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I'm a new rider who, after putting several hundred miles on a 125cc Honda Dream, finally got serious on a 400cc Honda Steed. My first big trip was the Mae Hong Son Loop through northern Thailand. If you've never heard of it, mark it down as a biker's pilrimage to complete before you die.

At any rate, I ran out of gas one day about a mile from a gas station (dumb, yeah, I know). The good news was the mile was all down hill. I put the bike in neutral and let myself coast. I didn't ride the brake, but did try to keep myself from gaining too much speed. Before long the brake failed completely; I would have been in big, big trouble had the road not flattened out at that point.

I fueled up, got the bike running again, and after a short test ride in an adjacent parking lot discovered I had regained braking power. I'm trying to learn bike mechanics but am still in the dark -- can anyone tell me what happened?

Did the lever suddenly pull all the way in, or did it remain firm but do nothing to slow the bike? If the latter, you may have experienced brake fade and, upon cooling while you gassed-up, the brakes were ready to go again.

I concur. Though you may not have been riding the brakes, apparently you used them enough on the downhill section to heat them up. Hot brakes don't work very well. Motorcycle brakes (drum or disc) tend to be small and will heat up with surprising quickness. You really have to be careful how you use them. In a situation such as yours, I would have had the bike in a high gear and used the engine's compression to keep my speed under control by letting out the clutch.

It was several months ago, but if I recall correctly I was using the foot brake and at the time of failure there was zero resistance.

The above assessments were correct then. You brake fluid needs to be changed. If the bike is old (~10 years) it's also a good time to put new brake lines on it. Rubber brake lines degrade over time.