if you wear out the clutch from downshifting a car or a motorcycle, then you have crappy downshifting techniques and can't blip properly.
dragging your brakes all the way down the hill because you are afraid of losing your brakes and dying, unfortunately actually means that by dragging your brakes all the way down, you are really improving your chances of losing your brakes and dying.
But you know that, and I know that its something that some people can't ever get their head around and change. Also, hammering your front brake hard much harder than the rear dumps a lot of speed much faster than the rear, but again, its a technique thing that needs to be learned, and done over and over so that it becomes an instinct.
I'm another person that can get 10,000 kms out of a set of brake pads, fronts. Or more out of rears.