Life expectancy of a rear brake caliper?

Loggerhead

Hi everyone,
My first posting to the 'Road Gear' forum and I suspect it's a 'how long is a piece of string' question - but here it is anyway!
After many years of driving to work, I bought a new bike with Ultegra components back in April 07 and, bar holidays etc., have been commuting 35 miles a day (round trip), 3 days a week, ever since.
I own a Focus Cayo and have fitted SKS race blades for the winter. I rinse the bike down after every ride and give it a decent clean every 2 weeks.
For several weeks now my rear brakes have been seizing regularly. Three trips to the LBS later and we've finally decided that the caliper is shot.
Around 3,500 miles and my rear brake assembly (which I don't particularly favour - I tend to brake more with my front brake) has failed. Is this normal?
Appreciate your comments.

bhm100

Hi,
Firstly - congrats on your commuting mileage, it takes some doing to jump in at a 35mile commute if you're used to driving there.

Back on topic, the mileage is low for a brake seizure, but I reckon it's more of a time thing. I suspect if you strip the caliper and brake cable, clean up, grease and re-assemble then it will be fine.

I have 105 brakes on my bike and over the winter months the grit works it's way between the caliper arms which isn't going to simply wash out, even giving it a good squirt with something like wd40. They were stripped down in November before going on the bike, and I did them again this month. I do a higher mileage and the lanes round here are quite muddy at times, but it's not unusual for winter riding.

I'd suspect your caliper will be ok, but from the LBS point of view it's quite time-consuming to strip/clean/assemble so it could well be cheaper for you to replace it when you consider the labour charges. Also worth checking the rear section of brake cable, just to make sure it's not binding in the last outer cable section.

reyserf

Race blades, unlike full mudguards leave the rear caliper exposed to all the crap thrown up by the rear wheel.

Depending on your mileage and the amount of salt/mud on the road you will have to stip and relubricate the caliper at least once or twice through the winter. I have had to free off my Sora rear caliper once this winter so far.

Purhaps you should buy a cheap winter bike with full mudguards to use through the cold/dark months to preserve you good bike

Rey

Yellow Cliff

I agree with the other responses. I have had similar issues (I use race blades) and I think that you just have to resign yourself to regularly stripping and re-greasing the caliper. On the bright side, I find that with this fairly regular maintenance (I just do it when the brakes start to seize up) the brakes can still last for many years.

My Campag Veloces have done at least 20000 miles and are still fine, although they do have bearings set into the washers at the joints.

Monty Dog

I have brake calipers more than 25 years old - but they don't see that level of daily use. As others have said, the design of dual-pivot brakes means that they are more succeptible to seizing. Get yourself a decent set of allen keys, grease and Loctite for re-assembly. Most LBS are disinclined to strip down components because of the relative costs of components when you're paying £15-25/hr for labour. IME Campagnolo components are better finished than Shimano and generally don't suffer from corrosion as badly.

El Gordo

There's not much to go wrong with a caliper. The only time I've ever binned a pair was when the quick release lever broke (cheap Soras) and that was after 10's of thousands of miles of all weather commuting with Race Blades.

Strip them down, clean them well, regrease and put them back on and they should be fine.