Had a crash this morning

[ColinJ]

Another possibility - oily filth on the braking surfaces of the wheel rims?

Here's what the wet wipes looked like after I cleaned the rims after nearly shooting out onto an A-road at the foot of a steep, wet descent!

View attachment 451312

My brakes hardly worked at all until I cleaned the rims, but after cleaning they were great.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I'd simply put it down to experience (Which unfortunately comes after you need it), learn from it and forget about it.

We all got it wrong in the early days.

 

[DCBassman]

I will say this about dual-pivot caliper brakes. I've so far owned two sets, the no-names that were on the Scott when I got it, and a set of vintage 105s just recently installed. With drop-bar brifters, they were awful. Cleaned the rims REALLY well, slight improvement. Changed back to flat bars and appropriately-set levers. Huge improvement. Install Koolstop Salmons. Even bigger improvement. The 105s *might* have improved it a little more, but I doubt it. Basically, the new blocks on clean rims with decent levers mean I have stopping power that feels equivalent to the V-brakes on my mtb, and they are good.
This, more than anything else, has decided me against ever returning to drops, because I doubt that any drop levers are hugely better than the ones I had (Sora).
Whatever, the stopping power I now have has increased my confidence on the bike.

 

[Globalti]

Simple answer it to get a bike with disc brakes.

 

[G3CWI]

Did you get a pb?

 

[Grant Fondo]

Bit wet on the roads but you know that feeling when you are descending and you pull the brake levers and nothing happens....!

I had no control and that feeling when you are hurtling down a hill getting quicker on each turn is bloody frightening!! I almost lost it on several turns it was that fast, eventually ending at a T junction going straight over and head on into someones garden wall, bruised and battered but was able to get it together and complete the ride.

Unreal, not sure if any unseen damage has occurred with the bike. Bar tape all ripped off....but that’s seems to be it, was a bit lucky to escape with a cut arm and leg. Wowsers.

Glad you are ok! Set of these longer drop Tekros on Amazon are £30. Not the last word in quality, but with cleaned up rims should do the job

 

[DCBassman]

Simple answer it to get a bike with disc brakes.

In most circumstances, there's no point. I could not stop any quicker with them than I already do. However, if I were an all-weather commuter, for example, then definitely.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Simple answer it to get a bike with disc brakes.

Absolutely not.

Poorly maintained disc brakes are every bit as dangerous as poorly maintained rim brakes.

Properly adjusted rim brakes will easily lock up the wheels in the wet. I cycle all winter on a commute with hills and have literally never had a problem with braking power. Road traction - yes. Discs do not help with that.

The simple answer is to learn how to maintain your brakes, whatever system they are.

 

[si_c]

As @roubaixtuesday says properly adjusted rim brakes should stop a bike - even in the wet - without difficulty. It might take a little longer than disc brakes under some circumstances, but stop it will.

From my own experience, 20mph to zero in the dry should be under 5m. I'm thinking that the brakes are improperly adjusted and possibly the pads are old and have become hardened and no longer abrading against the rim properly. I bought a bike last year second hand which had sat in a shed for 18months it braked OK in the dry but was pretty terrible in the wet and buying new pads made a huge difference.

@plastic_cylclist it would be useful for us to see a picture of the front brake as it's currently setup from the front and also from above so we can see the pads and the arm positions. This should eliminate a lot of the speculation above about setup.

The good news is that a new set of pads and setting up the brakes properly shouldn't cost you more than about £15 if you do it yourself.

 

[plastic_cyclist]

 

[midlife]

Is it me or is the brake block missing the rim braking surface?

 

[Grant Fondo]

Glad you are ok! Set of these longer drop Tekros on Amazon are £30. Not the last word in quality, but with cleaned up rims should do the job
View attachment 532902

Sorry, erroneous post meant for Rubbing Brakes post, doh

 

[plastic_cyclist]

Maybe this is the problem!!

I do agree to a certain extent with the LFC guy, I had been having issues and I wasn’t 100% but still I didn’t bother to go over them in great detail, just a tweak....and then took on a fairly slopey road....so yes I need to sharpen up, it’s not going to put me off for sure. I love it and doing it in Perthsogre

Also, I would disagree with his assumptions on being a lockdown cyclist. I was a runner but foot injuries forced me onto the pedals and coincidentally this happened as lockdown started (actually my mate suggested we do a Dualathlon which we both signed up for in Jan) so I had to get a bike!

I’m not one of the full families that rocked up to Halfords and ordered the cheapest bikes for all family members. I like to think I did it properly, hence one of the reasons I signed up to this forum - I’ve gathered so much info on my way to being a noob.

 

[plastic_cyclist]

Is it me or is the brake block missing the rim braking surface?

YES ! When I looked after the event I noticed this didn’t look to be hitting the correct part of the rim.

 

[fossyant]

View attachment 532910

Very badly adjusted brakes. The blocks arent on the braking surface. You were trying to stop on the stickers. No wonder you crashed. Get them fixed.