What is a motorcycle brake?

19/07/2017 12:45pm

Well actually, it’s an energy converter. That is, it converts energy, in this case motive energy or movement, into thermal energy or heat and it does this through the use of friction.

There are two principal types of brakes used on motorcycles in the last hundred years or so. Drum Brakes and Disc_Brakes.
Drum brakes have the static element, the brake plate and shoes fixed to the chassis and these push against the moving element which is the inside of the wheel drum, hence, drum brakes. They were used principally up until the 1070’s when disc brake technology started to overtake the drums but some of the last ‘four leading shoe’ drum brakes were pretty good in their day. They are still used today on smaller capacity and lower power machines. They are cheap and easy to produce but always suffered from the Achilles heal of being very difficult to cool and are not nearly so efficient as disc brakes for slowing more powerful machines.
Disc brakes have the static element, the calipers and pads fixed to the chassis pushing on the moving element, the disc, fixed to the wheel. They are now highly efficient, cheap to produce, relatively easy to cool, clean in operation and are fairly hassle free. 
When they were first created there were plenty of problems as the manufacturers got to grips with the technology and stopping distances in the rain were none too impressive. Some early Japanese bikes were damn right dangerous and it was quicker to put your feet down. Ah yes, such fond memories!

None the less, the technology has moved on massively and we can now stop motorcycles from over 200mph in amazingly short distances. Actually, the only thing that limits braking now is tyre technology and human endurance! 
There are six principal areas to a disc brake system. The master cylinder, brake hose, brake fluid, brake caliper, brake pads and brake disc.