A fistful of brakes. 2/25/2006
I just got back from lunch with Bikerwannabe. Before I proceed with the rest of this post, will all of you please go over and leave a comment on his blog asking him to update the damn thing?
After lunch, when he and I were shooting the breeze about bikes and other things, he asked me about the difference between floating and fixed brake discs on a bike. I thought about it for a while, and decided to put it up as a post in here.
My answer to him, at lunch was the short one.
“One disc floats, and the other type doesn’t.”
Bikerwannabe gave me a go eat shit grin at this reply, and in the interests of our friendship, and his pergola, here’s the answer.
Floating discs are used because they are lighter, reducing the rotating mass on a bike’s front wheel. They are less prone to warping due to overheating. They remain centered in the brake pads, and provide the maximum surface area for the pads to “bite”.
Rigid discs are cheaper to manufacture.
Does that answer your question, dude?