Road Bike Brakes Are Part Of Your Bikes Safety System

Which type of brakes should you choose for your bike? Bicycles use different types of brake systems to slow your bike down when you need to or want to stop. There have been a number of different types since bicycles were invented, and several are still being uses today. The most commonly used kind of road bike brakes are what is called rim brakes but this could be changing in the not to distant future.

The most common type of brakes when I was growing up were coaster brakes. It is activated by pedaling backwards and is a rear brake only. When you want to slow down you simply push the pedals backward and the harder you push the more braking power you have. This type of brake is still common in upright comfort bikes and is sometimes aided by a rim brake on the front tire. This type of brake is not used on road bikes because the braking power is not sufficient to stop a high speed road bike.

Rim brakes are the ones most often used on road bikes. They have good stopping power. They are fairly easy to maintain and they are light weight. I said they have good stopping power but they aren’t the best. Disc brakes are but never the less they get the job done. One of the problems is on high performance road bikes where increasingly they are using carbon fiber rims they aren’t as good at stopping the bike. Also if the weather is wet the rims get wet and that causes the brakes to not work as well.

Today many mountain bikes have opted to use disc brakes because of the greater stopping power and the fact that often in off road biking you’re riding through puddles or other water situations and there is more consistent braking power with the disc brakes. But they are heavy and that is something that road bike riders are seeking to avoid.

Road bikers are constantly looking for ways to reduce the weight of their bike. A lighter bike is one that will not only go faster with the same effort but will climb hills easier and that is a big deal to the roadie or racer. So rim brakes continue to be the standard. But some people feel that disc brakes for road bikes are coming for sure, and it will be interesting to see how that develops. It hasn’t been that long since disc brakes were brand new to mountain bikers and in that short time the changes have been astounding. In fact it looks like a disk brake that is race ready for a road bike will be introduced in the next couple of years.

No matter what kind of brake system you have on your bike using them requires you using your head especially when on a descent. You need to be able to judge well how much or how little pressure to put on your brake levers and which brakes to use. Using the front gives you more braking power but if you brake with it too hard you will go over the handlebars.

All in all Road bike brakes are part of your bikes safety system and they need to be good and set correctly and used correctly to keep you safe on our very busy roads these days.

By: Dave McIntosh

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Dave McIntosh has enjoyed cycling for years. If you are looking for more great information on Road Bike Brakes, visit Beginner Road Bike.