Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Road Cycling
Reload this Page >

Rear brake too strong, locking up and skidding

Search
Notices
Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Rear brake too strong, locking up and skidding

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 03-02-13, 12:04 AM
  #26  
Muffin Man
:)
 
Muffin Man's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 3,420

Bikes: Cannondale CAAD12, Specialized Rockhopper, Norco Fluid FS1

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 127 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 3 Times in 2 Posts
Originally Posted by RollCNY
Certain exercises can lead to incredible forearm grip, in one arm only. Practice alternating hands. Stop before you go blind.
Muffin Man is offline  
Old 03-02-13, 12:18 AM
  #27  
banerjek
Portland Fred
 
banerjek's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 11,548

Bikes: Custom Winter, Challenge Seiran SL, Fuji Team Pro, Cattrike Road/Velokit, РOS hybrid

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 232 Post(s)
Liked 53 Times in 35 Posts
Originally Posted by BoSoxYacht
Originally Posted by datlas
You are doing it wrong. Lighter "feather" touch.
/ thread
/ thread
banerjek is offline  
Old 03-02-13, 04:06 AM
  #28  
d8168055
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
d8168055's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: The OC
Posts: 244

Bikes: 2010 Mercier Kilo WT, 2011 Specialized Tarmac Pro SL3 Red

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
So really there isnt any mechanical adjustment I can do huh? I guess the original cable wasnt as slick as the one now, and i got used to the stickiness of the brake lever.

I suppose i need to learn now to adjust to this new brake setup. thanks for your help guys!
d8168055 is offline  
Old 03-02-13, 05:37 AM
  #29  
RollCNY
Speechless
 
RollCNY's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Central NY
Posts: 8,842

Bikes: Felt Brougham, Lotus Prestige, Cinelli Xperience,

Mentioned: 22 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 163 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 39 Times in 16 Posts
In all seriousness, a slight bit of toe on a non flared rim helps. It keeps the pad from making abrupt full contact. I didn't know if it was still done on carbon rims, but coachboyd is an authority.
RollCNY is offline  
Old 03-02-13, 06:12 AM
  #30  
datlas 
Should Be More Popular
 
datlas's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Malvern, PA (20 miles West of Philly)
Posts: 43,255

Bikes: 1986 Alpine (steel road bike), 2009 Ti Habenero, 2013 Specialized Roubaix

Mentioned: 561 Post(s)
Tagged: 2 Thread(s)
Quoted: 22759 Post(s)
Liked 9,153 Times in 4,245 Posts
Originally Posted by d8168055
So really there isnt any mechanical adjustment I can do huh? I guess the original cable wasnt as slick as the one now, and i got used to the stickiness of the brake lever.

I suppose i need to learn now to adjust to this new brake setup. thanks for your help guys!
Give it a try and report back how it's worked. BTW it's true that most of your braking power comes from the front.

Go ride!
__________________
Originally Posted by rjones28
Addiction is all about class.
datlas is offline  
Old 03-02-13, 08:15 AM
  #31  
waterrockets 
Making a kilometer blurry
 
waterrockets's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Austin (near TX)
Posts: 26,170

Bikes: rkwaki's porn collection

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 37 Post(s)
Liked 92 Times in 38 Posts
Originally Posted by rm -rf
Yes.
From Sheldon Brown's "Braking and Turning" page:

Maximum Deceleration--Emergency Stops
The fastest that you can stop any bike of normal wheelbase is to apply the front brake so hard that the rear wheel is just about to lift off the ground. In this situation, the rear wheel cannot contribute to stopping power, since it has no traction.

That's why a rear wheel locks up and fishtails when both brakes are sqeezed hard in an emergency stop.
yep

I adjust my brakes so that I can just barely get the levers to touch the bars. I only use the rear brake for easing it off when I want to share the load with the front pads (so they last a little longer).

Honestly, if you really need to stop or slow rapidly, forget about the rear brake completely.

