Braking

Braking. Braking is important. Very important. While there are certainly people in this world that would refer to mountain biking with no brakes as a “full send”, I would say that a greater percentage of the mountain biking community would recommend using them. The way that brakes work on a bike is that there are two brake pads (or shoes) that are squeezed together via a cord or hydraulic hose that is connected to a lever on your handlebars. There are two main types of brakes: disk brakes, and V-brakes. Disk brakes work by having a small mechanism squeeze the brake disk that is on the axle along with the wheel, and V-brakes consist of a mechanism that pinches the rim of the wheel directly. I am not going to go into too much detail describing them and their differences because the physics behind them are extremely similar. And remember, this is all about physics, nothing more, nothing less.