Snap!
 

Snapped/broke our rear brake cable after about 30,000 miles on our Zona.
We were descending a curvy hill at a bit over 20 mph and coming to a T-intersection. Usually modulate both brakes when approaching that road. Right lever bottomed out; cable snapped at the head as it enters the lever.
Did some quick/hard pulling on front brake and managed to stop OK before the right turn.
Stoker sensed immediately what was wrong, but does not panic. Cut our ride a bit short and we had no downhills heading home. Did just fine.
Replaced cable with a teflon coated one, replaced some of the inner plastic guide cable. We also have a custom pulley to guide rear cable and took that apart and lubed it; some wild curves in the housing and kinda fussy to get it just right.
All's well that ends well!
Pedal n TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Glad to hear you are both alright.

Good to hear this turned out okay. Stories like this are why I replace my cable inners every year, needed or not.

In theory the stoker could grab the cable, wind it around the glove and pull hard to activate the rear brake, but it is hard to think of that in the short panicky time and it would not equal the brake lever pull but would work
on a longer down hill.

A similar thing happened to us a few years back, except it was that the small allen set-screws on our rear-brake cable coupler/splitter loosened up and let go of the cable end. Same result = scary! Now I check those little screws regularly.

Rudy,
Looking back, were there any indications prior to failure? Might help some of us avoid your problem in the future.

Thanks
jack

Attachment 173496
sch:
Yup, know about stoker grabbing the cable with gloved hand; however this was spit-second reaction time! Fortunately, even at age 78, pilot's reflexes are still pretty good and stoker does not panic easily.
Grabbing the cable would be fine for descending any more downhills, but the way home did not include any descents but a 1/2-mile 6% climb.

just me:
No, there was no indication whatsoever that anything was amiss with the rear braking capability.
Have had derailleur cables snap a few times but this was a first for a brake cable for us. Brake cables are a tiny bit thicker than der. cables and usually are not an issue for us.
It is a good practice to give all stuff on the bike a quick overlook every few months including checking nuts/bolts/cables.

Did our usual 20 miler tandem toot today, and it was re-assuring to have both brakes working!
Got to have a bit of excitement once in awhile . . .

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

And am I correct in assuming that you never replaced a brake cable on any of the prior tandems with as many as 56,000 miles on them?

Attachment 173513Never had a brake cable break on any of our tandems. So this was a 1st for us.
Have only *replaced* rear brake cable when we were getting mega-miles on them . . .
Have removed/replaced/lubed housing when braking seemed a bit sluggish. Usually run the cable itself through a block of parafin (canning wax) for more lubrication.
Seems in 'the old' days brake cables were thicker than what they are currently, but the housing was flimsier.
Cable housing has greatly improved . . . recall decades ago a rear derailleur cable housing by the chainstay actually exploding/disintegrating on us. Fortunately we were onl a few miles from home.
Anything and everything has limited lifetime . . . even us!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

I was going to say I've never put 30k on a break cable but now that I think I may have. I change shifter cables all the time but I can't remember ever changing a brake cable. They just don't get messed with enough. Hmmmm maybe it'd be a good thing to give them a look-see.