I've got a 15 year old Giant hybrid with Altus c10 brakes. Last week I had the bike serviced - wheels trued and brake pads replaced - among other things. Once I got it home I took it out for a test drive and wound up kissing the pavement and getting really banged up. I suspect that the front brake grabbed during a turn thus sending me airborne. Is this plausible or am I just a victim of my own error? What is the proper bias front to back? My front pads have proper toe in and are within 1.0 mm of the rim. The back pads are 3.0 mm off the rims.
Your front pads sound aligned properly, have a look at the back and try and get it closer to 1mm, this will bring consistency between the two.
However on pretty much all bikes the front will be more powerful than the rear, as this one does most of the work slowing you down as it's the most efficient (hence why some lower end bikes have a disc on the front and Vs on the back)
As for when you binned it, sounds to me like human error (sorry). Your front brake will have been more powerful than you were used to, and thus you weren't prepared for the power and went flying. Don't grab your brakes as much, try and modulate and control the power. Having your brakes go from OK to pretty good can catch you off guards. I replaced the brakes on my DH bike a few weeks ago as the old ones were not worth repairing with something considerably more powerful and they do catch me off guard every now and again (though they have not as yet been responsible for a crash)
can anyone tell me if you can use a front disc caliper on the rear?
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