V-brakes failed.
 

deleted

Brake function is not mysterious; just take it to the shop and ask them to make sure your brakes work.

+1 on what chaadster said.
If the fork is bent (slightly) the bike shop may be able to fix it.

What you don't know is exactly the problem. You can either take it to the bike shop as I said, or you can educate yourself about the function of V brakes, but since you've made no indication of interest in the latter, the former is plainly the answer to your question, "what should I do?"

I'm sorry that I don't have anything to offer towards why your brake failed but in the future when something as important as your brakes start making a noise they shouldn't make, investigate why.....right then, don't put it off. And that carries over to any vehicle or major appliance you rely on. As a general rule you should know a little about everything you use in your day to day life, that will vastly reduce the amount of mercy you require from strangers throughout life.

What does "brakes slid" mean? They're supposed to "slide" or your rim is. Do you mean you locked the wheel up and your tire slid? If so, that's what happens when you squeeze lever too hard and don't pump it. Linear pull (V) brakes are, by design, able to put a lot of pressure on the rim. The short cable of the front brake makes it easy to lock up the front wheel if you aren't careful and "panic stop."

I think what we need to know is:

Did the front brakes simply not work and the wheel and bike fail to slow down at all?

Or

Did the front brakes work too good and the front wheel stopped moving completely and slid?

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/smilies/facepalm.gif The newb is strong with this one.

What kind of brakes and levers?

You received a perfectly legitimate response, which was to take it to the bike shop and let them look at it. The cumulative body of knowledge on this forum has no freakin' idea what you're talking about when you say the brakes just slid. It makes zero sense to any of us. V-brakes don't work, then mysteriously not work, then work again. There has to be a reason they "slid", whatever that means, and you are failing to get that point across. We're not the idiots here. Put that in your newb pipe and smoke it.

Did you ride through a big puddle? Rim brakes can seem like they don't work if the wheels and brake pads are wet. Once dry they work again

Next question:

Did they feel like the lever went all the way to the handlebar?

or

Did they feel like no matter how hard you squeezed the lever was in the normal position and nothing happened?

The only thing I really liked about vee brakes was that they were fun to adjust.
I never had a lot of confidence in the stopping power, although they always did the job.
I have a brake modulator on my cannondale which further adds to the 'squishy' factor.
My new crosstrail comp has disc brakes. No comparison. They are the only way to go
for anyone who is not overly weight conscious.

I've always found V-brakes to be pretty good on stopping power and on modulation both. Was the OP talking about a front brake or a rear brake? Either way, these are the simplest to repair and adjust. Hope that he takes it to his local shop. They'll have him on his way in a few minutes, I'm guessing.

OP apparently shamed into Deleting their own question, ... so it goes :innocent:

If you're not down with the pack, you deserve to be eaten.... there is a no noob policy here. Don't ask a question you don't know the answer for.

I don't understand your comment.

Its hard to assess with stuff deleted from the thread but I'm seeing good advice rather than arrogance

Don't ask a question for which you don't already know the answer? I also don't understand the comment.

Some people on this forum appear to think they are some kind of smart asses.
Anybody can try and make anybody else look stupid on the internet. . . That's not smart.
Bad vibes to criticise or ridicule somebody asking a legitimate question, or asking for help.

No doubt that is true but is it what happened here? I'm not seeing it with what's currently in the thread.

:deadhorse: It's over and done....

This thread has run its course. And off course.

closed.