Most powerful brakes for Summer riding

[Mike Muz]

Evening all ,

Just want to ask for peoples opinions on the above .
My theory is that the bigger the disc , the stronger the brake or why else would racing cars/bikes have such big discs ?
That -to me- means rim brakes . After all you obviously cant get a bigger disc than the rim .
Would hydraulic bakes theoretically be more powerful than V or cantis ? Never tried but I would assume it takes less lever pressure to slow down using hydraulics . ie; Maguras or something like them .
Would/are normal , modern disc brakes - in summer where rim/pad wear is not a factor on the rim brake designs - more powerful ?
Or have I just got too much time on my hands on a Saturday evening
Thoughts please ,
Thanks ,
Mike

 

[cherrybomb]

The reason for having bigger disks is to dump the heat faster as really hot brakes don't work as well.

I guess with rim brakes the 'disk' is so big heat won't really be an issue, but there are other benefits with having a disk brake. You can get away with riding on a damaged/buckled rim (within reason) should anything untoward happen while out riding and they work no matter what the conditions.

Oh, and its easier and cheaper to change a worn brake disk than a worn rim.

Having said all that, only one of my bikes has disk brakes.

 

[WD Pro]

Distance / length / diameter make a big difference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque

WD

 

[cce]

disc brakes have a far larger contact area than rim brakes.

 

[FMJ]

Distance / length / diameter make a big difference

 

[WD Pro]

Seen some stuff like that before on some custom chopper style bike, they look really cool

WD

 

[bren]

Cheap discs can be just as shite as cheap poorly setup cantis.
Conversely, spend a bit of money and get something decent and they can outperform all rim brakes bar none.
Rim brakes are compromised by the amount of pressure they can exert on the rim. If you squeezed a rim as hard as a hydraulic disc caliper grips it's disc/rotor you would squash it flat.

 

[FMJ]

Seen some stuff like that before on some custom chopper style bike, they look really cool

Buell Firebolts and Lightnings (optional) came with single sided perimeter rotor disk brakes. The one in the post above is a modded dual disk set-up by someone at Barber Racing.

 

[halaburt]

disc brakes have a far larger contact area than rim brakes.

Care to share/expound on the math you're basing that on?

 

[FluffyChicken]

Heat is an issue with rim brakes, have you felt rims after some good braking?
Hit 30 mph and brake heavily. The rims will get hot. I've had some brake bocks melt. Litteraly, never used them again.
Rims get to a point too hot to touch, its hard for the pad to dissipate heat through it rubber to the holder
The rim has a tyre and tube sat next to it, it also has to cope with the expansion the heat causes all while still trying to brake and stay round.
The disc have a larger pad surface area in the holder, tend to have large metal holders and can dissipate heat easier. The disc doesn't have to support tyres or stay round to keep the bike rolling. It does however nead to stay flat to stop it jamming up.

Still I've never used disc, devils work ;-)


No matter howuch braking you have it still relies on that damn tyre in the end. Still the idea is to give you a greater range, increased consistency and less finger power.
But given half the people I meet still with not switch v-levers into the higher power mode, why do we need disc?
Especially round here with the stuff we do.