Brake fluid is a type of hydraulic fluid used in cars, bikes, light trucks, and some bicycles in hydraulic brake and hydraulic clutch applications. It is used for the conversion of force into pressure and for braking force amplification. It works because liquids can not be compressed appreciably. It's the brake fluid that gets the work done for you every time you press the brake. Thus, one of the most significant maintenance and safety considerations in the maintenance of any vehicle is taking good care of the entire braking system, especially the brake fluid.

 

Three basic types of brake fluid are available- DOT3, DOT4, and DOT5. The Department of Transportation here stands for the DOT, which has fixed mandatory legislation pertaining to the appropriate requirements for brake fluid to be used in vehicles. Basic brake fluid is given a DOT rating on the basis of its tolerance to the effects of heat and moisture. The top-notch DOT5 is silicon-based, while DOT3 and DOT4 are glycol-based fluids, and the biggest distinction between them is that DOT 5 is water repulsive.

 

DOT 5

Silicon fluid is non-hygroscopic, meaning that it repels moisture, which, regardless of its age, tends to minimize the risks of corrosion. This is a lot less troublesome fluid, save for daily check-ups and re-filling.

 

DOT 3 AND DOT 4

This is the most widely used and cost-effective braking fluid. In comparison to DOT 5, this type of fuel is extremely hygroscopic and quite readily absorbs moisture. The bulk of its members consume a certain amount of humidity within a certain period of time, which eventually determines their operation or substitution length. The above one has a happier life in between DOT 3 & DOT 4.

The boiling point is one of the most significant components of brake fluid. A hydraulic braking mechanism relies on a fluid's incompressible characteristic, although they are normally incompressible however many boiling occur and become gas in case of elevated temperature. This forces more of the liquid's capacity to transfer force which allows the brakes to partly or totally malfunction.

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Being a review team, we often use technical terms like maximum power and peak torque. But what is it really? Why is it one of the most important factors of any automobile to determine the character, feel and ride? We will try explaining it to you in the simplest form.

There is a piston that gets power from the fuel that is burned to run the motorcycle. The piston is connected to a rod and the rod is connected to a crankshaft.

Picture a bicycle. The more force you apply in the pedal, the faster the bicycle runs. Similarly, more force from the piston moves the crankshaft faster. Confused?

The distance between the pedal to the rotation point is comparable to the distance between the crank and the middle point of the crankshaft, and in the same way, as in the bicycle example, the distance "counts" for 100% when the point of the crank that is connected to the rod has an angle of 90 degrees with the direction of the piston, and for 0% when that point is in the highest or the lowest position. Still, confused?

In simple terms, the more you rev the throttle, the pistons move rapidly which rotates the crankshaft to reach a higher speed.

The power we feel is the torque. It is expressed in Newton Meter (Nm). The power and revolution per minute provided by that power is the number we state during the engine specification. (Nm@rpm)

The torque provided by the piston varies from rpm to rpm. The torque at any rpm is the average power the piston delivers at the revolution stroke. The amount of power tells how fast the engine can rotate the wheels. Simply putting, torque is the pulling power of a vehicle.

Difference between power and torque

Power is the expression of how fast a motorcycle can run when accelerated. It is delivered by the combination of torque and the revolution per minute. When buying an automobile, only looking at the power is not enough. The power collapse after it reaches its limits, and it is the torque that defines the real character and feel of the bike. The advantage of high torque is that you get power from low rpms too.

Or else,  when you ride a motorbike, you will have to change gears a lot, to keep the engine in the high rpm's all the time: in the narrow area where there is power. You will also have to use the clutch when accelerating from a standstill: the engine needs a high rpm to be able to do that.

Power is required in the city streets to cross the traffic in a jiffy and the torque is required when you are cruising down the highway with power in low rpms.

Imagine getting stuck in a traffic jam on a steep road. You have vehicles in front of you and behind you, and the road is inclined. You can’t accelerate hard enough for the car to move forward because of the car in front of you. And if you give less power, chances are that you would hit the car behind you.

What to do when your car is stopped on a steep road?

You need a Hill Start Assist.

What is Hill Start Assist?

Hill Start Assist is a feature that helps prevent roll-back when starting up again from a stopped position on an incline.

How does Hill Start Assist work?

This feature can prevent rollback on an inclined road by holding the brakes while you switch between the brakes and hitting the gas. Some versions can also prevent your car from rolling forward on a decline.

What is the science behind Hill Start Assist?

Sensors in the vehicle are used to detect when a vehicle is on an incline. The hill start assist maintains the brake pressure for a set period of time as you switch from the brakes to the gas pedal. Once you press the accelerator, it releases the brake.  In cars with a manual transmission that has this feature, the hill start assist will also maintain brake pressure until the driver lets up on the clutch.

How to make Hill Start Assist work?

