Calnago wrote:Uh... Here in the U.S. I think that is exactly how the law works. Products really do need to be idiot proof here, probably more so than any other country in the world. Car brakes are a good example.
Actually, the average car brakes can fail just the same as the bike brakes if you ride them all the way down a mountain pass as per the above tests
Brake Fade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_fade
There is a reason we are taught to let the brakes cool and use low gears to compression brake down hills
Sure car (bike) companies have to make things idiot proof to a point, but they are still trying to meet cost targets that alters where that point is. You can't really buy an inexpensive car with fade resistant brakes, such items are reserved for higher end performance cars, and even many of those you can get the brakes to fade if you push them really hard
By your " completely idiot proof" argument, inexpensive bikes (or cars) could not exist. What's to stop someone from getting on a $500 hybrid bike with low end disc brakes (these have been out for years) and go careening down a 4000ft mountain pass riding the brakes until they fail?
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