Mountain Biking - Rain!?

well its time for another newbe question to come from me!

I went out on a 10 mile ride after school yesterday and one the ride it stared to rain. I know that rain will effect the over all efficiency of the brakes( I do not have disc :( ), but I don't think that it should be as much as it did yesterday. My normal stop length is 1.5 bike lengths at 5 mph. when it was wet they take up to 3 some times!!! is this normal for V-brakes?

Ps. The rims are mavic's 221

yes it should take that long if you think about it, the rims will be wet, so too will the brake blocks, so thats gonna add distance to your stopping, then the road is wet too, so your tyres are gonna have less grip.

Take some sandpaper and buff your brake pads. Also, wipe down the brake surface on your rims every once in a while -- or every day if you aren't as lazy as I am. I use ceramic rims... the only way to go with v-brakes.

i have v-brakes and have lots of wet-riding experience... and they tend to work really well for me.

just from slight wetness from rain, the brakes should work pretty normally as they dry from air and from the heat from friction from using the brakes

i usually if only have real trouble (as you're describing) if i go through a puddle or something such that they REALLY get wet. in this case, i will ride the brakes for a few seconds to dry them out... especially before and upcoming downhill!

it's also important if possible to keep the rim surface as free of mud and sand as possible. i also occasaisonally have trouble when the rims get really dirty from a super-muddy ride...

you can also look into different brake pads: it depends on the manufacturer, but most have different materials, some specially designed for wet conditions: i think kool-stop has 'normal' 'extreme' and 'severe' (i also forget which is MORE, extreme or severe??) and i almost always buy pads designed for wet conditions

Thank you for your help. when you think about it, it is very logical and all. I will have to try the sand paper trick. maybe that will help. I do that once a month, should i do it any more than that?

Jared

I ont clean my pads, but I do wipe the road grime off my rims every few weeks.

You need to keep an eye out for potential braking situations, and apply the brakes in advance to wipe the water off the rims.

You sand them when they get that glazed look.

Thank you for your help. I felt that i needed to ask this. . . here in florida it rains everyday in the summer time, so this means that i wll be caught in it some time. I hope that i can try and work on my braking in the rain some time. for the most part when i am biking with my road bike i stop when i start to feel rain. so i dont have to much experiance with wet weather riding. Thank you!

Jared