Continue to approach and drive up includes such as hills as you normally would. When stopping on an incline, such as at a stop light, hold the brake using the same pressure as you normally would. As you shift your foot away from the brake pedal momentarily, the car should remain stopped instead of rolling back slightly.

We have simplified it for you in three steps:

1) STOP ON A SLOPE

Come to a complete stop on an incline, such as a hill.

2) HOLD THE BRAKE

Continue to hold the brake as you remain stopped.

3) SWITCH PEDALS

Hill-start assist holds the brake for you while you switch your foot away from the brake pedal to begin driving again.

Tip: Be sure to be aware of your surrounding while attempting the hill start assist.

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A motorcycle suspension configuration comprises primarily two front telescopic tubes and a twin or single shock absorber swing arm mounted at the rear. Nowadays, owing to its improved performance and sporty looking characteristics, a mono-shock or single shock absorber on the rear is favored in most motorcycles. The motorcycle suspension system mainly has two goals: to control stability and maintain balance during braking and, secondly, to provide support during bumps and uneven surfaces to the rider and pillion.

1. Front Suspension:

Conventional Telescopic Forks:

The most prevalent type of front suspension is telescopic forks. The setup is very basic and takes the form of long hydraulic tubes fitted internally with a coil. In a T-clamp, the top of these forks is attached to the motorcycle's frame whereas the other end is fitted to the axle of the front wheel. In the event of road flaws, the lower part of fork bodies slip up and down the fork tubes and thus absorb the vibrations. In order to ensure the texture of operation, the interior is filled with oil and is sealed inside with an oil seal.

 

Upside Down Forks (USD):

Inverted or upside-down forks are nothing like inverted-set traditional telescopic forks. In these, although the tubes are at the bottom, the slider bodies are at the top section. These are mostly used in high-end motorcycles now for a few days, as they lower the overall unsprung weight of the motorcycle alongside growing torsional rigidity, resulting in better handling.

 

Important Terminologies:

Preload Adjustment:

This relates to the system used for changing the original suspension angle for the weight of the motorcycle and the rider acting on it.

Fork Damping:

Because of the impact of reducing, minimizing, or stopping the oscillations, it is an influence between forks.

Brake Dive:

The additional pressure on the front wheel forces the front end of the bike to go lower as the brakes are applied, resulting in fork contraction. This drop-in fork length is known as the Brake Plunge.

 

2. Rear Suspension:

Previously, the rear suspension was not used in motorcycles and only front forks ensured the consistency of the ride. However, manufactures have been implementing rear suspension with the advent of technologies and are still in use today. The key elements of the rear suspension system are the swingarm and coil springs.

 

Swingarm:

A motorcycle swingarm can be considered to be a quadrilateral section of a motorcycle in which the shorter side is attached to the chassis of the motorcycle and the rear wheel axle around which the wheel spins is bolted on the other side. The swingarm is only available on one side on certain bikes and is considered a single-sided swingarm. Although it brings the convenience of separating the rear wheel without much effort, it raises the rear suspension's unsprung weight. That's why there is no traditional use of a single-sided swingarm. Two kinds of suspension are essentially used for a swingarm:

 

Twin shock absorbers:

It refers to two shock absorbers at the backside of a motorcycle, as the name implies. Firstly used in the 1970s and 80s off-road bikes, these offered an advantage of improved rear wheel movement because of which they were highly adopted.

 

Mono Shock Absorbers:

As time progressed, for several reasons, manufacturers decided to introduce mono-shock absorbers in their motorcycles. It was discovered after studies that mono shocks provided a lot better performance than traditional twin shock absorbers. A single shock absorber is attached to the motorcycle's frame from the swingarm in this configuration. It is not directly attached to the swingarm, but instead uses a connection that helps to provide the rear with an increasing degree of damping. In comparison, mono shocks more easily extract torque from the swingarm, have improved handling and reliability, and are simpler to modify than twin shock absorbers when only one unit is used.

How does Motorcycle Handling Impact Suspension Squat?

If a motorcycle were to squat down in the rear while you started to drive from a corner, you would attempt to steer into the turn and the bike would drift to the outside, taking the weight off the front, which would not steer as well as before. At the conclusion of the session, when you got into the pits, you can ask the crew chief for a solution.

In a correctly built motorcycle, the force that opposes squat comes specifically from the drive chain, which is not parallel to the central plane of the swingarm but at an angle to it. And an anti-squat force defines the tangent of that angle. When you learn that there is an adjustable swingarm pivot height for a certain sports bike, the feature is targeted at this problem.

You change the angle between the chain when it is close and the swingarm itself by changing the height of the pivot and therefore the drop angle of the swingarm, thus altering this anti-squat effect. You will propel out of the corner without squatting and pressing until the force is able to fully balance the weight change induced by acceleration.

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