45 mph on an Alpine Decent. Brakes Fail. What to do?

popette

dmclite wrote:

If my brakes failed at speed, I'd probably start crying.

me too, I would sh!t myself at the same time. I'm scared WITH breaks..

crumbschief

Just carry a Kit Kat in your jersey pocket,then whilst upon your Dolomite descent of doom you suddenly need a brake,reach into that pocket,smile and have one.Just be sure to swallow it before you reach that corner.

balthazar

BenBlyth wrote:

Is it me or has weejie missed the point... By a long way....

I'll run the risk of labouring a long – if, pretty entertaining – exchange. The impression I meant to give, is that the reality of things is not always as imagined.

Riding a bicycle downhill fast is not necessarily the death-defying helter-skelter that people generally visualise: most smooth fast roads (that comparatively lightly-populated European mainland specialises in) are built for motor traffic, with wide curves which can be driven at near the speed limit in most places. For bicycles, which need an uncommonly steep downhill grade to maintain 40mph or more, brakes are not an immediate necessity in such an environment: at least, without them, you're not doomed. You could probably roll to a slow enough speed to stop with your feet, in most situations.

The switchbacked roads which scale mountains steeply are relatively rare, in my experience, even though they are prominent in the cyclist's consciousness. As I wrote in my initial post, you're probably fücked if you manage to find yourself without brakes just before a hairpin at 40mph.

neilmacd

This is what you do if your brakes fail on a mountain descent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV4MJok1_2o&feature=player_embedded

Weejie54

This is what you do if your brakes fail on a mountain descent

Is that our Swiss friend coming back from his night oot?

schweiz

you should see the state of my Sidis now! Bloody Lagavulin!

neilmacd

I can't even descend like that with my hands on the bars :shock:

popette

neilmacd wrote:

This is what you do if your brakes fail on a mountain descent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV4MJok1_2o&feature=player_embedded

whoooaaahhhhhhh!!
I'm getting an adrenalin rush just watching....

Pretre

neilmacd wrote:

This is what you do if your brakes fail on a mountain descent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV4MJok1_2o&feature=player_embedded

:shock:

pdstsp

Mad mad mad

nolf

synchronicity wrote:

I'm tempted to ask what brakes you were using. :shock:

Were they from wiggle?

markos1963

If my brakes were to fail on a descent at 45mph I would tuck down stick it into top gear and hope I could make the break last until the finish

snailracer

The problem with braking on long alpine descents is the inner tube (maybe tyre?) failing from overheating on the hot rim. The brakes themselves apparently don't fail. So the likely scenario is a blowout, followed by rapid loss of control due to loss of traction. Not sure if you even have time to think/react if that happens.

Anonymous

popette wrote:

dmclite wrote:

If my brakes failed at speed, I'd probably start crying.

me too, I would sh!t myself at the same time. I'm scared WITH breaks..

Oh yeah that as well. I'd be sobbing if it was wet when I started with brakes too. :oops:

Pretre

snailracer wrote:

The problem with braking on long alpine descents is the inner tube (maybe tyre?) failing from overheating on the hot rim. The brakes themselves apparently don't fail. So the likely scenario is a blowout, followed by rapid loss of control due to loss of traction. Not sure if you even have time to think/react if that happens.

Has this ever happened to anyone that anyone personally knows? I was in the Pyrenees in Aug 2009 when it was 37C & my rims did get damn hot but not that hot & I brake much to much on descents.

Anonymous

I know a guy who hadn't been riding very long but had a decent budget and got himself some deep section, all carbon clinchers who had a blowout on the Galibier. Inexperience of descending and the combination of long braking, carbon not being as good a surface as alloy, caused his inner tude to blow and scare the poop out of him. Combination of factors.

antfly

neilmacd wrote:

This is what you do if your brakes fail on a mountain descent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV4MJok1_2o&feature=player_embedded

I think that video puts the debate to bed, you don't need brakes or hands, just grande cojones.

Anonymous

Ive only got one cojone (like hitler, but much more agreeable), so I'd only make it halfway. Plus, to be pedantic, he started off braking with his shoe, what if he had to start at 45mph ? Jason Bourne would do it I reckon.

antfly

I'm sorry to hear that.
Is it true that if you only have one cojone it doubles in size to compensate or is it just a load of bollocks?

