Oh c**p! No brakes.

[Donger]

Anyone got any tales of close shaves due to brake failure? My scariest ever moment was when riding down a really steep main road through Great Malvern. Started off OK, but rapidly became clear that I was too heavy to stop. My fingers were white through gripping the levers so hard, but I just kept getting faster and faster. Dropped down through Malvern like a meteorite - brakes squealing even more than I was. Never been so grateful to see a green traffic light, cos I'd never have been able to stop if it had been red. I almost hyperventilate just to think of it.

 

[buggi]

i once got on my road bike after being on my cross bike for a while. Going down a hill, towards a roundabout, applied the breaks.... NOTHING. Well... It wasn't there was nothing, its just i forgot how crap brakes are on a road bike and that i should have braked earlier. Ended up a wheel length out on a busy RAB and a skid mark in my pants!!! Must be terrifying to lose your brakes altogether.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Lesson in learning just how important the front brake is when I snapped mine years back on a MTB in the lakes, lots of skidding later I got it fixed as you cant really negotiate downhills in a permanent skiddy lol

 

[Cycling Dan]

Go back to basics like BMXers. Put a foot on the front wheel

 

[jack smith]

my disk brakes failed on my cheapo mtb lastyear going down a very steep windy back road, i must have resembled someone off moto gp taking corners with my knee down, i ended up trying to slow down by going into some grass on the verge but flipped it, totally unhurt and i laugh at it now but it was terrifying!, i have had the drop bars detatch from the stem on my old roadbike too but that was my silly fault, rather weird when your trying to pull on the brakes to a non attatched bar lol, ended up in a ditch that day

 

[Deleted member 1258]

My worse Oh S*** moment involved an old car, a dog, a Motorbike and a bright and shiny carrier, I was riding a 500 Triumph behind an old car when a dog ran across the front of the car, the driver did a full emergency stop, I tried to do the same but as I hit the brakes the front brake cable snapped, I wasn't doing much more than walking pace when I slid into the back of him, but I was going fast enough for me to slide up the petrol tank and wrap the family jewels round the back of the carrier they used to mount on the tank on them, when I'd got my breath back an inspection showed no damage to bike or car.

 

[ColinJ]

I bought a pair of Aksium wheels from a mate and went for a ride to try them out. I thought the braking already felt a bit lacking, but then it started raining. Things got really scary when I decided (for some unknown reason!) to go down this dodgy descent which hits nearly 20% and then dumps you out onto the busy A58.

I tried to scrub off speed but that didn't work. I tried severe braking but that didn't work either. In the end, I pulled the levers as hard as I could and pretty much pulled them tight against the bars. That reduced my speed somewhat but I still couldn't go slow enough. I seriously considered laying the bike down rather than shooting out into the traffic beyond the junction at the bottom of the hill. Just before I got to the junction, the brakes finally bit and I fishtailed to a stop, with my heart pounding!

I did a post-ride inspection which revealed that the rims were covered in an oily film which became almost frictionless when wet. I don't know how my mate had got them so dirty, or how I hadn't noticed that when I fitted them!

I scrubbed the rims with washing up liquid and a nail brush. The white rag I used to rinse the mess off afterwards became totally black. The braking was great after that.

The moral of this tale is - keep your bike clean!

 

[shouldbeinbed]

in similar vein, Coming down a steep street from a Pal's house saw me totally lose steering when I was ~11 as the stem worked itself loose and the bars nearly came off in my hands, nothing I could do but faceplant.

 

[MontyVeda]

i collected my bike from an LBS a couple of years ago after they'd fitted a new headset for me.... and for some reason they'd slackened the brakes off to such an extent they were inoperable. I can only assume they didn't want me to return

 

[Kestevan]

forgot to reset the lever on the front brake once...
1st steep downhill when I realised 15st @ 30mph heading towards stationary traffic with only a back brake is not good.

 

[Globalti]

As ColinJ writes, you should clean wheel rims thoroughly as part of the general checking process after a big ride or a wash down, then clean the brake pads and pick out the bits of grit. Your brakes will work perfectly and your rims will last much longer if you do.

 

[Rouge79]

Not easy if rims get filthy during torrential rain as I found out the other week.

Coming down greyhound hill trying to scrub off speed and clean the rims but NOTHING was happening. Praying lights would stay green as I'd be crossing the bother circular. Lights went red so applied full brakes and only stopped 6 foot over the line!!!

 

[Profpointy]

Anyone got any tales of close shaves due to brake failure? My scariest ever moment was when riding down a really steep main road through Great Malvern. Started off OK, but rapidly became clear that I was too heavy to stop. My fingers were white through gripping the levers so hard, but I just kept getting faster and faster. Dropped down through Malvern like a meteorite - brakes squealing even more than I was. Never been so grateful to see a green traffic light, cos I'd never have been able to stop if it had been red. I almost hyperventilate just to think of it.

Went for a bike ride with only the front brake working - oh well, the fateful phrase "it'll be all right" went through my mind.
Braking hard down a steep hill there was a "ping" and the brake block & holder bounded down the road in front of me. Feet down - still accelerating. Quick decision - ride it out, or bale out now ? Answer - bale out now, so rode into the hedge and got away with it. Didn't fancy 40+mph at the bottom hoping the give way was clear.

I've long since learnt the warning - whenever the phrase "it'll be alright" comes up, stop ! Nearly very near miss or actually injury has been preceded by that term.

 

[Kestevan]

Yep "It'll be alright" is probably the second most deadly sentence in the English language.......

Just behind "Hey - watch this".

 

[Bman]

Here:
http://goo.gl/maps/dyvu6

I had just turned left at the lights and the oncoming car who was waiting with me at the lights decided to turn right in front of me.

It was wet, and that is a downhill section approaching the bridge. The car that cut infront then decided he was too big to fit under the bridge at the same time as another oncoming car so came to an abrupt halt. I started to brake but the combination of the wet rims, road, and the downhill saw me not slowing down anyway near fast enough.

I got to about 2 feet away from the back of the car when i thought, thats it, abandoned brakeing with my right hand and stuck it out in front of be to brace for the impact, fully expecting a collision at this point (albeit, quite a slow collision)

At this point he let off the brake for a second, rolled forward a foot or two which was enough for me to stop in time!

Phew!