"Breaking in" New Rotors and Pads in the Wet?

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PaulSB

Squire
I'd like to avoid discussion on whether this is necessary or not as I plan to do it regardless.

My question is this. I had planned to do this today. It's wet, not raining but the roads will be wet.

Should I wait for a dry day or does it make no difference?
 

mustang1

Legendary Member
Location
London, UK
To bed in the disk brakes, you need to produce a lot of heat so the brake pads' material rubs into the disks. The point of disk brakes is they work well in the wet because they're at the centre of the wheel thus less likely to get water picked up from the road.

However, I'd imagine a tiny bit of water probably gets onto the disks and cools things down but probably not enough to make too much difference.

This is what I would do: in the grand scheme of things, if the road is damp, I would just bed the disks in. If the road was kinda wet, i would still bed the disks in. But if I was truly OCD about it, then I'd wait. But I'm not OCD so I would just do it.
 
Unless you're a professional cyclist preparing for an imminent event this is a complete waste of time and effort.
 
Unless you're a professional cyclist preparing for an imminent event this is a complete waste of time and effort.
So it makes a difference for the professionals - but not to amateurs ?

How do you figure that ?

It's only the work of a couple of minutes anyway. It's hardly a big task.
 

Chislenko

Veteran
One doesn't break in pads and discs on a car. Not disputing the OP, I'm genuinely baffled as to why it would need doing on a bike, any bike?
 
One doesn't break in pads and discs on a car. Not disputing the OP, I'm genuinely baffled as to why it would need doing on a bike, any bike?
I've never heard squealing brakes on a car but plenty of times on bikes.

I guess it might be to do with the light weight of the disc and wheel. Any build up of material from an early emergency stop could throw it off balance ?

I'm no expert but if the manufacturers say to do it - I'll do it.
 
One doesn't break in pads and discs on a car. Not disputing the OP, I'm genuinely baffled as to why it would need doing on a bike, any bike?
Done as matter of routine for serious MTB riders as constant and hard braking to negotiate sudden bends and twist is their thing. There is somewhat of a sheen on new pads to be taken out. When not done, the first bend and a hard pull might not bite. 10 minute job.

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