Bicycling is an increasingly popular form of recreation and a means of transportation and has become a popular competitive sport for both amateurs and professionals. Whether a bicycle is designed for use in recreation, transportation or competition, making of improvements to the various components of bicycles designed for these activities continues to be a focus of many in this field.
One component of bicycles that has been extensively redesigned is the bicycle brake assembly. Consequently, there are many different designs, configurations and elements of bicycle brake assemblies known in the art. For example, in recent years, braking systems have been designed for use with bicycles that include braking discs mounted to one of the wheels of the bicycle in combination with actuated brake caliper assemblies (see, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,188). Such brake caliper assemblies typically include elements such as hydraulically operated pistons that can for example, engage a pair of braking pads that in turn selectively contact a braking disc.
Other illustrative bicycle brake assemblies that are known in the art include for example, those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,521, which discloses a bicycle caliper brake assembly having a first caliper having a connecting portion provided with a boss rotatably and axially movably receiving a rotary member. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,973 discloses a brake pad holder designed for adjustably mounting a bicycle brake pad to a brake caliper arm. In this assembly, the brake pad holder is designed to maintain the mounting arm thereof in an orthogonal orientation with respect to the brake caliper arm, while the brake pad holder is adjustable. U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,008 discloses a parallel-push brake assembly for bicycles that provides substantially translational motion of the brake pad using a mechanism that is relatively free of tolerance build-up or slop. U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,056 discloses a brake apparatus for a bicycle capable of applying a higher braking force on the front wheel and a lower braking force on the rear wheel given the same force exerted on the levers controlling the front brake and the rear brake so to prevent early locking of the rear wheel of the bicycle during braking while leaving the cyclist the possibility to separately control the front brake and the rear brake. U.S. Pat. No. 7,353,918 discloses a brake assembly for a bicycle composed of an arrangement of a pair of brake pads each connected to a rod member in turn guided for axial movement by a base fixed on the bicycle frame.
While a variety of bicycle brake assemblies are known in the art, there exists a need for an improved brake assemblies, ones that for example allow for an optimized distribution of the forces associated with the operation of the assembly as well as ones that are easier to use and/or adjust than existing brake assemblies. Embodiments of the invention disclosed herein address this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent from the following disclosure.
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