This morning I went ahead and put my mountain bike skin-side down after coming into a rock garden way too hot. I shot for the moon and landed among the rocks.
I also put the handlebar into the ground hard enough to bend the brake lever, it’s bent downward from the lateral almost like a torsion.
Long story short, I do not see any leaking fluid or anything like that, but rear braking performance seems to be affected. Does this make sense or is it all in my head?
Buy a new one, especially if braking is affected. It will likely snap, when you’re on top of a steep track all on your own.
yeah i’m sure you’re right. the aluminum is clearly already overstressed. It just doesn’t make sense to me that performance should be affected at all.
Maybe the lever is rubbing somewhere, or maybe it sort of ‘burped’. Or maybe the changed shape affects the biting point. How is performance affected, like the brake needs bleeding?
yeah exactly – like you have to squeeze the lever much harder than normal to get the usual stopping power. I bet you’re right that it burped or dislodged itself from the usual bite point. I think it probably also, in addition to bending, sort of got jammed in kind of like jamming your finger (which as well know, sucks)