I was always wondering this. Imagine a steep descent. What is better for brake wear - braking constantly or more powerful just at the end? Anybody knows? Goes for both rim and disc brakes

  • superkret@feddit.orgEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Braking at the bottom will cause less wear.
    Because air resistance also has a braking effect, and it increases with your speed, squared.
    So the faster you go, the more energy will be bled off from wind resistance.

    Also, braking strongly in short bursts is better than letting your brakes rub continuously. That will cause them to overheat and glaze the brake pads, destroying them.

  • RiderExMachina@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    Physics says both use the same amount, just one is spread out more and the other is all at once. I don’t have the formula, but basically it takes the same overall effort to stop an object regardless of if it’s slowly or very fast.

    • safesyrup@lemmy.hogru.chEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      If you however travel at greater speeds, you loose more energy to air resistance since it squares with velocity. If you only brake at the end you will have lost a greater amount of energy to air resistance and less energy will go into the brakes.