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Whilst coming down a very long steep rocky descent in the pennines this weekend, a thought popped into my mind:
Do disc brakes suffer with excess brake wear/fade on long steep descents when bikepacking due to all the extra weight being carried?
I've never done any bikepacking before and possibly fancy it later in year, but it got me thinking, do you need to upgrade your brakes (bigger rotors and/or better brakes) or carry spare pads for bikepacking trips, or are modern disc brakes good enough that its not a problem and I was just over thinking it?
I guess it really depends on how much extra load you think you'll be carrying and how heavy you are yourself. I tend to travel as light as possible so never give it a second thought. I normally have one spare set of pads with me though.
NOt an issue if you have a decent setup. We have an all up weight when camping approaching 1/4 tonne. Brakes are only struggling when faced with long steep hills where you need to keep the speed low - like 1000+ ft in a under a mile
If yo are doing proper back packing you will only be adding 10 - 20% more weight
Err, TJ, 10-20% is a lot!
My setup can be anywhere from 2.5kg to 6kg which depends really on season and whether I'm racing or touring. Food obviously adds extra and is variable but does depend if you want to be completely independent or you will use cafes, pubs, etc.
I'm 85kg, my bike's 12kg, let's call the total 100kg for simplicity. I think you can do the maths!
Definitely overthinking it. Like Colin I'll have a spare set of pads just in case.
Cheers for replies.
No idea on weight i'd carry, normally when touring i tend to pack way to much plus the kitchen sink. Usually 4 panniers, bar bag and tent on rack. So I will probably not be doing a minimalist approach to what I carry if bikepacking, also my camping kit is not the lightest
When we rode Tuscany Trail in 2016 there were people changing brake pads every 30-40km. We didn't, were still riding with those pads a year later.
10kg of extra stuff is going to make a tiny bit of difference. Assuming you've bedded the pads in properly. And theyre sintered.
There's another bikepacking thread running at the moment, I've posted some shots of setups on there.
whitestone - I'm thinking of a skinny get with a biggish setup. Even 20% extra weight is not going to affect your brakes significantly
Decent pads, make sure they are bedded in before heavy use. I don't think it harms brakes to get them nice and hot once in a while, but when heavily laden on a fast steep hill I will try and alternate brakes so that if one does suddenly fade, the other brake should be a bit cooler so I can still stop.
Not sure why but my gravel bike seems to heat up its brakes quicker than the other bikes, I think its 160 both ends but my old MTB is 160/140 and doesn't get so hot. I wonder if the carbon front fork and flat mount (so not much metal area) limits how much heat the caliper can shed.
Brakes need to get hot to work properly. the tandems ones do and sintered pads last thousands of miles. Its brakes that never get hot that wear out pads in short distances
I bikepack with my enduro bike (yes, I know... but it's great fun), so 4 pot brakes and 200mm rotors.
Seeing the abuse those brakes get in DH shuttle days, I couldn't care less about what they go through while descending at half the speed with an extra 5 or 7kg on board on easier trails
Kinetic Energy = 1/2 x Mass x Velocity^2
Weight is important but speed is importanter :o)
Bike brakes get lot's of air flow and hence cool pretty well. I'd carry a spare set of pads and fit 180 mm discs at least.
Indeed - its dragging brakes at low speed that cooks them
Did the Canadian Rockies from Jasper to Banff amongst other big passes with 4 panniers on weighing alot.... Cable disks were no issue and infact I'm up to about 8000km on those pads. (Hayes CX brakes)
I've done alot of bike packing km on my MTB loaded with hope X2.
Couple of times I've thought I could do with a bigger front disk......butbthats not the bike packing that caused that it's that I have 180mm tech e4s on one bike and 160mm floating race x2s on the xc bike.
As per Whitestone my bike packing set up is 5-8kg
Kinetic Energy = 1/2 x Mass x Velocity^2
That's if you're slowing to a stop from speed. In that case, the power is the energy dissipated divided by the time. Assuming you decelerate at a constant rate, you will take twice as much time to stop if you double the speed, so that will require dissipating four times the amount of heat in twice the amount of time, which means double the average power.
For maintaining a constant speed down a constant slope (ignoring aero drag), the energy dissipated is directly proportional to the loss of height. If you descent twice as fast, you have to dissipate the same amount of heat in half the time, but you have twice the airflow.
If you have a choice between a slow, steep descent and a fast, less steep descent where you lose the same amount of height in the same time, but cover different horizontal distance, you will need to dissipate the same amount of heat in the same time, but have less airflow on the steeper descent.
So, it's tricky. Also, if you have a really fast descent, your aero drag (and tyre drag if you have MTB tyres) will be massively higher. A mate once put some huge Gassalodis on a freeride bike. You had to pedal that thing on road descents because the aero and tyre drag was enormous. XC bikes would just cruise past.
Squirt of a water bottle on the fronts on long descents? Either a terrible or great idea!
Do manufacturers fit bigger brakes to e bikes?
The weight change is similar.
Don't pussy brake.
Brakes on, brakes off. Don't drag.
Whether your setup weighs 2kg or 15kg the principle is the same.
I weigh about the same with my full bikepacking setup as what I used to weigh without it.
Most modern brakes are adequate in most circumstances I'm pretty sure. It's not something I've ever experienced at all and although it's entered my head a few times I get way more concerned with rim brakes having seen tyres blow.
Don’t pussy brake.
Brakes on, brakes off. Don’t drag.
To be fair, this probably IS something that happens a lot more when bikepacking since you've significantly compromised the handling of the bike.
Do manufacturers fit bigger brakes to e bikes?
The weight change is similar.
They do, but this is either based on bowing to the incorrect public perception that a few extra kilos of bike somehow requires double the braking power; or a tacit aknowlagement that at least some of their customers are going to be morbidly obese biffers that have no idea on how to ride a mountain bike, but can quite easily get up some big mountain passes early in thier riding career.