Brake Health
Brake Health is another insightful metric that gives you a snapshot of your overall braking…well, braking health! Just like the health of our bodies favors things that are good for it, Brake Health favors events that have an optimal mixture of Intensity and Duration. Brake events are classified as healthy, or unhealthy. Brake Checks, Heavy and Critical events are unhealthy, but Stabs and Light events are healthy. For example, Brake Checks are Short and Light, which is normally a good brake event. But since they are so Short and so Light - and as mentioned, indicate that the rider may be unsure of what is coming up - these events are classified as unhealthy. For sure, having fewer brake checks is indicative of a healthier ride! Critical events are also generally unhealthy. But as far as Heavy events go, Stabs are healthy since they are nice and Short and get the job done quickly. BrakeAce calculates your Brake Health score by analyzing the number of ‘healthy’ events as a proportion of all brake events.
You can improve your Brake Health by minding your brake checks or turning Critical events into Stabs. It’s not always possible to get a 100% Brake Health Score, rather it can indicate the demands of the trail or be used to compare between riders or setups.
Brake Effectiveness
Brake Effectiveness looks at the shape of your braking trace. If the event ramps up or fades away slowly, it is classed as ineffective. Events that get up to power quickly and down again get classed as effective. You can make brake events more effective by getting your braking done and dusted, then moving along down the trail.
Brake Effectiveness often changes with conditions. You may notice that your Brake Effectiveness reduces in wet conditions or in dusty conditions with less grip. Often you will notice that you can improve your Brake Effectiveness in these conditions by changing suspension settings or using tires with better traction characteristics.
Comments