Ekar hydraulic brake failure in sub zero temps

K

Kaufman

Dirt Disciple
Hi

Last Monday saw temps fall (just) below zero where I live. It also coincided with both my front and rear brakes on my 3month old Canyon Grizl gravel bike completely and utterly failing. Weather now much milder but brakes are still absolutely non-existent. The brakes are Campagnolo Ekar hydraulic discs.
Has anyone else ever suffered anything similar?The temp at its worst was probably -2. So not really that extreme.
 
campag uses mineral oil so temperatures shouldn't be an issue unless there is water in the system from something else. frozen water in the MS will result in a frozen seal which will rip on use and render your brakes done for. was always more of an issue with Dot4 fluids which are hygroscopic.

given it's 3 month age, discuss with Canyon about warranty.
 
Kaufman said:
Hi

Last Monday saw temps fall (just) below zero where I live. It also coincided with both my front and rear brakes on my 3month old Canyon Grizl gravel bike completely and utterly failing. Weather now much milder but brakes are still absolutely non-existent. The brakes are Campagnolo Ekar hydraulic discs.
Has anyone else ever suffered anything similar?The temp at its worst was probably -2. So not really that extreme.
Click to expand...
Interesting. A doctor friend hired Sherpas and spent many days climbing the worlds highest mountain pass so they could ride down, which only took a few hours. They did research on how high altitude would affect hydrologic bicycle brakes. They couldn’t find anyone who knew. He went with hydraulic, his buddy used mechanical discs. The hydraulic brakes started to fail right away as the fluid evaporated, or boiled off, as he put it. He hardly made it down. The mechanicals worked all the way down. I thought this was also interesting. He also thinks the worlds best mountain biking is in Iceland, but he said you need a guide as there are hollow lava tubes you could fall into and be lost forever. All he does for vacation is to travel around the world to mountain bike.
 
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