Brake Lever

By Gaz under Bikes & Cars

Had an interesting ride to work today.

My rear brake lever had required that I contort my ankle into a position that it wasn’t designed for in order to apply any actual braking force, so I foundd the doo-hickey that adjusts the tension the other day, and set it to a more reasonable position. Much better.

About half way to work, travelling at about 60mph I came towards a filter lane for turning left to avoid a roundabout and used a bit of rear brake to help get some speed off before I leaned into the corner. Perhaps because I had gotten used to the extra pressure it used to need, or perhaps because we had over-adjusted the tensioner, I fish-tailed a little. I then noticed that I wasn’t get as much power as I should as I tried to pull away, released the throttle and came to a standstill in very short order. The rear brake had stuck closed.

I managed to bounce the bike onto the verge, and spent half an hour fiddling with the doo-hickey and trying to find some way to release the brake. The disc and exhausts were still hot which made it difficult, but I gave up in the end anyway and called the AA who eventually took me to the Worcester Cagiva dealership.

After a look at the brakes, the garage told me it was probably salt from last winter that had got into the pads, or that they were over worn, so the heat from braking hard had expanded them so much that they gripped the disc even with the lever fully released. And that it won’t happen again if I keep them cool — i.e. don’t use the rear brake. Unfortunately, they also told me that my mono-shock had no oil left in it, and had been working on just the spring for some time.

Good news: I didn’t have to get a taxi back to pick up my car, provided I remembered not to use the rear brake on my bike. Bad news: I’m dropping the bike back at the garage next week for a replacement shock and to have the brakes checked out. More bad news: I was 3 hours late for work.