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Put stronger (dual pivot) brake on front or rear?

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Old 03-14-21, 03:59 AM
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Stormy Archer
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Put stronger (dual pivot) brake on front or rear?

I was wondering if anyone has opinions on this. Weren't some bikes sold with 1 dual pivot and 1 single pivot brake? I feel like I've mostly seen them with dual pivot on the front, but I'm thinking, the front brake does more because of physics, so wouldn't it be more "balanced" to have the rear brake be dual pivot? Or, does it make sense to have in front because you need more "strength" to fully utilize the front braking power? Any thoughts?
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Old 03-14-21, 05:11 AM
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Yes, the stronger brake should go on the front. Note that many mountain bikes come with larger front rotors. Also, some Campy brake sets are dual pivot front, single rear.
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Old 03-14-21, 07:06 AM
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The front brake does most of the work, so put the dual pivot on the front. Rear brake effectiveness is limited by traction (skidding), so there's no point in putting the more powerful caliper there.
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Old 03-14-21, 08:20 AM
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As noted, the front brake is the most effective and is the one that should get the majority of use; I use my rear brake relatively little, which helps keep me in the habit of defaulting to using the front.
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Old 03-14-21, 08:58 AM
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+1 or is that +3 to everything said above. And as mentioned by Dan Burkhart Campy still offers an option of some brake sets that were dual front and single rear and maybe other mfrs do that too.
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Old 03-14-21, 09:25 AM
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Campy's return back to a single pivot rear brake is as much about weight as it is about stopping forces. Andy
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Old 03-14-21, 10:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Dan Burkhart
Yes, the stronger brake should go on the front. Note that many mountain bikes come with larger front rotors. Also, some Campy brake sets are dual pivot front, single rear.
Many autos come with larger front discs as well. I saw a car yesterday which had dual piston front/single piston rear calipers.
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Old 03-14-21, 10:51 AM
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I've always thought it was pretty clever that when I "modernized" my older, lugged steel Pinareallo in 2008, the just-released 2009 Campy Centaur group I installed on it had a "skeleton" brakeset which uses a single pivot rear, dual pivot front brake.
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Old 03-14-21, 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by dsbrantjr
Many autos come with larger front discs as well. I saw a car yesterday which had dual piston front/single piston rear calipers.
I should have also mentioned there are MTB disc brake sets that have 4 piston front ant 2 piston rear calipers. I recently did a build with Magura SL trail that is configured that way.
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Old 03-14-21, 02:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Andrew R Stewart
Campy's return back to a single pivot rear brake is as much about weight as it is about stopping forces. Andy
SRAM Red had a single-pivot rear brake, too.
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Old 03-15-21, 04:05 AM
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Thanks all, makes sense.

Another thing I noticed is that a lot of steel frames tend to have a bit less tire clearance in the rear, and I've noticed dual pivot brakes tend to have more going on below the brake mounting, so maybe another reason.
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