Not vintage or French Tourers/Campeurs, Trade/Porteurs, Audax/Randonneurs, Commuters/Town
- Thread starter Guinessisgoodforyou
- Start date
grantoury
Kona Fan
Drool emoji
Do you guys have an idea why such bikes almost never use hydraulic disc brakes? Is it a philosophy?
I only had contact with cable operated ones a few times but I found them harder to setup and maintain. I don't think it's the price either and the performance is also better on hydraulics in my eyes. So why? I'm really curious.
What are those brakes? I have never seen them.
I feel that with Singular, Riv, Crust and Velo Orange and the likes there's generally a push towards sticking with cable actuated purely because it is (in their view) more traditional. I think it fits well with their whole ethos of modern yet trad. Lugged constructions, burly tyre clearance, horizontal dropouts/trackends, often times braze ons for earlier kit - the cable actuated disc is IMHO a very good example of that mentality too. Convenience of the disc while remaining with a non-faff, tried and true, cable setup.
I've only had 1 set of hydraulics and though they were better in terms of power, I find my spyre and spyke perfectly adequate and less of a hassle to move from bike to bike and service. That said I never needed to service the hydraulic ones because they just kept going..... hmmmmm...
Anywhoooo, this is one of the more classic offerings. I believe their other frames (hardtails etc) are specced with hydraulics.
Also likely a remnant of the road world not having had access to hydraulic discs for a fuckinf eternity due to lever compatibility and so the spyres became a sort of golden standard for road adjacent cycling - and the frames I've shared, I'd argue are more in the road camp.
Similar threads
