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Monday, April 5, 2021

Controlling impulse buying of parts - upgraditis

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
4.05,2021


                                                              Aspiration







Sometimes we get the sudden urge to buy a part because we read that this is good, this will up the performance of the bike by that much.   

And so uncontrolled, this urge makes have a stable of bikes that we can we dont use daily or that is beyond the level of our own physical fitness.   We have Pinarellos, Specialized Bianchi bike, and we can hardly pedal 20kph on them

Lately I had the urge to buy a 4 piston MTB brake.  It is cheap albeit from an unknown brand.  However reviews suggest that this does not work well;  there are complaints that the  brake power is lost (due to a failed piston O ring) to one that totally does not work -  ie failing to stop forcefully and on time.   So I changed my mind, although I told the vendor of this defect, he did not come back with a  good answer. 

There are literature that says that a quad piston brakes gain is very marginal -  only 10 to 15%

I will settle with my XT which has worked well for several years.

It is better to upgrade the brake disc to to 180 to 203 mm size (7 to 8 inches)  However, ,there no adapters available.   But the gains from this upgrade is awesome up to 30 - 40%...!!!

However conversing with some MTB riders, I got the idea that unless you do hard downhill or FR, (free ride) there is no reason to spend more on brakes.  If you just ride on the road;   think more on how you can ride faster higher.   Those who brake often, a bike champ said, never win races.  

However there is the other side that says, with a stronger brake, you dont have to bike often.  You can brake later or not all knowing fully well that you are equipped with a strong brake.   



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