Motorcycle-Brakes on eBike?

DasDouble said:

I would only like to switch to motorcycle brake(-pads) because of their durability.. :lol:

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Well, brakes can be a long dicussion, because different riders have very different uses of brakes, very different requirements, and very different expectations.

Let’s start with maintenance schedule. 3 month for me, is a pretty decent life for bicycle brake pads. That is because I ride about 5000 miles in 3 summer months. I usually replace front brake pads every 5 or 6 weeks on my street bike, and they cost 35$.

Motorcycle brake pads are much thicker, and the average rider is not wearing rear pads. They are for motorcycle brakes of course, that are about 10 times the weight. Light weight performance always have a cost.

Brake pads are generally available with 2 different compounds: performance and endurance, and different manufacturers are making different conpounds. Performance are not lasting. In fact some are made to last one racing day, like racing tires compound.

Have you tried leaning forward when you brake? That will let the rear tire lock up much easier.

Our bike is the exact opposite since Cecil's weight is directly over the rear half of the rear tire. I think we will try thicker/larger rotors with more powerful calipers and larger brake pads, and eventually maybe a heavy duty triple tree front suspension fork with dual disc brakes. We are ok for now but when we move the hills are going to be much worse.

On our last motorcycle we would replace the rear pads before the fronts, the fronts had dual discs though. It all depends on how/where you carry your weight.

DasDouble said:

When I brake aggressively to have some drift-fun I always end up with having to replace them after 2-3 months

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Exactly how are you applying the brake?

If you apply it suddenly and hard, to lockup the wheel instantly, it wont make much pad wear, because the pads only wear while they are rubbing against a spinning braking surface.

Avid BB7 disc brakes with a dual pull brake lever and regular rim V-brakes.

https://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Alloy-Double-Lever-Silver/dp/B000AO7H16

Just hooked mine up.

amberwolf said:

DasDouble said:

When I brake aggressively to have some drift-fun I always end up with having to replace them after 2-3 months

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Exactly how are you applying the brake?

If you apply it suddenly and hard, to lockup the wheel instantly, it wont make much pad wear, because the pads only wear while they are rubbing against a spinning braking surface.

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I see, I will try that next time. But still it has to stop not only the wheel, but also the 15kg QS V3 heavy duty hubmotor so that should also play a role.. right? Maybe that´s the reason

DasDouble said:

But still it has to stop not only the wheel, but also the 15kg QS V3 heavy duty hubmotor so that should also play a role.. right?

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So...use electric braking in the controller, engaged by the brake lever that controls that wheels mechanical brake, to help stop the wheel. If the controller supports plug braking or EABS active braking rather than just regen, either of those will help force the wheel to stop quicker.

I dont even have mechanical brakes on the rear of the very heavy trike, and can use just the electric braking from the generic 15FETs EABS on the left MXUS3k and the old Grinfineon 12FETs regen on the right one to stop the trike without using the mechanical front brake at all, for almost all of my in traffic riding. In my case it wont lockup the wheel (its designed specifically not to) but in addition to mechanical brakes it would certainly make it easier to do if I wanted to.

My first modern disc brake was a Hayes MX-1. The stock Hayes organic pads burned away to nothing in less than 20 miles of city riding (with almost 500 pound gross weight, and very steep hills). The fully metallic EBC replacement pads lasted about 10 years and thousands of miles of varied riding.

That's where I'd start if you're experiencing accelerated pad wear. If you're using anything other than sintered metal pads, switch first before you spend lots of money fixing a problem that may not even be a problem.

I just found some cheap knock offs (at least I call them like that) for 5 euros per set + 4 Euros shipping instead of 15-23 Euros. Just ordered four of them.. For ~30% of the original price I could brake down the Mount Everest yey.. :lol:
I hope they also last long^^