Video: Brake Like a Boss - How To Bike Season 2 Episode 4

 Circle of Friction was what clicked for me as well. Your contact patch can only do one thing very well in the X and Y, but when that same contact is asked to do braking and turn in at the same time- the coefficient of friction/grip is diminished.

 @fahrwerk: I like the saying “ your tires are good at two things, braking and turning, just not at the same time”

 Guides will have you going plenty fast, you only stop because you crashed.

 Critical step.

 Or Juicys, or Elixirs, or whatever brakes Avid made

 @Mac1987: Elixirs on my DH rig were pretty good... good at pumping my fingers

 @valrock: they're very good for training purposes. Both for training your finger strength and for training brake maintenance.

 @Mac1987: true, I become bike mechanic cuz I wanted to understand how to make them work. I had to read 3 books and know I know everything about bikes but still cannot fix those Elixir's

 @HeatedRotor: None of the people I know that prefer to run Shimano believe they are more powerful. You can modulate the on/off bite point with very little finger movement, and yes without locking a wheel. If your interpretation of Shimano brakes was true you wouldn't be able to ride anything steep and technical with them, you can easily lock a wheel and skid with any brake, and from what I've seen of my local trails the past couple years, many people these days are on the lock and slide train.

 @rpdale: i disagree, the high majority of Shimano users(based on PB and FB comments) believe they are more powerful and they like that "hit" - Ive ran most brake sets and still own the lot and did alot of personal testing, Everytime i ran shimano with big rotors every time you needed "power" they would lock, slight release and you have no power. I've got probably 6 sets of shimano between slx/xt/xtr/saints All have similar traits, Saints have a better feel but still similar.

maybe they just dont suit me at 95kg or something lol. - i've Tried many setups - Tried magura's but couldnt keep them from blowing up at the lever.

 @HeatedRotor: maybe not in maximum achievable power, but likely in requiring less effort in the finger to achieve good enough braking power. Avid/SRAM require noticeably more power input for the same power output. And those are the brakes most people compare them with, not with unknown but superior brakes like Direttissima, Formula Cura 4 or Hayes Dominion A4.

 The most important brake should be on the dominate hand... just like steering a car.... Being different for the sake of being different isnt cool or practical.

 The most ungodly howl i ever heard from a brake was with pads contaminated with DOT. The screech was ear-shattering and i'm sure it scared the bejeezus out of all wildlife for miles.

 Step 1: check if anywhere on the brake it says 'Avid'. If so, you've found the cause of the howling or turkey gobble. Solution: sell them and make them someone else's problem.
Step 2: check if anywhere on the brake it says 'Shimano' and you've not used the brakes for a while. If so, you've found the cause. Solution: sand and clean the pads,and bake them in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius. They're ready when they start smelling nice .
Step 3: check whether you or someone else contaminated them by touching them with greasy fingers (some of my friends used to hold the discs with their greasy fingers...), not covering them when oiling the chain, or having road spray hitting them when hanging off the back of the car. Solution: clean the rotor and clean and sand the pads. Educate your friends. Cover the pads and rotor or remove them when oiling the chain or hanging the bike off the back of your car.
Step 4: check and adjust pad and rotor alignment. Sometimes you have to replace the pads when they haven't worn down evenly because of bad alignment.

 I bought a YT in 2016 and the brakes came the Euro orientation. Until I figured out how to switch them over I had a few near-death experiences.

 @tom666: Amazing how we as a world still seem to be unable to coordinate simple things like this. It should be very easy to decide the pros and cons and then decide on 1 standard worldwide, just like a brake pedal and throttle in a car are always in the same place. I really don't care which method is decided upon. You get used to it within a couple of months.

 @Mac1987: It is definitely of benefit to all to create standards and implement them widely. The fact the UK has the steering wheel on the other side of the car to the entire rest of Europe is quite crazy, so is the reversed brakes on a bike and the fact British people know their height in feet and inches but not in centimeters. Most British people can tell you how much we weigh in stone but not in kilos.

In the UK we also buy fuel in litres from the fuel station but we measure the fuel efficiency of our journey in miles per gallon. A gallon is 4.546 litres. If you drove 60 miles, the fuel cost £1.59 per litre and you did 47 miles-per-gallon try doing that maths in your head to work out how much your journey cost

 @tom666: This is true, although I'd say "our" way for brakes makes the most sense to adopt bearing in mind the orientation for brakes on motorbikes. Always struck me it just be weird for riders with RH rear brake on their bikes to go to RH front brake on a motorbike.

 Right handed. Front brake is dominant brake for controlling speed. So dominant brake should be controlled by dominant hand making it easier and more intuitive to modulate braking. So surely we Brits have got it right on this one very rare occasion? We don't get much right...give us this one!

 @tom666: thank God for computers doing the calculations for us...
Also, still love you guys for all your weird habits, units of measurements and best humor in the world.

 @CamRivers: fine by me. Start driving on the right (get it: right) side of the road and start properly using metric units, and we'll swap out brake hoses. Everyone wins!

 @Mac1987: Very nice of you to say I respect the Dutch for creating a nice lifestyle for their citizens, very sensible politics, Amstel, stroopwaffels, sprinkles and tasty cheese with holes in it.

 @Mac1987: Driving on the left is the correct way. Scientists have proved that for the majority of humans the natural/instinctive option is to move to the left in a head to head collision. You end up in the ditch and not in the other lane. Trust me on this.

 @FruitoftheForest: Hum... probably... but quote your sources please.

 @danstonQ: theory is similar for Dominate hands, most people are right handed so the right hand should be used for the most serious applications, such as front brake, steering wheel etc.

 @HeatedRotor: there is nothing scientific in what you're saying, and at no moment you mention the brain / its cerebral hemispheres' importance about conscious and unconscious acts.
Statistically and proportionaly, are there for exemple more car accidents in countries where people drive right with a left steerer?
I know Brits in France who rode their brakes english way and who now ride them the other way and they have nothing to say about that, they just got used. Brain elasticity is awesome you know

 @FruitoftheForest: if this is truly the concensus amongst scientists, both behavioral as well as traffic safety, then also get this over with and start driving on the left everywhere.

 should make an app. Skidendonely

 Skidendo on a hill challenge could increase the pool of Friday fails to enjoy.