I had a weird thing on the weekend which I have never had before, on a fast descent off Exmoor my brakes effectively stopped working, the lever was still solid however when you pulled them on there wasn't any bite and the rotor seemed to be moving through the caliper without it actually gripping.
Now I am assuming the pads glazed over, however it wasn't a massive descent and I have never experienced this before (I've had brake fade in the Alps with Hope's, but not this feeling). So was this just unlucky? or just crap pads?
Maybe rode through a puddle with diesel or oil spilled in it?
I've had pads glaze but it takes a few rides ime. Pop the pads off, sand them down and try again.
Was it wet? I've had lots of brake dust gloop all over the discs in heavy rain and this caused dramatic loss of performance. Apparently, the gloop builds up in the holes in the disc and makes the middle wear faster than the outsides. So you end up braking either on a layer of pad gloop or, when the gloop dissipates, just the very top and bottom of the pad.
Yep it was very wet, as I ended pushing for slushy snow for a good few miles before hand. I will take the pads off and sand them.
It was odd as the front and rear went at pretty much the same time, so it could have been some oil/diesel in a puddle and I wasn't braking that much.
Check to see if there's more wear around the edges of your rotor. I had that.
Pads only glaze when it's dry and they get very hot without being worn much (ie no grit and dirt around) afaik.