Hrun

It's a pub discussion!

Put it in perspective guys

ynyswen24

balthazar wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

I never got over 40mph when I went to the Alps, and I was trying! (Alpe d'Huez / Galibier / Lauteret...

The fastest roads I've found in France aren't in either of the big mountain ranges – but the "hills" on the southern edge of the massif, around the Cevennes national park, and inland from Beziers. They're often main roads with fast sweeping corners (still largely empty of traffic), which allow long, fast downhills well over 50mph for much longer than the snatches of high speed you get in Britain.

Fun as it is going that fast, I prefer more technical, chicaned descents on narrower forest access roads, which are often beautifully paved, and deserted but for the occasional Renault 4. I've had exhilarating downhill rides, never more than 30mph but with the feeling of being on a rollercoaster.

D909A into Herepian? or the other way on the D909 from Faugeres towards Beziers? I know that road...

Anonymous

antfly wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that.
Is it true that if you only have one cojone it doubles in size to compensate or is it just a load of bollocks?

Its true, it is a load of bollock.

nwallace

Weejie54 wrote:

ask Lewis Hamilton why he gets up to 200mph and then brakes for a corner,

On a push bike?

Unfair comparison, it should have been Capparossi or Rossi or Jorge Lorenzo although he would probably do a base jump after winning a mountain finish as his celebration.



your all talking about doing 45 and being in the Alps, I got past 50 descending Glen Ogle, terrible surface, road still a mess from a landslide. Easy, well except for braking on the way into Lochearnhead.


That video on the Stelvio highlights another form of braking, air braking, good for 10mph reductions in the right conditions, which wouldn't be the hypothetical situation in the OP

antfly

dmclite wrote:

antfly wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that.
Is it true that if you only have one cojone it doubles in size to compensate or is it just a load of bollocks?

Its true, it is a load of bollock.

:shock:

antfly

nwallace wrote:

Weejie54 wrote:

ask Lewis Hamilton why he gets up to 200mph and then brakes for a corner,

On a push bike?

That video on the Stelvio highlights another form of braking, air braking, good for 10mph reductions in the right conditions, which wouldn't be the hypothetical situation in the OP

A 10 mph reduction is better than nothing although i'm not sure how you have reached that figure or what the right conditions are, to be pedantic.
Edit: He's using his foot on the tyre as well, didn't spot that.

dodgy

antfly wrote:

neilmacd wrote:

This is what you do if your brakes fail on a mountain descent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV4MJok1_2o&feature=player_embedded

I think that video puts the debate to bed, you don't need brakes or hands, just grande cojones.

And your heel to be pressed against the rear tyre wall...

balthazar

nwallace wrote:

your all talking about doing 45 and being in the Alps, I got past 50 descending Glen Ogle, terrible surface, road still a mess from a landslide. Easy, well except for braking on the way into Lochearnhead.

That video on the Stelvio highlights another form of braking, air braking, good for 10mph reductions in the right conditions, which wouldn't be the hypothetical situation in the OP

Let's not make this another "speed bragging" thread. There are enough of those already, if you want to report your dramatic exploits. And beware, for when you're descending at your most heroic, a couple of oldies on a tandem are liable to overtake you, with a cheery wave (so I've found).

As "dodgy" notes, the rider in the video had his foot wedged against the tyre.

balthazar

ynyswen24 wrote:

D909A into Herepian? or the other way on the D909 from Faugeres towards Beziers? I know that road...

I think so! I've just looked at it on Google Maps: It's bee some years since I rode over there- from Roquebrun, where I used to stay with friends. It was wonderful riding country. However, most of my rides thereabouts have been further east, around St Hippolyte and Le Vigan, searching out the tiny tendrils of road that creep into the mountains.

nwallace

antfly wrote:

A 10 mph reduction is better than nothing although i'm not sure how you have reached that figure or what the right conditions are, to be pedantic.
Edit: He's using his foot on the tyre as well, didn't spot that.

My personal air braking reduction on the biggest tank of a bike I have.

anto164

if i lost both brakes when on a descent and wanted to stop as quick as, right foot would get unclipped and pushed between the frame and the front wheel Used to have to do that when riding my mates BMX's a few years back.. They had a period of not having brakes on their bikes. Bit sketchy though.