Disc Brake Calipers

[lazymanc]

Right, can someone please explain how certain brands (e.g. brembo) are any better than others for the same number of pistons? To me they seem so simple mechanically that there can't be that much room for improvements between one make and another.

Is it just a case of the material they're made out of being lighter?

[yorkie_chris]

Area of pistons is what gives power, not number, of course any manufacturer could make bigger pistons. Also consider quality of components, brembo pistons appear to have some type of plastic coating, I think it is teflon. Also caliper body is anodised, means they don't sieze! (alle-f#cking-luya).
Whole caliper may be lighter, stiffer etc.

On some designs they use 1 pad per caliper to reduce self-servo effect. There's loads of stuff, generally you pay for the name and the bling, but the little details do add up and matter.

[yorkie_chris]

P.s I am looking into experiments of anodising suzuki calipers for same reason. If it works I might well offer this service on exchange basis with stock calipers 8)

[lazymanc]

Area of pistons is what gives power, not number, of course any manufacturer could make bigger pistons. Also consider quality of components, brembo pistons appear to have some type of plastic coating, I think it is teflon. Also caliper body is anodised, means they don't sieze! (alle-f#cking-luya).
Whole caliper may be lighter, stiffer etc.

On some designs they use 1 pad per caliper to reduce self-servo effect. There's loads of stuff, generally you pay for the name and the bling, but the little details do add up and matter.

Ah ok, what's a servo effect?

[yorkie_chris]

Perhaps servo effect is the wrong term. But the pads can marginally twist and wear unevenly. SRAD brakes get around this by the first piston being smaller than the second.