Ever lost your brakes !

[andrew_s]

Even worse - what if the brakes suddenly lock going downhill at speed?

All I can think of would be canti brakes diving under the rim and going into the spokes.
If that happened on the front, you'd be toast, probably. On the rear, you may get away unhurt, if it happened on a friendly bit of road.

[Brucey]

I am less convinced by the weird behaviour one though...

it is probably for another thread (bearing in mind that these things don't all result in complete brake failure), but I could write reams on the subject.

cheers

[Cyril Haearn]

A good reason for using a back-pedal brake and having several different types of brake

Really, cycle brakes should be fail-safe like on trains

I seem to remember reading about the iam *advanced motorist* # test, one should test the brakes just after moving off, seems a good habit to get into when cycling too

# is that a contradiction in terms?

Trains also have a stringent maintenance regime, plus the Driver does a "running brake test" as soon as possible* after setting off on a new diagram.

I can think of several ways the brakes on a train could fail, either through lack of maintenance or (thinking freight wagons) if the brake rigging freezes- there was an incident in Scotland a few years ago where that happened. "Fail safe" has limits......

Reading the threads here, it seems that good maintenance and a running brake test would have prevented most of them if not all

*There are criteria, is usually done when running under greens and not on a steeply rising gradient if there is a possibility of stalling if lose momentum.

TPO

It is interesting to read the history of railway *accidents*, after each crash changes were made so it could not happen again
Now deaths of passengers are exceedingly seldom
Yes, I am for 100% safety. At least

[PDQ Mobile]

I am less convinced by the weird behaviour one though...

it is probably for another thread (bearing in mind that these things don't all result in complete brake failure), but I could write reams on the subject.

cheers

FWIW. I am not much of a fan of (hydraulic) discs either.
They are powerful but fiddly and have annoying traits sometimes.
Although fiddlyness is not totally exclusive to hydraulic brakes!
But I don't have much experience of hydraulic discs really.
One set I did have some dealings with were so squeaky the owner nearly went nuts! Though they were super powerful and easily modulated.

One the other hand the hydraulics on my automotive and plant are incredibly reliable and never exhibit "weird" behaviour. They do what it says on the tin, on and on and on for years on end.
Ditto my Magura rim brakes.

[[XAP]Bob]

I can’t think of a ‘fail safe’ option for bikes.

Locking the brakes on is *not* safe

[Sweep]

Unless I am mistaken only one full failure of hydraulic (tigerbiten page 1; and one only brake) is reported here?
All the rest are cable operated brakes.

No failures of Magura hydraulic rim brakes reported.

Far less of them around. Eventually my front and back Maguras leaked, though neither was a sudden total failure.

[PDQ Mobile]

Far less of them around. Eventually my front and back Maguras leaked, though neither was a sudden total failure.

I guess nothing lasts for ever.

[gloomyandy]

Even worse - what if the brakes suddenly lock going downhill at speed?

You mean like a "fail-safe" brake might do if say the cable broke?

[Cyril Haearn]

Even worse - what if the brakes suddenly lock going downhill at speed?

You mean like a "fail-safe" brake might do if say the cable broke?

My Planned Patented Brake would apply gradually

Maybe it would be enough to have t h r e e different types of brakes and a dynamo creating a lot of drag. A bottle dynamo can increase pedalling effort by 25%, might make a good retarder

[LollyKat]

My Planned Patented Brake would apply gradually

Maybe it would be enough to have t h r e e different types of brakes and a dynamo creating a lot of drag. A bottle dynamo can increase pedalling effort by 25%, might make a good retarder

The dynamo could also drive flashing lights and a siren to warn others to get out of the way....

I once had both rim brakes fail in quick succession when the cables broke during an emergency stop. Entirely my fault for poor maintenance . Fortunately I managed to avoid the white van which had turned across me without warning, but it taught me to inspect and replace cables regularly.

[hondated]

Well that question certainly started a big and interesting discussion. I must admit I too have worked on my bike set off down the road and realised I had not refitted a cantilever cable but thankfully the one I have fitted has brought me to a slow stop fairly quickly.
When it comes to cycling down hills I seem to automatically test my brakes before I start my descent and to be honest, even more so on descending alpine climbs. I am a bit of a wimp and do not speed and instead just enjoy the scenery. I have invariably had to suffer to reach the top so why not !.Thankfully I am glad to read all those that have suffered some sort of brake failure survived without injury.
I only have a mountain bike with hydraulic brakes and I don't use it very often but given some of your experiences I think I may be using it even less now. As one of our colleagues wrote I too can find them to be bothersome with regards to getting them set up correctly and I much prefer calliper brakes. It seems Team Sky might agree with me on that as their 2018 bikes are not fitted with disc brakes either.
What I have learnt from this debate is that I certainly need to be checking and maintaining my brakes a lot more.

[Samuel D]

When I was about ten I rode a neighbour’s BMX with no functioning brakes. I braked while standing by jamming a foot against the rear tyre, braced against the defective calliper. Either the shoe skidded on the knobbly tyre or the tyre skidded on the road, both stopping the bicycle as I proved down Cecil’s hill.

My mother put an end to it when I ruined a second pair of shoes, but I would gladly do it again if my brakes failed and the bicycle allowed it (mudguards would prevent it). Your chances of success are higher if you’ve practised beforehand. Not that it’s hard.