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from the I've-never-had-functioning-brakes,-I-don't-oil-my-chain-and-my-derailleur's-out-of-adjustment dept.
Brakes that are too effective have led Lyft to remove thousands of its electric pedal-assist bicycles from New York City (Citi Bike), San Francisco (Ford GoBike), and Washington, D.C. (Capital Bikeshare):
A month ago, Jordan Wyckoff was riding an electric Citi Bike to work in Brooklyn when he slammed on the brakes to avoid a minivan that swerved in the bike lane. But when he hit the brakes, the front wheel locked up, sending Mr. Wyckoff over the front of the handlebars and onto the pavement.
The same thing happened to Dominik Glodzik when he tried to brake before a stop sign in Astoria, Queens about two months ago.
William Turton flipped over the front of an electric Citi Bike while trying to brake before an intersection on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.
In recent months, dozens of riders have reported injuries while riding electric Citi Bikes, prompting the company on Sunday to pull all of the approximately 1,000 electric bicycles from New York City's streets amid safety concerns about the brakes. Lyft, which owns Citi Bike, took similar precautions with its other bike-sharing services in Washington and San Francisco.
Motivate, a subsidiary of Lyft since 2018, operates bicycle sharing systems in several cities.
Previously: Uber May Try to Buy Citi Bike Parent Company Motivate
Lyft Acquires America's Largest Bike-Sharing Company, Motivate
Related: New Electric Bikes, Scooters, and Dockless Bicycles Hitting U.S. Streets
Uber Buys Electric Bicycle-Sharing Startup JUMP Bikes
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @09:04AM (7 children)
This happens on ANY bicycle (or even motorcycle!) with a sufficient front brake. You *NEVER* start with the front brake, you hit the rear brake first, shift weight to the back, and only use the front brake for final stopping power if there is no other choice. If you are really good you can balance the two out as you come to a stop and to avoid either the launch (front brake) or the skidding crash (rear brake.) But really this is just a limitation of non-ABS braking systems combined with a lightweight high center of gravity vehicle with brakes sufficient to stop it under maximum traction.
Really the better question might be why these dumbasses didn't perform a few brake checks BEFORE ending up in a situation where you had to slam them on. From my own experience with bicycles your brakes can be VERY hit or miss if you don't practice with them before going on a ride. Some brakes feel fine at low speeds but fade when you clamp down in an emergency and others feel sloppy at low speeds, but will bite hard if you clamp on them in a panic. Finding balanced brakes that bite about the same at all speeds is very unusual compared to cars since most don't have a sacrificial rotor surface (except the newer disc brake bikes) and as a result can only use the wear of the rubber surface against the wheel for stopping power, not the interaction of wear between the brake pad and the rotor where both sides abrade giving a more uniform braking grip under normal circumstances (good properly sized brakes still lock up if you slam the pedal to the floor however, same as on these bicycles.)
(Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 16 2019, @09:27AM (2 children)
This is how unloaded the rear wheels can get: https://www.google.com/search?q=best+stoppies&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1&tbm=isch
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Informative) by Nuke on Tuesday April 16 2019, @12:21PM (1 child)
FatPhil wrote :-
I don't agree they are incomparable. Most of these other posters are talking about slow-ish workaday utility pedal-bike riding, but what you say corresponds exactly with my experience of pedal bike riding which includes several seasons of road racing at a top level. As you say, in extreme braking the rear wheel is almost lifting and is therefore contributing little to the braking effect. Part of the skill of handling a pedal bike at higher speeds is to be able to judge this, sliding your weight back to counteract the tendency of the rear to lift, but keeping the bike close to the point at which it does, using principally the front brake judiciously.
Because the rear has less effective weight on it during braking it is more likely to lock, and the moment it does it the bike will whip round and you will be on the ground. So contrary to some other advice here, a skilled faster cyclist will be very cautious with the rear brake. If you are riding a bike more slowly you will be stopped before this develops, hence I suppose the advice in some other comments to use the rear brake.
A problem with the hire bikes is probably that many people assume bike brakes are very poor and therefore pull them on as hard as possible when needed. That will lock the front brake on a properly maintained bike and send you over the handlebars, even at relatively slow speeds.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 16 2019, @01:44PM
Perhaps the best advice is to simply behave in such a way that you least often need to use your brakes, and if you do, only gentle braking will do. Pedestroids on their mobiles are fair game - run'em down if you have to, but you get the special move bonus if you can clip them just so that it knocks their imDumb out of their hands.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Informative) by kazzie on Tuesday April 16 2019, @11:56AM (3 children)
I strongly recommend reading the advice of lifelong cyclist (and bike mechanic) Sheldon Brown [sheldonbrown.com] on using the front or rear brake skillfully. Here are two key quotes:
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Tuesday April 16 2019, @12:24PM
Indeed. And your post came up just as I was posting mine, making a similar point. The rear brake is really the secondary brake.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 16 2019, @01:58PM
[* Oh, alright, they were almost certainly Spanish, as I know there was a summer-school for hundreds of Spaniards in town at the time.]
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @02:44PM
Which means it is stupid that they removed the bikes. What are they going to do? put weaker breaks on them? People should understands that bicycles are vehicles and they need to learn to ride them properly.