Unfortunately “technical difficulties” meant that I didn’t manage to finish Honister and Wrynose pass. As you know from my past few posts, I was testing out some Heatsink brake pads on my ABS – trying and get a bit more braking power out of an already great piece of kit. Initial tests on sections of local fire-track went well and they were definitely grippier than the standard Magura pads that the ABS comes with.
The thing is, my local fire-tracks aren’t 25% gradient tarmaced roads….
I had the first problem on our second pass – Honister. Literally 100 yards from the top; at the first 20-25% gradient section, I started braking and noticed that after about 2 seconds, the brake lever offered no resistance at all. I looked down to see the left brake pad riding up the disk and onto the tyre wall, with shards of brake pad flying off in all directions. I swear some of the rubber shards were on fire as well…. I managed to stop and when I got back to the car the pad looked like this:
Not to be deterred, I swapped out the damaged pad for an old Magura one and we went over to Wrynose pass.
At Wrynose, pretty much the same happened at the first big gradient – after a second or two of braking, the brakes started screaming and when I looked down, the pad was actually deforming and there was smoke coming out of my hub.
After stopping, I managed to have a look at the damage and what I think happened is that the pads were actually beginning to melt and were no longer rigid. The pad was then “squidging” up the brake disk and being carved up by the edges of the disk.
Luckily I had another spare Magura pad and managed to fit it with no problems – but by this point I wasn’t overly confident about taking on Hardknott (in the dark), so sat that one out.
I managed to ride Kirkstone, but the torch I was using (we were riding it in the dark) cut out on a straight. After I had stopped and changed my pants I was able to get the light working and finish the run.
Have you ever had a day where things just don’t seem to go right?
On a brighter note, the next day we checked out the proposed track for the England 2012 Downhill comp and it was sweet!
When I got home I compared the Magura pads with the Heatsinks and the Magura’s were in still in great condition. What I am taking from this is that Heatsink pads designed for Trials riding might not be the way to go – yes, they are super grippy, but apparently not that durable under downhill conditions. I think I’ll be looking into the pads Magura has to offer next.
If you do have some Heatsink pads – I would advise that you get them as fully on the brake disk as possible to minimise the chances of them slipping and I would also be wary about using them under heavy braking conditions….
Interesting post, Chris - I too do most of my brake-riding on off-road tracks but it's good to know where the limits of operation lie.
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