Heavy duty brake calipers
- Thread starter Jimbritt
- Start date
addertooth
Well-known member
Just going with larger rotors with spacers under the existing calipers will give you more braking force.
m@Robertson
In Memoriam 1962 - 2025
Larger rotors have limits. The added leverage can tear a wheel apart. I'm saying that having routinely exceeded manufacturers' limits and going 203mm both front and rear on all my bike builds, but now I live in a town with steep hills and I brake much more severely now. I'm downgrading to 180mm rotors to match manufacturer specs.
I can also say I have run a smaller emtb bike with 160mm rotors and not noticed a degradation in braking power (which is why I'm not worried about downgrading a big cargo bike to 180's). Useful braking power (versus power calculated on paper) is a combination of things and just changing rotor size is the cheapest thing to try, but its not necessarily effective (bigger rotors add more metal into the heat sink and so they will address brake fade on long, hard decelerations if you are doing those).
For all my bikes, I have standardized on 4-piston calipers. Magura MT5's in my case. 4 pistons increases the area of clamping on the rotor. 4 piston calipers are a pretty standard upgrade for severe duty, and I can say from trying to use MT4's instead that 4-piston vs. 2-piston is a big improvement.
Also, rotor thickness and construction is a big deal. Rotors are heat sinks. So rotors with lots and lots of holes in them are proportionally 'made of' air, which is useless in the braking process, so stay away from the ones that are more holey. You want rotors meant for heavy duty. Part of that entails thickness. Tektro 4-piston ebike calipers, and Maguras, are meant to work with thicker rotors than the usual 1.6mm-1.8mm standard. Magura brand rotors are 2.0mm thick, and Tektro Type 17's are 2.3mm thick. The Tektros are also relatively cheap compared to some of the godawfully expensive options out there. I use Tektro rotors with my Maguras and in my braking down long hills, I don't get the brake fade I do with even the thicker Magura rotors.
Lastly, there's pads. Look to the heavier duty ebike rated pads. Or downhill-rated brake pads (the Tektro rotors were originally manufactured for downhill bikes until Tektro realized they could sell tons of them by calling them ebike rotors).
Before you do anything, put the motor on, upgrade your pads and leave everything else alone. How well does it brake? If it feels ok, then just look at the wear pattern to decide what to do next. If you don't already own calipers, buy some and measure your rotor thickness every couple of weeks. Learn what is actually happening and then spend money to address the issue after you know what you are up against.
I can also say I have run a smaller emtb bike with 160mm rotors and not noticed a degradation in braking power (which is why I'm not worried about downgrading a big cargo bike to 180's). Useful braking power (versus power calculated on paper) is a combination of things and just changing rotor size is the cheapest thing to try, but its not necessarily effective (bigger rotors add more metal into the heat sink and so they will address brake fade on long, hard decelerations if you are doing those).
For all my bikes, I have standardized on 4-piston calipers. Magura MT5's in my case. 4 pistons increases the area of clamping on the rotor. 4 piston calipers are a pretty standard upgrade for severe duty, and I can say from trying to use MT4's instead that 4-piston vs. 2-piston is a big improvement.
Also, rotor thickness and construction is a big deal. Rotors are heat sinks. So rotors with lots and lots of holes in them are proportionally 'made of' air, which is useless in the braking process, so stay away from the ones that are more holey. You want rotors meant for heavy duty. Part of that entails thickness. Tektro 4-piston ebike calipers, and Maguras, are meant to work with thicker rotors than the usual 1.6mm-1.8mm standard. Magura brand rotors are 2.0mm thick, and Tektro Type 17's are 2.3mm thick. The Tektros are also relatively cheap compared to some of the godawfully expensive options out there. I use Tektro rotors with my Maguras and in my braking down long hills, I don't get the brake fade I do with even the thicker Magura rotors.
Lastly, there's pads. Look to the heavier duty ebike rated pads. Or downhill-rated brake pads (the Tektro rotors were originally manufactured for downhill bikes until Tektro realized they could sell tons of them by calling them ebike rotors).
Before you do anything, put the motor on, upgrade your pads and leave everything else alone. How well does it brake? If it feels ok, then just look at the wear pattern to decide what to do next. If you don't already own calipers, buy some and measure your rotor thickness every couple of weeks. Learn what is actually happening and then spend money to address the issue after you know what you are up against.
studebakergringo
Member
They are hydraulics and cable brakes A lot of different type of brake pads Metal organic i upgraded from tektro to sumano cable brake on my schwinn got from Alibaba cheep price from china I think it's a forty percent improvement What you want is a brake that will almost make your tires skid but won't So many different types of brakes out there Good luck
