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- #REAR BICYCLE LIGHT DECELERATE HOW TO#
- #REAR BICYCLE LIGHT DECELERATE FULL#
If you are drag braking to maintain a slow speed then you are not taking advantage for aerodynamic drag. The brakes never get a chance to cool off, building up heat over time which can make them ineffective if for example you need to suddenly stop. The reason constant drag braking is a bad strategy if you do not have a dedicated drag brake is as follows: If the drag brake fails from overheating the primary brake system should be unaffected. Tandem bikes do this but they typically have one braking system dedicated to being a drag brake, and a separate braking system to be used for stopping. As you heat up the system there generally is less capacity to absorb more heat (in addition to physical changes in the brake system component).Ĭonstantly dragging your brakes is probably the worst strategy. #REAR BICYCLE LIGHT DECELERATE HOW TO#
If R >= 1 then the strategy is just not to brake at all, that's easy, but how to brake if R=0.5 or even R=0.1?īrakes work by turning kinetic energy into heat through friction.
Minimize time that it takes to ride 10km of such slopeĭepending on the R. What are the optimum braking strategies that: The speed V n - which is the speed the biker would get if he would not brake nor pedal at all, when areo drag is preventing him from gaining any more speed from gravitational force.ĭesired speed the biker would like to go V d = R * V n To reduce number of variables, my final question is: I'm looking that would work best, even on non-disc-brake bikes. Though it might be problem solvable using different means (reduce my weight, use larger rotors). In my trekking bike - downhill on straight asphalt, starting with gradient above 10% where I gained ~50km/h later I tried to not gain any more speed using alternating brakes techniqueĪlso I have a feeling, that after glazing, when I experience lower braking strength, if I ride a few downhills when I'm more gentle towards this brake it regains its effectiveness. In my commuting bike, I have one hill (700m long, 4% gradient), and I brake shortly but with great force. #REAR BICYCLE LIGHT DECELERATE FULL#
This means that although the brake that's not operating is chilling down the other gets full load and its temperature will be higher improving risk of exceeding glazing temperature.
Brake constantly and maintain low speed using alternating brakes. Second strategy maintains constant high temperature of brakes, but provided low travelling speed I assume that temperature will not exceed glazing temperature. Though during the brakes it will have time to cool down again. Brake constantly using both brakes and maintain low speed (below 20km/h?)įirst strategy is trying to use as much aero drag as possible and then it will generate a lot of heat in brake system.
before hairpin turn) brake shortly with great power and both brakes
Brake as little as possible, but when needed (ex. So based on all above I have two strategies for braking: the lower the speed, the longer the time that it takes to ride, so longer the time to dissipate the heat from brake system.
the greater the speed, the greater aero drag, so if I go faster, less energy (in total) will need to be absorbed by brakes. if I brake with both brakes energy will be divided between two brakes so as heat (though not necessarily evenly - division depends on the force applied on brake levers). if I brake suddenly with great power, brake pads/disc rotors/rims will have to absorb a lot of energy which translates to heat, if I brake gently - less heat is generated. brake pads have some temperature above which they will start to glaze, so I should brake in such way, to avoid exceeding this temperature. create as much of aerodynamic drag as you can to reduce the pressure on brakesĪpart from that, I have following theories:. pulse brake instead of constantly braking. What's the best technique to brake to avoid glazing of brakes? Theory I mostly ride touristic style, and its not uncommon descents of few hundred meters or even 1000 meters (vertically, usually average gradient is around 5-10%).