As weather here finally became much better in last weeks I finally got a lot more confidents descending local hills at higher speeds (60km/h +) while being on the drops. But now I noticed that while I am being much better at taking corners then when I am descending on the hoods my breaking became much worse so ended up taking some corners yesterday at much higher speeds then I was comfortable doing. I noticed that when I start braking on the hoods I usually use 2 fingers and do not have an issue with modulation or lack of braking power that way. When on drops I only use my index fingers and feel sever lack of modulation and power. It feels like brake blades are flexing when I pull hard on them. Also other thing that came to my mind is that it might be due to cable stretch and that I do not feel it when on the hoods because of less distance brake lever travels that close to pivot point. I am using 8050 levers with Ultegra direct mount brakes and those brownish brake cables that came included with the groupset. I do no recall that I had this issues before but I changed groupset, used different cables, different wheels....
Can this be due to cables, levers or it's a combination of both?
Flexy Ultegra Di2 levers
Moderator: robbosmans
Hi,
when braking on the drop, you apply force closer to the pivot point of the levers, and probably with your middle abnd ring fingers rather than the index fingers ... less force, closer to the pivot, then you feel less deflection from the levers, and less give from the cables / brake lines.
On the other way, when braking from the drop, further from the pivot with more powerful fingers ... more deflection, more give !!
Just my 2 cents, E
when braking on the drop, you apply force closer to the pivot point of the levers, and probably with your middle abnd ring fingers rather than the index fingers ... less force, closer to the pivot, then you feel less deflection from the levers, and less give from the cables / brake lines.
On the other way, when braking from the drop, further from the pivot with more powerful fingers ... more deflection, more give !!
Just my 2 cents, E
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With blades, do you mean your brake levers or caliper arms?
Are you sure this happened on a descent and speed you've done before on the hoods? Sometimes the extra speed just becomes harder to control.
You might need better pads/calipers/rims to get the braking power you need.
My last idea is to check the housing and see that it isn't damaged. Maybe it's time to replace it and its ferrules. Maybe a bad fit or damage has created a place in it where it compresses. I've never seen this myself but it could be worth checking that all housing ends have ferrules where needed and are completely seated and that the housing isn't too short.
Also perhaps check the brake arms for play or flex. Maybe you have some malfunction.
Do you experience the same feeling on both the front and rear brake? Which one seems worse?
/a
Are you sure this happened on a descent and speed you've done before on the hoods? Sometimes the extra speed just becomes harder to control.
You might need better pads/calipers/rims to get the braking power you need.
My last idea is to check the housing and see that it isn't damaged. Maybe it's time to replace it and its ferrules. Maybe a bad fit or damage has created a place in it where it compresses. I've never seen this myself but it could be worth checking that all housing ends have ferrules where needed and are completely seated and that the housing isn't too short.
Also perhaps check the brake arms for play or flex. Maybe you have some malfunction.
Do you experience the same feeling on both the front and rear brake? Which one seems worse?
/a
Last edited by alcatraz on Fri Jun 07, 2019 9:14 am, edited 3 times in total.
Brake levers.
Higher speed should not be related to this as I did some experimentation on straight sections when being very low on the hoods and on the drops. Speed was roughly the same but decreasing it seems to be much easier on the hoods then drops. I can't say if the feeling is any different on left or right lever but will take closer attention to that. I did not think of cable casing and ferules so need to check on that as well.
Higher speed should not be related to this as I did some experimentation on straight sections when being very low on the hoods and on the drops. Speed was roughly the same but decreasing it seems to be much easier on the hoods then drops. I can't say if the feeling is any different on left or right lever but will take closer attention to that. I did not think of cable casing and ferules so need to check on that as well.
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