Rear Brake

[Rano]

Hi Enertia Riders,

what is your experience with the rear brake? Working well?

- Rano

[Brammofan]

Mine works as fine as can be expected.  Frankly, I use the front brake most of the time.  I suppose I use the rear brake on this one long hill I have to descend that ends at a traffic light, but really, I mostly use the front brake.

[Shinysideup]

Works very well: I find that under heavy braking, as the bike's momentum moves toward the front and unloads the rear tire, it's quite easy to feel the rear tire slipping. (Common to all bikes without ABS).

So I've gotten in the habit, for urgent braking situations, of really squeezing the front brake and being light on the pedal. I mostly use the rear brake only to hold the bike on hills while stopped.

I've always found the rear brake pads wear faster than the fronts on the bike's I've ridden, so for long downhills, I never use the rear brake. This is especially true on the Empulse with its very effective regen braking in Sport mode, which, in first gear, will hold my bike to 17 mph on the steepest grades in San Francisco (20+%).

http://www.datapointed.net/2009/11/the-steeps-of-san-francisco/

[Rano]

Ok thanks to all of you.

So seems to be limited to me. I am used to break at the front only, but if I do break at the rear, my rear break squeezes and has a poor controllability - seems to break not at all, and "suddenly" the rear tire blocks. Is not that bad at all, but not what I suggested from a Brembo component.

Think I need to check the pads !

[Rano]

@Shiny

Thanks, now I am just missing Steven Heller driving around!
This pic is no fake? Thats reality, isn´t it?
If this would be in Austria, you would need to agree that your childs will never get a bobby car or a bicycle 

[Adan]

I used to live on an SF street just like that.  Walking to and fro almost wrecked my back permanently.  Eventually I stopped walking anywhere.

[Richard230]

Ok thanks to all of you.

So seems to be limited to me. I am used to break at the front only, but if I do break at the rear, my rear break squeezes and has a poor controllability - seems to break not at all, and "suddenly" the rear tire blocks. Is not that bad at all, but not what I suggested from a Brembo component.

Think I need to check the pads !

It is certainly possible that your pads have glazed.  Using the brakes hard when they are new can cause that problem.  The solution is to remove the pads and carefully roughen them up with sandpaper laying on a flat surface, such as a piece of glass.  It is also possible that there are some deposits on the disc and cleaning it with a rag soaked in alcohol should eliminate that problem.  Assuming that your brake lines are not mushy and need bleeding, cleaning the pads and disc should help.  If the problem persists, new pads might be in order.

[Rano]

Richard, yes would be a possibility, I will check.

Btw, SF, when were the serpentine invented?

[Richard230]

Richard, yes would be a possibility, I will check.

Btw, SF, when were the serpentine invented?

I think about the same time as local politics.   

[Rano]

Today I made a check and realised, that the inner brake pad was stuck. I made some magic movements and - Voila! - I got a non-screeming but good breaking rear break!