Motorcycle Brakes

Your motorcycle brakes are the safety feature provided on your motorcycle. This is the system on your bike that can literally save your life. Making sure your brake system is performing like it should is key to staying alive to enjoy the next ride. 

Nowadays, motorcycles have evolved into motorcycle disc brakes with improved brake components such as multi-piston motorcycle brake calipers that provide even pressure over the entire braking surface. Changes in the caliper piston designs combined with improvements in brake fluids and other system components have really helped with reliability and function.

WHICH BRAKE IS STRONGER ON A MOTORCYCLE?

It is widely known that most motorcycle brake systems today include two sets of brakes (front brake, and rear brake), and controlling each independently in different scenarios could utilize the use of a motorcycle brake system with great benefits in motorcycle control.

Front brake

To simply put, the front brake nearly does the work of stopping your motorcycle to a halt, which could do up to more than 70 percent of the braking task; hence, front brakes usually require a larger front disc and brake pad. When using the front brake, the bike and the riders will have the tendency to lean forward to the front and in the meantime squeeze the tire to the ground. Consequently, motorcycle riders could gradually increase the front brake pressure without worrying about losing the front grip.

Even though using the front brake alone could benefit the riders such as the trail braking technique, which helps riders when entering a corner; however, in some cases that the handlebars are not straight, excessive use of front brakes could destabilize the motorcycle and cause you to fall.

Rear brake

The rear brakes are incredibly beneficial in enhancing motorcycle riders’ control. Besides, the rear break could be also lightly featured when navigating at low speeds to keep your motorcycle upright, which is extremely useful for making rapid U turns, and avoiding obstructions while moving slowly. More importantly, experienced riders also use the rear brake to straighten the corner line and widen the line.

Ultimately, to know which of the brakes you should use more, it also depends on the scenario you are currently dealing with. Commonly, we would suggest using the front brake when you want to stop your motorcycle on the straight line or cutting through a curve; meanwhile a rear brake should be optimized for balancing motorcycles in low-speed movement and aforementioned widen cornering line.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOTORCYCLE BRAKE CALIPERS

Furthermore, among the brake system, brake calipers are also one of the most important motorcycle brake components, which mainly help you to park your bike. Here are some common types of brake calipers: 

• Floating calipers: The floating calipers act as a clamp by having piston(s), which are only 1 side of the rotor and slide back and forth on either bushing or pins. The piston(s) only moves the brake pad on the inboard side of the rotor when brakes are pressed; the outboard pad is then squeezed against the rotor by the caliper as it moves over the bushings or pins, initiating the braking process.
• Slicing calipers: The caliper adapter has a slot where the sliding caliper type disc brake is mounted in. It is a type of floating calipers but has only a single piston and works on the same concept as the piston presses one brake pad while the movable caliper presses the other.
• Fixed calipers: A common fixed caliper could have 2,4,6, and even 8 pistons. As its name suggests, fixed calipers are mounted to the bracket without sliding pins or bushings. The inboard and outboard parts of the fixed calipers each have  an equal number of pistons. It is generally acknowledged that fixed calipers perform better but are more expensive.

MOTORCYCLE BRAKE COMPONENTS

Typically, main components of a disc brake motorcycle would include brake rotor, brake calipers, brake pads, master cylinder, brake lines and brake fluids. To gain an in-depth understanding of disc brake motorcycles, here is the breakdown of how each component operates: 

• Brake rotor: Are mainly made of cast iron, and they are the main rotating part of the disc brake. It is the component by which the brake caliper tightens its hold to halt the rotation of the wheel. 
• Brake calipers: As aforementioned we have discussed brake calipers in details and different types of them, a typical brake caliper would consist adapter, cylinder bore, piston, piston seal, dust boost, pins and bushes, positioner, retraction spring. 
• Brake pads: They are made of high friction material and mainly require 2 pads per brake disc, brake pads are placed onto brake calipers and mainly do the work of transforming kinetic energy of the bike into heat through abrasion. There are the three most common brake pad types namely: Organic Brake pads, Sintered brake pads, and semi-sintered brake pads. 
• Master cylinders: A cylinder that contains the brake fluid, the master cylinders transform the mechanical power into hydraulic pressure by having the brake lever act on a piston, which presses on a liquid. 
• Brake lines: The brake line or hoses, which were initially composed of rubber, would gradually lose strength and would need to be replaced somewhat frequently. Moreover, they were more prone to fracturing under intense pressure. Manufacturers started employing hoses with Teflon inner linings that were reinforced by wrapping them in braided nylon, Kevlar, or stainless steel layers to get around these problems.
• Brake fluids: The brake fluid is the hydraulic fluid that is all responsible for creating pressure between the rotor and the caliper. The fluid must possess qualities like non-compressibility, low viscosity, high boiling-point, non-corrosive, and great lubricity for master-cylinder and caliper piston seals in order to accomplish this task successfully.

MOTORCYCLE BRAKES FOR SALE AT LOWBROW CUSTOMS

Lowbrow Customs carries a nice selection of motorcycle brake parts to help you get your brake system on point. We carry Mid-USA multi-piston brake calipers for sale online that will be a huge improvement over most OEM set-ups.

Lowbrow Customs also carries an assortment of replacement motorcycle brake pads for Harley Davidson® motorcycles. These brake pads have replica OEM backing plates for a perfect fit. They feature sintered compounds that perform under harsh conditions and will provide an immediate feel when applied. We also carry a large assortment of motorcycle brake hardware. All the hard to find fasteners, bushings and springs you need to recondition your brake system or build a custom motorcycle brake system all on your own.

If you want to know more about motorcycle brakes, head over here to learn how to change rear brake pads on Harley Sportsters or replace the front brake rotor in 5 steps with us. At Lowbrow Customs, we carry globally trusted brands for your safe brakes such as British Standard, Cycle Standard, EMGO, Kustom Tech, etc. Level up your motorcycle brake system from our quality assortments to maximize the performance, driving experience and safety of your bike!