What does it mean to break-in your bike (bicycle, not motorcycle) brakes? I have disc brakes, does this mean getting the break pads to conform to the rotor?
If you use your new brake pads really soon and a whole lot, a terrible thing happens to your rotors. It's called glazing. This happens when the metal of the rotors gets so hot that it bonds to the metal of the brake pads. What this means is that your brakes only stop about 30% as well as they need to. When you break in the rotors, you are wearing effective grooves in your rotors that allow most of the pad to grip and stop your wheels. In order to do it you'll need a few things: 1) About a gallon or so of water 2) A somewhat long (around 60 feet) riding area with a false flat (it doesn't look like a hill but it is a slope- note: this isn't crucial as long as you have the distance) 3) A little time Start at one end of your riding area (the high end on the false flat) and pedal up to a pretty good speed (about 10 mph or so). As you approach the end, use your brakes to stop gradually (do not grab them as hard as you can, this just makes the problem worse). The rotors should be fairly warm. Use some of the water to cool off the rotors and the pads. Repeat this exercise about 20 times. If your rotors are already glazed over, you can remove it with some strong scrubbing with a wire brush.
yes usually tires/inner tubes brake shoes disks all the major moving parts hope this helped