Do not feather it, as that provides no appreciable stopping power, but may still be enough to lock it up if you are really on the front brake. The safest thing to do is to only use your front brake for any hard braking. The exception is if you come off the back of the saddle with arms fully out straight in front of you, saddle on your ribs, then you have enough weight on the rear to jam it a bit more, but that's more of an MTB move.

My teammate sweats so much that he froze up his rear brake line. He raced an entire season w/out a working rear brake, got all of his upgrade points, upgraded to Cat 3, and got 15 points in the 3s before he finally got around to fixing it. You don't need the rear brake.
waterrockets is offline  
Old 03-02-13, 08:30 AM
  #32  
ThinLine
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 1,946

Bikes: Pedal Force RS2, Canyon, Basso, Tommaso, Rock Racing, Schwinn, SWOBO, Trek

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by knowledgdropper
Yeah, don't squeeze so hard. Also may want to get a little more weight over the rear wheel, when braking, to help maintain traction. It sounds as if you're relying on your rear brake to be your primary stopper. If so, don't do that. Your front brake has so much more stopping power, it's not even funny.
+1 So true
ThinLine is offline  
Old 03-02-13, 07:59 PM
  #33  
Bob Dopolina 
Mr. Dopolina
 
Bob Dopolina's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Taiwan
Posts: 10,217

Bikes: KUUPAS, Simpson VR

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 149 Post(s)
Liked 117 Times in 41 Posts
First question: Are you a triathlete? Or riding on aero bars when this happens?

Second question: I assume a shop installed the new cables and housing for you?. Did they also give your bike a shiny, shiny? Sometimes, if solvent or other cleaners are used on a brake track it makes them 'too clean' and they will feel very, very grabby. This usually fades over a few rides but can be a real PITA until then.
__________________
BDop Cycling Company Ltd.: bdopcycling.com, facebook, instagram



Bob Dopolina is offline  
Old 03-03-13, 02:31 AM
  #34  
d8168055
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
d8168055's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: The OC
Posts: 244

Bikes: 2010 Mercier Kilo WT, 2011 Specialized Tarmac Pro SL3 Red

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Bob Dopolina
First question: Are you a triathlete? Or riding on aero bars when this happens?

Second question: I assume a shop installed the new cables and housing for you?. Did they also give your bike a shiny, shiny? Sometimes, if solvent or other cleaners are used on a brake track it makes them 'too clean' and they will feel very, very grabby. This usually fades over a few rides but can be a real PITA until then.
No triathlete, just a normal road bike with compact drops. Yes, the shop did install for me, but dunno about a shiny shiny.. WTH is that lol!

I tried both Zipp 101 and 404 (using appropriate pads) and got the same results.

The toe-in sounds like something i should try...
d8168055 is offline  
Old 03-03-13, 02:54 AM
  #35  
Bob Dopolina 
Mr. Dopolina
 
Bob Dopolina's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Taiwan
Posts: 10,217

Bikes: KUUPAS, Simpson VR

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 149 Post(s)
Liked 117 Times in 41 Posts
Shiny, shiny...did they clean your bike for you? Did they wipe down your wheels and get solvent on the brake track?
__________________
BDop Cycling Company Ltd.: bdopcycling.com, facebook, instagram



Bob Dopolina is offline  
Old 03-03-13, 11:48 AM
  #36  
knowledgdropper
Full Member
 
knowledgdropper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Lovely Long Beach, CA
Posts: 462

Bikes: Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL3, Bianchi Cafe Milano

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by d8168055
The toe-in sounds like something i should try...
Yes. Also, use your front brake as the primary stopper. Really- the rear will lock up just by looking at it funny.
knowledgdropper is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
tastewar
Bicycle Mechanics
17
08-15-17 06:47 PM
hhnngg1
Bicycle Mechanics
14
07-12-17 09:09 PM
3speed
Mountain Biking
2
01-18-12 01:07 AM
krazygluon
Singlespeed & Fixed Gear
49
02-14-11 12:49 AM
ph4nt0mf1ng3rs
Singlespeed & Fixed Gear
52
03-21-10 07:58 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.