Sudden brake failure

Clifford Griffiths said:

I had a luccky escape tonight. Descending a steep hill towards a roundabout I comletely lost my
front brake. Fortunately I was able to avoid a collision and come to a stop safely. Examination
showed that the cable had frayed and sheared about an inch an a half from the brake lever ie
inside the outer cable.

Nasty! I hope your blood pressure is back to normal now :-)

Quoted message said:

Has anyone heard of this before?

Similar thing happened to me years ago (although failure was nearer end of cable) - with brakes that
I suspect were similar to yours.....

Quoted message said:

The cable has been there for about 3 years - 4-5000 miles. Am I just unlucky or do I need to
change cables more frequently?

Certainly inspect more fequently. Change if any sign of fraying or corrosion. Changing more
frequently and using stainless steel cables would be a good idea. Make sure nipple and adjoing bit
of cable is greased before fitting.

Quoted message said:

It rather got me thinking that my Weinemann straddle cables have never been change in about 18
years but I can see them and would see any sign of fraying.

I don't think they're so critical because load is spread more evenly there.

Quoted message said:

Just in case - does anyone know whether these can still be bouhght anywhere?

www.sjscycles.com/store/vIndex.htm may be able to help.

~PB

Clifford Griffiths said:

I had a luccky escape tonight. Descending a steep hill towards a roundabout I comletely lost my
front brake. Fortunately I was able to avoid a collision and come to a stop safely. Examination
showed that the cable had frayed and sheared about an inch an a half from the brake lever ie
inside the outer cable.

Has anyone heard of this before? The cable has been there for about 3 years - 4-5000 miles. Am I
just unlucky or do I need to change cables more frequently?

Glad to here you managed to avoid any collisions. 2 years for a cable sounds about right depends on
miles done how hard you brake also if the cable is rubbing in the outer casing and fraying. If you
have a good feel for your bike you can sometimes feel something odd when you pull the lever if
cable is fraying in outer casing it feels a bit spongy. I check my cables every six months by
undoing at brake caliper and pulling cable through to check it. Also a good chance to lightly oil
with 3 in 1 oil.

If it frayed inside the outer housing you should check it out as cables have a habit of fraying at
lever or the caliper.

Ivor Cave

"Clifford Griffiths" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had a luccky escape tonight. Descending a steep hill towards a

roundabout

Quoted message said:

I comletely lost my front brake. Fortunately I was able to avoid a

collision

Quoted message said:

and come to a stop safely. Examination showed that the cable had

frayed and

Quoted message said:

sheared about an inch an a half from the brake lever ie inside the

outer

Quoted message said:

cable.

Glad you escaped.

Was the frayed part near a tight bend in the outer cable?

Quoted message said:

Has anyone heard of this before? The cable has been there for about

3

Quoted message said:

years - 4-5000 miles. Am I just unlucky or do I need to change cables

more

Quoted message said:

frequently?

It's happened to me: grabbed front brake lever hard, sudden POP and lever flops loosely. I managed
to stop too.

Quoted message said:

It rather got me thinking that my Weinemann straddle cables have never

been

Quoted message said:

change in about 18 years but I can see them and would see any sign of fraying. Just in case - does
anyone know whether these can still be

bouhght

Quoted message said:

anywhere?

Brake cables are very cheap. You might as well replace them at regular intervals.
--
Mark South: Citizen of the World, Denizen of the Net "I wonder why so many Finnish traditions are
related with booze?"
- Juha Sakkinen

In message <[email hidden]>, Pete Biggs
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Clifford Griffiths said:

I had a luccky escape tonight. Descending a steep hill towards a roundabout I comletely lost my
front brake. Fortunately I was able to avoid a collision and come to a stop safely. Examination
showed that the cable had frayed and sheared about an inch an a half from the brake lever ie
inside the outer cable.

Quoted message said:

Has anyone heard of this before?

Similar thing happened to me years ago (although failure was nearer end of cable) - with brakes
that I suspect were similar to yours.....

Yeah I had it happen to me many years ago, nowadays I maintain my bikes rather better.

If they are going to go, this is the normal position IME,.

Nowadays I just replace my cables regularly

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It rather got me thinking that my Weinemann straddle cables have never been change in about 18
years but I can see them and would see any sign of fraying.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Just in case - does anyone know whether these can still be bouhght anywhere?

www.sjscycles.com/store/vIndex.htm may be able to help.

