Frozen brake

@excimer34 170692 wrote:

In the cold, by my estimation in temps below freezing, my rear brake seizes up (it’s a disc brake). The brake is frozen “open” and the wheel can turn freely. The first time it happened, I remember trying with all my might to squeeze the hand brake but it would not budge. Later that day, when the temp reached the 50’s, the brake worked fine. I mentioned this to my mechanic and proffered my possible explanation–water in the brake cable housing–but he seemed skeptical. I trust him as he has been working on bikes for a long time and has seen pretty much everything. He didn’t replace the cable or housing, but he sprayed lubricant on the brake. I hoped that would be sufficient. This morning I took my bike out of the house, breaks working fine. Within 2 minutes of my ride in 15 degree weather, the rear brake froze tight again. Has this happened to anybody? Your speculation is welcomed!

My Stump the Chumps prognosis: You have water in your cable housing.

Lube, less is more, in cold weather. It will just add to whatever sludge is in your brake cable housing and exacerbate the problem. The rear shifter on my regular commuter is susceptible to this.

I would put on new housing and cable and clean all the pivot points on the caliper and brake lever with 90% (or more) isopropyl alcohol. If you do lube any of the pivot points use a very thin oil sparingly and don’t lube the cable. Actually, since I am cheap I would probably try cleaning the housing out with alcohol before I replaced everything.

Taking the bike outside and letting it freeze before you start riding can help avoid a nasty surprise a couple minutes down the road too.

@excimer34 170692 wrote:

In the cold, by my estimation in temps below freezing, my rear brake seizes up (it’s a disc brake). The brake is frozen “open” and the wheel can turn freely. The first time it happened, I remember trying with all my might to squeeze the hand brake but it would not budge. Later that day, when the temp reached the 50’s, the brake worked fine. I mentioned this to my mechanic and proffered my possible explanation–water in the brake cable housing–but he seemed skeptical. I trust him as he has been working on bikes for a long time and has seen pretty much everything. He didn’t replace the cable or housing, but he sprayed lubricant on the brake. I hoped that would be sufficient. This morning I took my bike out of the house, breaks working fine. Within 2 minutes of my ride in 15 degree weather, the rear brake froze tight again. Has this happened to anybody? Your speculation is welcomed!

Wanted to confirm, the brakes are mechanical disc and not hydraulic or mechanical pull/hydraulic piston hybrid?

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Another thing to check on the the presence of a “U” in your cable route. That is where water will collect and eventually freeze (or maybe even rust the cable if it is not stainless steel). If your rear disc brake caliper mount is inside the rear triangle, you are probably doomed to have a “U” in the cable. In my view, the inside-the-rear-triangle position is for full-hydraulics only. If you have sufficient humidity in the house, you could collect brake cable water without riding in the rain through condensation.

I’m pretty certain if you just pour vodka into your cable housings, that’ll solve the problem. I always keep some in stock.

FWIW, I’ve never found lubing housing to do much good. It can help short term to free corroded cables, but beyond that it just gums up and causes future problems. Modern lined housings work great without lube. If things are getting sticky its almost always the steel cable corroding.

Best solution I’ve found is a bulk box of housing (available online all over the place), a container of ferrules, and just replace the housing and cables at the first sign of trouble. It helps a lot if you drill out the stops (if necessary) to run full length housing, which helps keep water out. I’ve never found the fancy housing packages to work any better than generic jagwire.

If unhandy or short on tools to disasemble. with the bike warm. Take a vacuum cleaner and put the hose on the ends of the brake housing. You don’t need to take things apart just pull the housing out of the fitting a bit and make a seal around the end and vac hose with your hands. Hold for 20 seconds or so and repeat at any other housing ends you can. As said any drop down loop should be changed so the ends of the housing are below the cable housing. Use a dry cable lube after if you have some on hand.

@Subby 170720 wrote:

There is one solution, and one solution only. Hydraulic disc brakes. It will be the best money you ever spend.

Of course those brakes using mineral oil (like most Shimano units) can have problems with the mineral oil getting too stiff below about 0 F.

I have noticed it, but just dealt with differnt feel, no locking open

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