what if...?

[argonsixar]

For over fifty years we had just lived with disc brake bikes and they worked just fine but with a few niggles around setting up and servicing them.

Then someone with vision came up with a product that saved weight (500 grams per bike), cheaper , easier to install, could be tweaked easily on the road and didn't need special tools to service or install. Top that with, performance in most conditions is on a par. The marketing boys would be all over it !

I give you .....


RIM Brakes.

 

[grantoury]

For over fifty years we had just lived with disc brake bikes and they worked just fine but with a few niggles around setting up and servicing them.

Then someone with vision came up with a product that saved weight (500 grams per bike), cheaper , easier to install, could be tweaked easily on the road and didn't need special tools to service or install. Top that with, performance in most conditions is on a par. The marketing boys would be all over it !

I give you .....


RIM Brakes.

There would be all these stuck in the muds on bike forums complaining it isn't weather proof, you have to replace rims, and it just doesn't look right..

Seriously though, I like your thinking a lot and I can see the market returning to rim brakes.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

RIM Brakes

Naw, this is the bike industry. That wouldn't sell, not enough complexity. Perimeter rotors is the next big thing

 

[novocaine]

Naw, this is the bike industry. That wouldn't sell, not enough complexity. Perimeter rotors is the next big thing
View attachment 889076

worked for Buell motorcycles, look how big they are now.........

next big thing is braking at the crank, shortly followed by ABS.

 

[FluffyChicken]

And brakes and gears all integrated into a sealed mud proof container.

 

[argonsixar]

What if
you could glue your really light tyres to a really light rim and just rip em off and replace them with a new one when they punctured ?
I bet the marketing boys could sell them too !

 

[bikeworkshop]

Let's put the rider in a box, on a comfy chair, and give him an engine!

(p.s. he definitely won't want rim brakes then! - my disc braked bike is faster than my rim braked racer in many situations because altho it is significantly heavier, I can hold on to much more speed because the stopping distance is about 1/4. It's hilly, it's rainy, the road surfaces are often poor)

 

[2manyoranges]

….nice line of humour

But…memory does not grow dim.

1990s and 2000s - South Downs grease in the wet, rims just gone through Muddy Puddles and now I am on the big descent heading West to Truleigh - and even though I have XT Vs with XT levers and all nicely adjusted, the braking is FFFFFFing terrifying. Hugely predictable and powerful in the dry. Random and dreadful in the wet and mud.

I love my Hope discs. One of the greatest improvements to off road cycling. I can use vented discs (290g) or Alligators (120g). Braking is insanely powerful in all conditions, easy to modulate, easy to maintain, easy to replace pads, easy to select different pad materials…etc etc.

Additional rim woes - worked through one Mavic ceramic rim in one weekend of wet riding on Yorkshire gritstone (no problem with discs). Had to disconnect brakes after rim strike (no problem with discs).

Commuting in the 1990s and 2000s - pouring rain. No significant braking whatever pad material you used, since pads had to dry rims every application of brakes. Huge rim wear from grit, road surface grease and de-icing slime in the winter meant terrifyingly poor braking. Discs on commuting bikes (Cotic RoadRats - can never leave my MTB origins) are just essential for urban riding in the winter.

Rim brakes - lots of toe-in fun.
Discs - one of the modern developments which is a genuine leap forward.

Let the past go boy…..let it go…..

 

[greencat]

Was a late convert to discs on account of not being able to get to work properly with my frame at the time. I think the frame mount wasn't faced properly.

I wouldn't say rim brakes are easier to install, set up and maintain although it can vary. Probably on a par overall. Disc brakes have longer intervals between adjustment and possibly pad replacement, but bleeding is a faff over simply threading an inner cable.

I too have had the cycling down a wet grassy hill near Snowdon in the pouring rain, XT v-brakes on full and doing absolutely f'all as the hill gets steeper and steeper.

I can see weight weenie use cases for rim brakes - but suspect over time the weight difference will get smaller.