Are roller brakes suppoed to smoke like that ?

[border-rider]

Rhetorical Q. 

I took the Pomp over the Gospel Pass today, and on the descent into Hay I had to stop because of the copious volumes of smoke and partially-burned hydrocarbons pouring out of the roller brake.  It got so hot that the paint on the dropout has discoloured 

I guess I need to regrease it, but I wonder how much damage has been done to the dynamo hub it's attached to.

[rogerzilla]

Of course they're supposed to smoke.

How Mountain Biking was Invented: Who Created the First Mountain Bike and Why? | Suite101.com

[Rhys W]

Watching the British Champs on top of the Tumble, I decided to head back down into Abergavenny to see the end of the race. Spectators had started  to go down in their cars, and I got caught behind a few on the steep parts so was constantly braking. I could smell burning but I don't know if it was coming from the cars' brakes or mine. Halfway down I decided that the heat from friction must be reaching dangerous levels and a good idea would be to stop. I've felt warm rims from braking before but these were burning hot.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I think I've posted before on this. Couriers in york using Maximus trikes managed to get a roller brake so hot the grease caught fire. It welded the brake internals - certainly stopped them!

[clarion]

Crikey, Malcolm!  What brake were you using?

[border-rider]

Not a very good one, obv.

It's been on there a few years - I used to use it for commuting and I've done a 200 and a 300k audax on it.  Nothing that hilly before, though.

[Ian H]

Going the other way I've never found much use for brakes. Now I'm trying to picture how the descent to Hay would be.

[border-rider]

Going the other way I've never found much use for brakes.

Indeed.  It's a lovely spin down that way.

Now I'm trying to picture how the descent to Hay would be.

Windy and steep, with cars coming up towards you.  The problem with it is that with that brake, there comes a speed when it's not capable of actually slowing a flying Volio, so in order to make the corners and avoid the cars one has to moderate the speed on the straighter bits.  I only discovered this yesterday.

it's not a problem on the MC; usually I'm going faster than the cars down there.

[spesh]

Of course they're supposed to smoke.

How Mountain Biking was Invented: Who Created the First Mountain Bike and Why? | Suite101.com

Ah yes, the good ol' Repack downhill race...