Marian
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
So here I am riding on impossible dirt roads in the rain in Guangxi
province and my brakes have just stopped working. At least at the
beginning I was able to deal with this on some of the gentler
downhills by doing a Fred Flintstone with my left foot while I was
riding and later on I figured out that if I got up off the saddle and
sat on the top tube pulling on the brake cable I could slow myself
still farther but the brakes are just refusing to stop the bike.
I've done a cursory inspection, cleaned them, tightened them, loosened
them, tightened them, moved things, moved things back, spun the wheel
up, pulled on the brake lever and all I get is a scthscthscth noise
which gradually results in the wheel slowing down but not really
stopping. And this when nothing is on the bike.
They worked fine yesterday.
Heck, they worked fine this morning.
It was just when the rain and the mud started getting bad (along about
the same time that the really bad downhills stopped but around the
same time that the road condition deteriorated further) that this
happened. The levers still squeeze but the wheels don't stop
anymore. The person who was riding with me on a mountain bike (who
has since gone home) had the same kind of V-brakes as my front brake
(plain jane no name Shimano) and I've got Deore for my rear brake with
original brake pads that are nowhere near the wear line (only about
700km old).
What happened?
What can I do about it?
-M
province and my brakes have just stopped working. At least at the
beginning I was able to deal with this on some of the gentler
downhills by doing a Fred Flintstone with my left foot while I was
riding and later on I figured out that if I got up off the saddle and
sat on the top tube pulling on the brake cable I could slow myself
still farther but the brakes are just refusing to stop the bike.
I've done a cursory inspection, cleaned them, tightened them, loosened
them, tightened them, moved things, moved things back, spun the wheel
up, pulled on the brake lever and all I get is a scthscthscth noise
which gradually results in the wheel slowing down but not really
stopping. And this when nothing is on the bike.
They worked fine yesterday.
Heck, they worked fine this morning.
It was just when the rain and the mud started getting bad (along about
the same time that the really bad downhills stopped but around the
same time that the road condition deteriorated further) that this
happened. The levers still squeeze but the wheels don't stop
anymore. The person who was riding with me on a mountain bike (who
has since gone home) had the same kind of V-brakes as my front brake
(plain jane no name Shimano) and I've got Deore for my rear brake with
original brake pads that are nowhere near the wear line (only about
700km old).
What happened?
What can I do about it?
-M