Odd brake pad fail

il_principe

Cycling into work today I was forced to brake sharply thanks to some muppetry at Wandsworth roundabout. As I slapped on the brakes something pinged off the car in front, immediately followed by a horrible metal on metal sound from my front wheel. Looked down and realised that the front left brake pad had some how popped out of the holder. Last night I installed new pads and holders (LifeLine Essential from Wiggle) on the commuter, so my first thought was that I must have installed them the wrong way round. Carried on into work at a sedate pace using the rear brake only.

Had a quick look when I got to the office and the everything looked to be in the right way round. Just went a fettling at lunch and they are installed correctly - Left indicated holder on the left, shark fin pointing down, arrow pointing forwards etc. Just to be absolutely certain that I'm not losing my mind I went to Evans (and because I now do not trust these holders at all) and bought a pair of their own brand Campag specific pads and holders and have replaced. I've also double checked online and on another bike - and I had installed them properly.

Has anyone else ever experienced this before? It was a little unsettling to say the least. I can see why higher end holders have a grub screw or safety clip now - wouldn't fancy that happening on a fast descent.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Il Principe wrote:

Cycling into work today I was forced to brake sharply thanks to some muppetry at Wandsworth roundabout. As I slapped on the brakes something pinged off the car in front, immediately followed by a horrible metal on metal sound from my front wheel. Looked down and realised that the front left brake pad had some how popped out of the holder. Last night I installed new pads and holders (LifeLine Essential from Wiggle) on the commuter, so my first thought was that I must have installed them the wrong way round. Carried on into work at a sedate pace using the rear brake only.

Had a quick look when I got to the office and the everything looked to be in the right way round. Just went a fettling at lunch and they are installed correctly - Left indicated holder on the left, shark fin pointing down, arrow pointing forwards etc. Just to be absolutely certain that I'm not losing my mind I went to Evans (and because I now do not trust these holders at all) and bought a pair of their own brand Campag specific pads and holders and have replaced. I've also double checked online and on another bike - and I had installed them properly.

Has anyone else ever experienced this before? It was a little unsettling to say the least. I can see why higher end holders have a grub screw or safety clip now - wouldn't fancy that happening on a fast descent.

Almost sounds as if the pad had popped out before you grabbed the brakes (metal on metal being shoe on rim).

Never had it happen to me. As long as the pad is bedded into the shoe, brake use should drive the pad further back into the shoe and not affect stability (closed end of the shoe was at the front, right?). I can only wonder whether the front (or more) of the pad wasn't sitting correctly in the shoe, and somehow the front of the pad caught on the rim first and then folded back and out of the shoe.

Sounds bizarre; even more bizarre than my guess at what might have happened.

gtvlusso

It has happened to me...

Cheap holders and soft pads I am afraid. I was on a TT event, braking into a corner 'pop, pop' both the front brake pads flew out. Almost like the pads creased up and then pulled free of the holder - the bike braked a little sharper without any added pressure induced by me as it occurred.

I bowed my head in anger and frustration, a poorly prepared f*cktard.....at the time. Once I had checked the holders were installed correctly I felt exonerated.

I think the combination of soft pads and cheap holders is not a good mix when it comes to a 'need to stop' moment.

bigmat

You weren't freewheeling backwards at the time were you? - skills if you were!

gtvlusso

BigMat wrote:

You weren't freewheeling backwards at the time were you? - skills if you were!

One hell of a TT win in reverse on aero bars!!!!!

Carbon wheels on the old TT bike = quick grab of the rear and a look for scoring on the carbon rim, thankfully not a written off rim!

UndercoverElephant

Don't fancy that much, I must say! Can't believe there are holders on the market that don't have the grub screws. That's just crazy.

bigmat

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Don't fancy that much, I must say! Can't believe there are holders on the market that don't have the grub screws. That's just crazy.

Campag generally don't. If you don't put a bit of oil on the back of the brake pad, you need thumbs of steel to get the pads in and out so can't see why a screw would be necessary, but then I guess you get freak incidents like the OP's.

il_principe

gtvlusso wrote:

It has happened to me...

Cheap holders and soft pads I am afraid. I was on a TT event, braking into a corner 'pop, pop' both the front brake pads flew out. Almost like the pads creased up and then pulled free of the holder - the bike braked a little sharper without any added pressure induced by me as it occurred.

I bowed my head in anger and frustration, a poorly prepared f*cktard.....at the time. Once I had checked the holders were installed correctly I felt exonerated.

I think the combination of soft pads and cheap holders is not a good mix when it comes to a 'need to stop' moment.

Clearly not. I've run el cheapo pads etc on the commuter for ages without any issues, starting to wonder if that's such a good idea now.

spasypaddy

funnily enough i read an article about this on velonews the other day. a lot of people dont even use grub screws on shimano pads as you never roll backwards with the brake on.

glad you're ok though mate. Give that rim a good check over as well! as you might have done some damage to it

il_principe

spasypaddy wrote:

Give that rim a good check over as well! as you might have done some damage to it

Good shout, cheers.

spasypaddy

oh and this is why on ALL my bikes that have caliper brakes i use DA pads with grub screws, i use cheapo holders on my commuter bike but good pads and screws