Advocacy & Safety - Nearly Got Hit By A Car--Brake Cables

I was going down a hill towards an intersection. The hill ended right at the intersection. I had a green light, and so didn't slow down early. The light turned yellow, and so I had to apply my brakes harder then i would have liked. Suddenly i hear a snap, and my front brake stops working. My rear brake has never been very good, and i know i wont stop in time for the intersection so i pedal as hard as i can to speed past it. The light turns red, and a car has to screech to a stop almost hitting me.

I apologize and explain that my brake cable snapped, but they still aren't very happy with me.

My '78 motobecane was already ruined by falling off the back of our van, and my worn out specialized hardrock hybrid (road wheels) now has a broken brake cable.

Now i have 2 bikes with broken brake cables/brake housings and none work. I had already spent 16$ in brake cables and now i have to buy more.

How do I prevent any dangerous cable snappings in the future and how the hell do i tighten down the brake housing on a 78 motobecane?!?

Replace brake cables when they are not performing optimally, or when they're showing any signs of rust. Periodically squeeze the cables very hard, and if they feel wonky at all, check it out, replace if necessary. The brake cables on my current bike lasted 4 years (through all 4 seasons) before getting stiff. They weren't about ready to break, but they did get sluggish to release and pulled a little hard.

Basically, brakes should always feel crisp on both the pull and the release, and shouldn't feel spongy when applied hard.

I don't know what you mean by "tighten down the brake housing", sorry.

Sounds like you need to periodically perform some preventative maintenance on your equipment.

You would not (ok, well maybe you would) drive an automobile without ever doing any maintenance on it, why should a bike be any different?

You nearly died. Find a LBS to maintain your bike if you aren't capable of doing it.

if you're not using teflon tubing lined brake cable housings, a light coating of white grease on the cable before running it through the housing is a good idea, maybe even a good idea if you do have the teflon inners. White grease will prevent corrosion which is probably why you are snapping cables.

not sure what you mean about tightening the housing (?)

Frighting!

When we ride fast and/or long our bikes cease being toys and commence being tools that demand maintenance. My favorite resources are the late great Sheldon Brown's collection (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/) and the Park Tools site.

(http://www.parktool.com/repair/)

(Again, Monday morning quarterbacking...)
If you had applied the rear brake as hard as possible, are you sure you wouldn't have been able to stop? If so, I will argue that you probably were going too fast for conditions. Trying to beat the red made you look like one of the red-light running scofflaws that everyone gripes about.

But anyway, the important thing is that no one was hurt.

take the bike to a shop for a tuneup and complete brake cable/housing replacement. Sounds like that will bust the budget, but it's cheaper than the alternatives