New bike - would you choose disc or rim brake ?
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highlandsflyer
Retro Wizard
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I quite enjoy maintenance!
I would rather know how many miles you’ve done before changing blocks, not years or months. My disc braked road bikes need new pads around 4000 miles but it depends on the pad compound and the type of riding (summer bike = longer intervals).
Fluid bleed every couple of years, just because.
I have never once thought to myself that the above maintenance is hard work or more onerous than dealing with cables/brake blocks etc.
Diff’rent strokes.
Fluid bleed every couple of years, just because.
I have never once thought to myself that the above maintenance is hard work or more onerous than dealing with cables/brake blocks etc.
Diff’rent strokes.
minor_LEGEND
Senior Retro Guru
I'm a die hard rim brake advocate, just spent £500 on a pair of rim brake wheels to future proof my parts stash, but my disc braked commuter road bike has had a swap to hydro's during the winter just gone. I have found myself choosing this bike over far nicer options - because of it's brakes. (Ultegra hydro discs).
I was in Mallorca back in March, spent a week blasting down Sa Calobra & such, no issues with my carbon rims with conventional caliper brakes (other than feeling like a minority) but when I got home to my disc equipped commuter, I found them immensely powerful despite having ridden it non-stop up until the prior week of my holiday.
So; Rim brake guy says hydro discs rock on a road bike. It just feels safer & more dependable.
I was in Mallorca back in March, spent a week blasting down Sa Calobra & such, no issues with my carbon rims with conventional caliper brakes (other than feeling like a minority) but when I got home to my disc equipped commuter, I found them immensely powerful despite having ridden it non-stop up until the prior week of my holiday.
So; Rim brake guy says hydro discs rock on a road bike. It just feels safer & more dependable.
So i just dont understand some of your experiences wrt rim brakes. It might be because im unique in riding in the gritty wet, but what some of you rim advocates are sharing seems ‘fantastic.’
On my winter mtb the shimano metal pads last me more than 100k feet of descending. The organic pads wear much faster. In 12 years of mtb ive never replaced a rotor, i think my oldest rotor is more than 8 years old. My oldest mtb rim is an original stans arch from 2010. Came on a used bike and it will last until it bends. Ditto for the 7 other carbon rimmed disc brake wheels i own: they dont age because the brakes and grit aren’t eating them. Disc braked Carbon rims are fantastic: light, straight, tough, and now cheap enough.
Back when i was riding cantis i could go through pads in a single day of wet muddy mtb.
Commuting in rainy traffic my pads generally lasted a year or less. Rims had their sidewalls eaten in 3-4 years, Is amazing that just isnt a thing any more with discs.
Maintenance: i bleed my cars brakes, and mtb is the same and much nicer since my bikes use mineral oil not brake fluid. Ive used about a 3/4 quart of mineral oil in 12 years. Honestly tubeless takes 5x more attention than my brakes.
I will say my first disc mtb had brakes from avid/hayes and they were absolute garbage and impossible to keep and required constant fiddling because some mechanism let air into the line. Probably i would refuse to do any maintainance in a bike brake that used brake fluid because i hate the stuff so much. For car ive got no choice though.
Ive been super happy since switching to shimano xt brakes, and now br785 and br8000 on my road bike. The shimano stuff is great and the parts so far have lasted more than a decade of wet gritty riding and with great interchangeability and availability on the used market.
I just dont understand cable discs, the ones ive tried feel mushy, and youve got to maintain the cables and housings. Hydraulic brakes have amazing modulation at the limit with just one fingers pressure. I put cable disc users in the same bucket as doomsday preppers: theyre optimizing their day around something that probably wont happen.
I guess if you just ride in the dry the rim brakes are fine but i think their experience royally sucks in the dirty wet. A lot of folks here from england probably should sympathize - i heard it rains there sometimes.
On my winter mtb the shimano metal pads last me more than 100k feet of descending. The organic pads wear much faster. In 12 years of mtb ive never replaced a rotor, i think my oldest rotor is more than 8 years old. My oldest mtb rim is an original stans arch from 2010. Came on a used bike and it will last until it bends. Ditto for the 7 other carbon rimmed disc brake wheels i own: they dont age because the brakes and grit aren’t eating them. Disc braked Carbon rims are fantastic: light, straight, tough, and now cheap enough.
Back when i was riding cantis i could go through pads in a single day of wet muddy mtb.
Commuting in rainy traffic my pads generally lasted a year or less. Rims had their sidewalls eaten in 3-4 years, Is amazing that just isnt a thing any more with discs.
Maintenance: i bleed my cars brakes, and mtb is the same and much nicer since my bikes use mineral oil not brake fluid. Ive used about a 3/4 quart of mineral oil in 12 years. Honestly tubeless takes 5x more attention than my brakes.
I will say my first disc mtb had brakes from avid/hayes and they were absolute garbage and impossible to keep and required constant fiddling because some mechanism let air into the line. Probably i would refuse to do any maintainance in a bike brake that used brake fluid because i hate the stuff so much. For car ive got no choice though.
Ive been super happy since switching to shimano xt brakes, and now br785 and br8000 on my road bike. The shimano stuff is great and the parts so far have lasted more than a decade of wet gritty riding and with great interchangeability and availability on the used market.
I just dont understand cable discs, the ones ive tried feel mushy, and youve got to maintain the cables and housings. Hydraulic brakes have amazing modulation at the limit with just one fingers pressure. I put cable disc users in the same bucket as doomsday preppers: theyre optimizing their day around something that probably wont happen.
I guess if you just ride in the dry the rim brakes are fine but i think their experience royally sucks in the dirty wet. A lot of folks here from england probably should sympathize - i heard it rains there sometimes.
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
i would buy a Caad 13 Cannondale disc mechanical. 105 components and that is what they offer this year. 2300$
that's the only thing i would purchase this •
https://www.brandscycle.com/product...MI9IWv7fLyhgMVwkP_AR2QkwTREAQYAiABEgIsTPD_BwE
that's the only thing i would purchase this •
https://www.brandscycle.com/product...MI9IWv7fLyhgMVwkP_AR2QkwTREAQYAiABEgIsTPD_BwE
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