I think the longest I’ve ever descended is around 15km. Unless I am physically tired, I haven’t really stopped to give the brakes a rest.
However, I do hear about people descending from Wuling, which is around a 50-60km descent. They rest often both because of fatigue and giving the rims a breather.
O_o
If you’re concerned about your brakes giving in. It wouldn’t hurt to send the bike in for a full maintenance. Having them remove the group set, check for abnormalities and clean it, you might be less worried about the components suddenly failing.
If price is an issue, Decathlon does this for around 1000-1400NT. One of the club members works there and he says the people working there are legit and do have experience. This is probably the cheapest you’ll get. They’re cheaper than Giant.
In terms of finding a mechanic you trust. You’re on your own.
Well, my mechanical skills might be very poor but I’m sure I can check things like if the brakes work and clean them… also cables (which could be something to worry about) are new (0.5 kms now). I’m not paying 1000-1400 NT’s for having a guy looking into them.
I guess I will find out soon how it feels to make one of those long descents…
I would suggest checking your brakes on a short very steep decline to make sure it will actually brake. It’s not a fun feeling when you squeeze the brakes and the bike still goes downhill and accelerates.
Doesn’t hurt to pay for a second opinion.
They work pretty well now, and I sometimes climb and do downhills, but to do a very long one somehow makes me feel unconfident.
Since nobody else has bothered, allow me to refer you to Rule #5:
xD
Allow a mechanic to bring up this old and universal topic. Rider’s technique is beyond a mechanic, but proper setup is something a mechanic can help.
Apart from hydraulic caliper, all brake calipers, be it V-brake, caliper brake, cantilever brake, the caliper has one or two strong return springs to open up once the brake lever is released. For safety concerns, especially in extreme conditions eg, muddy, freezing cold, these calipers have spring tension so high that’s way over ordinary people’s requirement. In Taiwan, most of us never experience the cold that could freeze the brake.
On the other hand, the cable friction is another cause to prevent the brake from excellent performance. Many years ago around 2008, the era of bike boom in Taiwan, many local mechanics and enthusiasts debate on techniques to run cables on forums eg. Mobile01, PTT, etc (try search “走線”) There was one shop in Nangang which specialized in cable routeing and charge was quite high as 4k NTD.
A good mechanic can setup the brake that’s silky smooth to operate, but still powerful as it should. The ease of operating brakes further reduce the fatigue over the descent. The difference is like driving a car with/without power-steering.
I once worked in a shop in Taipei between 2008-2010, which was mentioned in another old Forumosa thread, . We went to certain extreme: we customized the spring tension on every bike. The outcome was satisfying but it’s too time-consuming and not profitable. The shop closed down a few years ago and transformed into beverage business.
Could you do that now if we requested it?
Happy to with some fee. Please inbox me for further discussions.