Say you've either just bought or built a brand-new bike.
You. Are. Psyched.
But before your first ride,
you also have to do some setup stuff.
You know, check over and tune some things
for your size, and your weight, and your preferences.
First thing I'll do
before I go for a ride is tire pressure.
I prioritize the suspension.
Mostly suspension.
My suspension.
Tuning in the suspension.
Center of the axle here up to the top.
So, I measure my saddle height to 64 centimeters.
Obviously, getting a comfortable saddle.
-My handlebar setup. -Check the bar roll.
Tire pressure.
Good solid pedals.
It's easy, you know, like, this goes up and down.
This goes up and down.
Tires, scrrrrrr.
And then we're out there.
But why is it that we don't seem to mention
setting up the one facet of the bike
that gives us the most control
and dictates our ability to go fast,
ride difficult terrain,
and stay safe?
Uh, I think you're forgetting the brakes.
I don't know anything about the brakes.
No idea. I know, right?
We see a lot of kids and adults at the camp in Whistler,
and they'll get really tired.
Like, halfway down the run,
they'll be like, "Oh, my arms are really tired."
Well, they're not tired because of the length of the run,
they're actually tired
because of the brake lever position
isn't set up correctly.
And that's exactly why we're here now...
to talk about proper brake setup.
Just like how the huge number of variables
in the brake system itself
contributes to the overall mystery
of the topic,
which we discussed at length in Episode 1,
there are a lot of variables in brake tuning and setup, too.
No-one knows this better than Shawn Cruickshanks.
Brake pad choice is very important.
The levers have an abundance of controls,
so there's a lot of room there for making it personal
and setting it up for yourself.
And then, of course,
the bed-in process is really significant.
Suspension is another facet that has lots of variables,
and yet even the most beginner riders
know they have to dial in their shock pressure,
set sag, and at least pay a little bit of attention
to the various dials and knobs.
I mean, it all starts at the retailers, right?
That is basically where the magic should happen,
in terms of setting up your bike.
They put very, very big effort on the suspension setup,
but, oftentimes, simple things
like the adjustment of the brake lever
to fit your hands
or to fit your comfort are just left out.
That is pretty wild, though.
I mean, I'm not just saying that, either.
You've got a carbon bike, you've got amazing suspension,
your tires are great.
But then your brakes aren't bled properly,
or they're not set up properly.
If you don't have that key component dialed,
then you're not getting the most out of your day,
out of your ride, and your learning experience,
whether you're at a camp
or whether you're at your first race.
But all it takes is a little reframing.
So what are the main areas of setup to consider?
Mr. Cruickshanks already said it pretty well...
Brake pad choice...
the levers have an abundance of controls...
the bed-in process is really significant.
Bedding in your brakes.
What is it, how do you do it, why is it so important,
and why is it called "bedding in" in the first place?
Yeah, I mean if you hop on your bike
and you haven't bedded in the pads yet,
you're going to notice
that the power is significantly lower.
The purpose of bedding in your brakes
is there's a material transfer
that has to occur from the pad into the rotor,
and that's what creates that idealized friction surface.
Skipping the bed-in process
and heading straight onto the trail
can cause the high-pitched squeal that brakes can make,
particularly in wet conditions.
This happens because hard braking on a fresh rotor
causes the pad material to build up unevenly.
Here's Henry Fitzgerald from the Norco Factory team
to give us more context.
Imagine your rotor is like a record.
If the record is warped
like what happens to an unevenly bedded-in rotor,
the needle, much like your brake pad,
can't contact it properly.
This can distort the tune of the music,
and if you play this
at the speed a wheel is turning,
you've got an ear-piercing sound.
I mean, the bed-in process
is one of the most important parts
of setting up a new brake,
a new rotor, new pads, new whatever.
It doesn't matter the manufacturer,
and, you know, likely if you had an aftermarket brake pad,
whatever it may be,
there is a break-in process,
and having that set up correctly,
following the guidelines, following what they say,
is going to determine how well your bike performs.
The best place to bed-in is actually an empty parking lot,
riding up to speed and slowing to a walking pace
without locking up the wheels,
and repeating this
a number of times at various speeds
for about 15 minutes.
Most bike shops don't really tell you about this step,
but it's crucial to brake performance
and brake longevity.
It kills me to say this,
but a lot of riders skip doing a good bed-in process,
and because they do that,
they wind up with brakes that under-perform,
that are loud,
and that could lead to early glazing.
Glazed: Good.
Glazed: Bad.
When a rotor and pad are glazed,
the surfaces have gotten too hot
to really create that optimum friction condition,
and at that point,
they're really just sliding over each other.
A bad bed-in could result in about 50% less power,
as compared to a properly bed-in rotor.
