How to bed-in/burn-in your brakes

Procedure recommended for both road, Gravel and MTB

Process to be performed for a new bike or when either new disc pads and or rotors have been installed. The key is to heat and cool the brakes in a repeatable and consistent manner, without accidentally scoring the pads or rotor by braking too hard, too soon.

The idea behind bedding in a brake is to evenly distribute pad material across the rotor to improve the coefficient of friction between the two components. Coming to a complete stop causes a build up of pad material in one spot that can lead to pulsing and noisy brakes.

Shimano recommended procedure

1. Do the procedure on the road-- not trail or work stand. Parking lot is good.

2. Perform the burn-in/bed-in one brake at a time.

3. Get the bike up to a good speed and apply the brake gently and hold until nearly stopped. ...

4. Repeat the process at the least 10 times per brake.

SRAM recommended procedure

When pads and rotors are new, they have to be “bed in” before they reach their full braking potential. This is achieved by first accelerating the bike to a moderate speed and then firmly applying the brakes until you are at walking speed.  Repeat this process 20 times. 

Then accelerate the bike to a faster speed and apply the brakes until you are at walking speed. Repeat this process ten times. It’s important that during this process you never come to a complete stop or lock up the wheels at any point.