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
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
Depending on the heat build up and dissipation and the length of the slope, constant gentle braking could result in loss of friction if the brakes overheat that would have a negative impact on being able to control the speed at the end of the hill and could result in warping discs brakes.
It would probably need to be a very long and steep slope to do that, but heat build up is the only thing that really impacts brake wear since the same amount of friction is needed to slow or stop.
Yes, yes, But are you sure about that? If we ignore other factors (i.e. wind resistance) you have to convert fixed amount of kinetic energy to fixed amount of heat. Both should generate the same amount of heat, the difference would be that breaking in short bursts might create higher temperatures momentarily.
Breaking momentarily with gaps in between to allow time for heat to dissipate might help avoid brakes overheating on long and steep enough slopes. It would probably need to be quite long for it to be an issue.