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You lost me at `If you’re going to cheap out, brakes are the first place to cut corners.` Cheap brakes + 30mph = a bad time

by amarka 10y ago

wolrah 10y ago
Depends. Almost every vehicle, motorized or not, that I've ever driven can lock up the tires. For a vehicle used for commuting or other non-performance applications that's basically all that matters. If you can outbrake your tires (or in the case of a short + high-CG vehicle like a bike, outbrake your ability to keep the thing from flipping over the front wheel) any more braking ability is irrelevant. For those sorts of uses where a single panic stop is the hardest the brakes will ever work it's basically binary, you either have enough brakes or you don't, and once you have enough adding more doesn't gain you anything. Performance applications where you're constantly hard on the brakes, off, then back on like a car on a race track are where the scale becomes analog. Larger brakes that are better at dissipating heat will last longer before fading out, and if good enough will not fade during the expected race session. tl;dr: Unless you're on a race track or similar there's only "enough brakes" or "not enough brakes" and no reason to go better.
- amarka 10y ago
  I'm sorry but I just can't agree; brake performance is not binary, brake fade from continual use is only one factor to consider. How the brakes perform in different weather/temperature/riding conditions is also critically important. It would REALLY suck to find out that some cheap brakes that worked great on the sunny+mildly warm day when you installed them but end up failing miserably the next day when it's a bit wet and they have a bit of mud on them. Maybe the city environment I usually commute in has more obstacles than most, but investing so heavily in your ability to accelerate + maintain high speeds and then sacrificing braking is an incredibly poor decision.

You lost me at `If you’re going to cheap out, brakes are the first place to cut corners.` Cheap brakes + 30mph = a bad time

by amarka 10y ago

You lost me at `If you’re going to cheap out, brakes are the first place to cut corners.` Cheap brakes + 30mph = a bad time

wolrah 10y ago

Depends. Almost every vehicle, motorized or not, that I've ever driven can lock up the tires. For a vehicle used for commuting or other non-performance applications that's basically all that matters. If you can outbrake your tires (or in the case of a short + high-CG vehicle like a bike, outbrake your ability to keep the thing from flipping over the front wheel) any more braking ability is irrelevant. For those sorts of uses where a single panic stop is the hardest the brakes will ever work it's basically binary, you either have enough brakes or you don't, and once you have enough adding more doesn't gain you anything. Performance applications where you're constantly hard on the brakes, off, then back on like a car on a race track are where the scale becomes analog. Larger brakes that are better at dissipating heat will last longer before fading out, and if good enough will not fade during the expected race session. tl;dr: Unless you're on a race track or similar there's only "enough brakes" or "not enough brakes" and no reason to go better.

amarka 10y ago
I'm sorry but I just can't agree; brake performance is not binary, brake fade from continual use is only one factor to consider. How the brakes perform in different weather/temperature/riding conditions is also critically important. It would REALLY suck to find out that some cheap brakes that worked great on the sunny+mildly warm day when you installed them but end up failing miserably the next day when it's a bit wet and they have a bit of mud on them. Maybe the city environment I usually commute in has more obstacles than most, but investing so heavily in your ability to accelerate + maintain high speeds and then sacrificing braking is an incredibly poor decision.