a similar philosophy as this, however, I think it would need to be designed with some sort of adjustment between the piston rods and lever. I’m not sure if this has already been accounted for but if you have a mismatch of pad thicknesses between front and rear you could have a case where the rear wheel is locked yet the front brake hasn’t started braking yet (or vice versa?). Also if one line is properly bled but the other is not, this could also create issues?
Stacking the pistons vertically like hope does (https://bikerumor.com/2019/11/25/hope-tech-3-duo-lever-pulls-2-hydraulic-brakes-with-1-hand-tech-3-x2-uno-does-too/), then placing a reaction bar between the pistons like a 125cc kart brake set up might alleviate this issue?
Already worked on that kind of brakes, using reaction bar between the lever and the pistons. It worked quite well, and solves the issues of pad thickness difference between front and bake, and also solve the issue of non identical bleeding. The main issue I had was material wear of the reaction bar : to make everything in an acceptable volume for an hydraulic bike brake, everything needs to be super small, thus super fragile…
Thank you for the information Maxime, your insight into the reaction bar type braking device is very helpful.