This was discussed in a thread a little while ago. some suggestions were made.

<google.co.ukgroupsOpen ↗
41%40hercules.btinternet.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dweinmann%2Bstraddl
e%2Bgroup:uk.rec.cycling%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3Db6s6ui%2
524icn%25241%2540hercules.btinternet.com%26rnum%3D1>

looks like it

I bought a couple in Spa Cyles in Harrogate last year.

--
Chris French, Leeds

Ivor Cave said:

2 years for a cable sounds about right depends on miles done how hard you brake also if the cable
is rubbing in the outer casing and fraying.

Not to me it doesn't - I've never had to replace a cable for these reasons. Maybe the outer is
kinked or the angle into the lever housing is wrong. If the cable run is right the inner should
never fray IME.

Guy
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Clifford Griffiths said:

I had a luccky escape tonight. Descending a steep hill towards a roundabout I comletely lost my
front brake. Fortunately I was able to avoid a collision and come to a stop safely. Examination
showed that the cable had frayed and sheared about an inch an a half from the brake lever ie inside
the outer cable.

Scary stuff!

Quoted message said:

Has anyone heard of this before? The cable has been there for about 3 years - 4-5000 miles. Am I
just unlucky or do I need to change cables more frequently?

Well, no harm in changing cables, but I wouldn't have said that 4-5000 miles is *that* many really.
Any fraying is more likely to occur as a result of continuous heavy friction somewhere rather than
just general wear and tear. Probably worth changing the outer cable too. Sounds like something's not
quite right somewhere.

Thinking about it, I have an enormous amount of faith in brake/shifter cables. I only change them
because they've frayed at the ends where I haven't bothered to put a cable stop on the end, causing
brake/shifter adjustment to get messy. Mind you, I build up bikes from other bikes, so I tend to
know every inch of whatever I'm riding....in a manner of speaking!....so I know the basic visual
state of the cable before I put it in. I also keep cables from old discarded bikes and reuse them,
providing they 'look' sound! Maybe I have too much faith in them !!! New cables will hardly break
the bank will they? J***s, If I'm paying £2.65 for a pint of Guinness now, then I can buy new
cables I guess. Or maybe it's because I use old cables, that I *can* buy booze at this kind of
ridiculous price :-)

Garry

Quoted message said:

It rather got me thinking that my Weinemann straddle cables have never been change in about 18
years but I can see them and would see any sign of fraying. Just in case - does anyone know whether
these can still be bouhght anywhere?

Cliff

Clifford Griffiths said:

I had a luccky escape tonight. Descending a steep hill towards a roundabout I comletely lost my
front brake. Fortunately I was able to avoid a collision and come to a stop safely. Examination
showed that the cable had frayed and sheared about an inch an a half from the brake lever ie
inside the outer cable.

Has anyone heard of this before?

It happened in our small town a few years back. There's a steep half-mile downhill with a roundabout
at the bottom. One weekend a girl's brake cable broke as she descended. She went across the
roundabout and straight through a glass shopfront, destroying shelving and displays inside. She
ended up halfway down the shop. I'd guess she was doing around 50mph. I don't know what the injuries
were but she was rushed off to hospital.

Quoted message said:

The cable has been there for about 3 years - 4-5000 miles. Am I just unlucky or do I need to
change cables more frequently?

I have had cables break twice despite regular checking. Once any fray is noticed they MUST
be replaced.

John B

Just zis Guy said:

Quoted message said:

2 years for a cable sounds about right depends on miles done how hard you brake also if the cable
is rubbing in the outer casing and fraying.

Not to me it doesn't - I've never had to replace a cable for these reasons. Maybe the outer is
kinked or the angle into the lever housing is wrong. If the cable run is right the inner should
never fray IME.

I generally agree about the fraying. In this case, though, I suspect corrosion was also to partly
blame, and the fact that you have to pull these old Weinmann levers bloody hard might have something
to do with it as well.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

I suspect corrosion was also to partly blame, and the fact that you have to pull these old Weinmann
levers bloody hard might have something to do with it as well.

Maybe that's also a maintenance issue: Weinmanns work much better if the pivots are kept lubricated.
Or mine did, anyway.

Guy
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notice: ADSL service in process of transfer to a new ISP. Obviously there will be a week of downtime
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