Free Sample
The Complete Handbook of Bicycle Brake Parts
A practical reference for mechanics, retailers, and cycling enthusiasts on selecting, installing, maintaining, and profiting from brake systems
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: Understanding Bicycle Brake Parts
What Bicycle Brake Parts Actually Are
A bicycle brake part is any discrete component that contributes to converting your kinetic energy into heat. That's it. The frame, fork, and wheels are not brake parts, though they provide the mounting points and the friction surface. The brake lever, the cable or hose, the caliper or the brake arm, the pad or shoe, and the rotor or rim surface - all of these are brake parts. Understanding this system as a chain of energy transfer is the first step to making intelligent decisions about upgrades, replacements, and repairs.
Take a standard road bike with rim brakes. When you squeeze the lever, you're pulling a cable that runs along the top tube. That cable pulls one brake arm towards the rim, which then pushes the opposite arm via a linkage or a spring. The brake shoes, which hold the rubber pads, are forced against the aluminum rim. The friction between the pad and the rim converts your forward motion into heat, which dissipates into the air. Every one of these components - the lever, the housing, the inner wire, the caliper, the shoe, and the pad - is a part that must be matched to its brothers to function efficiently.
The key takeaway is that a brake system is a chain. Its strength is not determined by its most expensive part, but by its weakest link.
In the world of mountain bikes, the system is similar but