Is it brake caliper sabotage?

[am_as_do]

A couple weeks ago my front brake calipers went from fine to no braking power at all. It happened “spontaneously”. I took a ride; all was well. Twenty hours later I took another ride, and they had lost all effectiveness. Scary. I used the rear brake to stop and I had a look. The front calipers had abruptly become WAY loose.

Alright, for the next couple weeks I rode with just the back brake. (Traffic is minimal, but, yes, I was foolish.) Today I nearly bought the farm. I blew through a stop sign, because back brake function dropped off a cliff. I squeezed all the way to the handlebars to get any braking power at all. It was way too little, too late, and a car was bearing down on me. Driver slammed on their brakes and I slipped through

Here’s my question: could all this happen on a 6-month-old bike innocently? Thing is, my ex is a revenge-obsessed psycho. He’s also an accomplished cyclist and a good mechanic. He’s seen me out on my bike and knows I’m riding a lot. I live in a small town and I have no garage, so sometimes I store my bike on the driveway. (There will be no more of that.) Would he be willing to get me killed? Yes. But is this situation necessarily sabotage? What else could it be?

 

[Webbo2]

Given you didn’t try to fix the front brake after the first incident. It’s more likely the lack of maintenance causing the problems.

 

[Exlaser2]

Why would anyone ride with only a back brake only ? It’s silly and dangerous.
Why didn’t you check your brakes out ? Or if you don’t have the skills and knowledge, you take it to your local bike shop for them to look at .
All bike need some maintenance.

 

[Drago]

Another advert for pre-ride checks,

 

[Ajax Bay]

May I suggest that before you mount you conduct a cursory brake check and after mounting do the same on the flat at slow speed.
You don't say whether these are disc or rim brakes, and whether, if the former, hydraulic or mechanical.
As @Drago doesn't say: pre-flight checks mitigate the risk of a 'hard landing'.

 

[C R]

A couple weeks ago my front brake calipers went from fine to no braking power at all. It happened “spontaneously”. I took a ride; all was well. Twenty hours later I took another ride, and they had lost all effectiveness. Scary. I used the rear brake to stop and I had a look. The front calipers had abruptly become WAY loose.

Alright, for the next couple weeks I rode with just the back brake. (Traffic is minimal, but, yes, I was foolish.) Today I nearly bought the farm. I blew through a stop sign, because back brake function dropped off a cliff. I squeezed all the way to the handlebars to get any braking power at all. It was way too little, too late, and a car was bearing down on me. Driver slammed on their brakes and I slipped through

Here’s my question: could all this happen on a 6-month-old bike innocently? Thing is, my ex is a revenge-obsessed psycho. He’s also an accomplished cyclist and a good mechanic. He’s seen me out on my bike and knows I’m riding a lot. I live in a small town and I have no garage, so sometimes I store my bike on the driveway. (There will be no more of that.) Would he be willing to get me killed? Yes. But is this situation necessarily sabotage? What else could it be?

With the details shared here we can't really diagnose. What kind of brakes are we talking about? Rim, disc, mechanical, hydraulic? Photos of the set up would help. There are many ways that what you described could happen. Sabotage is one of the least likely.

 

[C R]

May I suggest that before you mount you conduct a cursory brake check and after mounting do the same on the flat at slow speed.
You don't say whether these are disc or rim brakes, and whether, if the former, hydraulic or mechanical.
As @Drago doesn't say: pre-flight checks mitigate the risk of a 'hard landing'.

Snap.

 

[Punkawallah]

“Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity”.

 

[am_as_do]

EDIT: My brakes are mechanical, rim. Bike is six months old, ridden circa 5x weekly.

A couple weeks ago my front brake calipers went from fine to no braking power at all. It happened “spontaneously”. I took a ride; all was well. Twenty hours later I took another ride, and they had lost all effectiveness. Scary. I used the rear brake to stop and I had a look. The front calipers had abruptly become WAY loose.

Alright, for the next couple weeks I rode with just the back brake. (Traffic is minimal, but, yes, I was foolish.) Today I nearly bought the farm. I blew through a stop sign, because back brake function dropped off a cliff. I squeezed all the way to the handlebars to get any braking power at all. It was way too little, too late, and a car was bearing down on me. Driver slammed on their brakes and I slipped through

Here’s my question: could all this happen on a 6-month-old bike innocently? Thing is, my ex is a revenge-obsessed psycho. He’s also an accomplished cyclist and a good mechanic. He’s seen me out on my bike and knows I’m riding a lot. I live in a small town and I have no garage, so sometimes I store my bike on the driveway. (There will be no more of that.) Would he be willing to get me killed? Yes. But is this situation necessarily sabotage? What else could it be?

 

[am_as_do]

With the details shared here we can't really diagnose. What kind of brakes are we talking about? Rim, disc, mechanical, hydraulic? Photos of the set up would help. There are many ways that what you described could happen. Sabotage is one of the least likely.

Mechanical, rim.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

This reads like a wind up.

 

[fossyant]

What sort of brakes, disk (hydraulic or cable) or rim brakes. Both easy to check, Always give your brakes a pull before you set off.

What's come loose ? Back brakes won't stop you. You could also have oil contamination if hydraulic and aren't aware of those issues.

 

[ianrauk]

This reads like a wind up.

Indeed. I will be very surprised if we'll hear from them again.

 

[fossyant]

I did say to my wife if she wanted rid of me, push me down a big hill with no brakes !

 

[lenfield]

This reads like a wind up.

We've had one like it before. They claimed that somebody was trying to kill them by sabotaging their derailleur!