Originally Posted by FBinNY

Anyway one of the best things to get into the habit of doing is to do a "brake test" -- simply squeezing both levers to see that brakes feel right -- every time you get on the bike. I've been doing it for 45 years, and it's totally unconscious but I can't count the times it's caught an open caliper release on my road bike, or a disconnected cable on the commuter's canti's.