So now we know proper bed-in is key,
and it has to do
with both the rotor and the brake pad
mating up correctly.
But what about those brake pads?
Let's go deeper.
You know, organic pads, how I've always known,
they're very precise.
When you grab them, they work.
The negative to it is they don't work well in the wet.
They don't work well on extremely long descents.
And then at that point, you go towards the sintered pads,
and that's, you know,
you're going to be riding in the rain,
okay, awesome, they're gonna last.
You're going to be riding longer descents,
okay, awesome, they're gonna last.
It's really easy to tell the difference
between a sintered and organic pad.
A sintered pad will typically look more metallic,
you'll be able to see metal flakes in the pad itself,
whereas an organic pad will look more neutral or gray.
But what happens when your brake pads wear out,
or you want to try the feel of a different pad compound?
If you're still running a sintered pad,
your sintered rotor is perfect.
But if you're gonna make that change,
then you need to change the rotor to align with that.
When you put a new pad material on the rotor,
the friction couples don't match well,
so you're not going to have the power that you should have,
and you're not going to have
the noise performance you should have.
The right brake setup also has a whole lot to do
with properly tuning your brake levers...
for you and you alone.
Lever setup is about distance from the bar,
lever angle,
and adjusting where along the path
the lever engages the pads and the rotors.
The most critical thing
in terms of setting up your brake
is your lever position.
You know, like, this dial here allows us to bring in the lever.
So if you have small hands,
make sure you're bringing that lever in as close as you can,
as long as it's safe, not hitting the bar, of course.
You'll save your hands,
you'll save your forearms,
you won't get tired,
you'll have more control of the bike when you're riding.
And then obviously,
the opposite is if you have big hands,
you want to put that lever all the way out,
you can give that kinda position so it sets up right,
but that's really critical,
and make sure you don't overlook that
when you're setting up your brakes.
Lever angle adjustment also
is crucial for comfort and riding conditions.
For example, many riders like a relatively flat position,
especially if they're riding steep, rough terrain,
where any reduction
in the energy required to grip the bar
is appreciated.
This flat orientation
places the grip more centrally in the palm of the hand,
which some riders say gives them less hand fatigue.
My brakes are set up pretty close to the bar
and angled pretty far down,
and that's mostly because my hands are very small,
and it's important to be able
to reach your brakes quickly, comfortably,
and using as little energy as possible
when you're descending fast in a World Cup environment.
So every rider is different.
We're all different sizes,
shapes, body types, riding styles,
but kind of the key factors
you're going to take into consideration
when you're setting up your brakes
are going to be where the brake engages
when you've pulled it.
Ergonomically you're stronger with more of a fist shape
than you are with your finger extended.
Now, let's talk about the bite point,
and how that affects what your brake does.
This dial here, and it's not on all brakes, but on most,
where you can actually affect
when that brake pad is going to hit the rotor,
and some people will like it,
where they have little,
just as small amount of throw as possible,
and some like it a little bit more feel.
Loris and Reece, for example,
you've got two of the top downhill athletes in the world,
but they could have, like,
their reach and their contact point
completely different,
and it's really just like sorta rider feel,
and what makes them comfortable,
so, understanding it,
and maybe trying it too,
like, pushing it in one direction or the other,
and understanding what that does
to the performance of your brakes,
and then how that relates
to how you're going to feel on your bike when you ride.
The biomechanics of a rider's hand
is determined by a combination
of hand size, finger length, flexibility, and strength.
In fact, setup is so deeply personal and nuanced,
some of the world's fastest racers
have different lever setups for each hand.
So Troy was having some arm fatigue issues,
so his left hand is smaller than his right hand.
Basically, we run the lever blades
at different distances from the bar,
and then the contact points at different distances as well,
so it's a very finicky process to get them set up,
but it's a massive performance advantage
when we get them set up.
I really hope that in the future
people pay more attention,
we from the industry, help to make it,
to educate people more, to make it more visible,
also, like, hey, brakes, they're small,
but they're a crucial part of the whole entire system.
Doesn't matter if you're boosting a flat spin
or using your brakes, setup is always key.
Set up your brakes how you like them,
and then you can enjoy your ride
and you don't have to worry about it.
It's like any preparation.
You get dialed in beforehand so on race day,
you can trust your equipment and enjoy the ride.
Brakes have been a mystery for far too long.
It isn't that far-fetched to envision a future
where brake setup
gets the same level of care and attention to detail
as suspension setup.
Riders already spend so much time
on those other aspects of their bike
that maybe tuning in the brake
is the last thing that they need to really perfect their ride.
Who knows, maybe if you feel like
there's something lacking in your brakes,
you just need to tune them properly.