On 10-09-17 00:28, jbeattie wrote:
So, my SuperSix was crushed in a roof-rack accident and last weak my Roubaix was stolen out of the garage that I left open all night. I've done that many times -- apparently one too many. I'm down to a gravel bike and my commuter -- the reborn warranty CAADX (which is a great bike).

The gravel bike is a pig, but I'll use that for fall/winter/spring sport riding. I want a fast bike, though -- and I've got a line on a nice bike that I can get with rim brakes or discs, but the disc model will not be available until December -- which really means that I get to ride it in dry weather some time around May. I can get a rim brake model by the end of the month.

All the shops are pushing discs, and I did like the discs on the Roubaix and on my gravel bike. I know this is absolutely the wrong group to ask because it's wall-to-wall curmudgeons, but if you were buying your last nice road bike, would you go rim brakes or discs? It will be a dry weather bike or ridden in the rain only because of bad luck. There would be no real weight penalty because the bike is so light to start with. I'm not aero, so I don't care about the aero penalty with discs.

My concern with getting rim brakes is not really even a performance issue because in dry weather, I've never had a problem with rim brakes -- but to listen to the guys at the local shop, rim brakes are going the way of the dodo. I'm worried about buying an antique!

-- Jay Beattie.


I have bikes with rim brakes and one with disc brakes. My experience:

1) With rim brakes obviously the rims will wear out after some years. I
spoke new rims to the old hub and spokes. Since I have very little
practice doing this, it takes me maybe 4 hours to get the spokes
transferred, the wheel reasonably centered and round, and the spokes
evenly tensioned.

2) I bought a mountain bike with disc brakes last October. The first
change of brake pads came in April, and a few days ago I had to install
a new disc on the back wheel (the original disc was worn to the safe
limit). Both things are a lot quicker than spoking a rim, but at least
here in Switzerland rather expensive.

3) With rim brakes I would have pain in my hands from braking during a
long descent in the mountains. Much less or no problem with disc brakes,
which require less pressure. But I'm old, and a younger person probably
wouldn't notice this.

4) Again as an issue on very long descents, I no longer worry about a
tube failure because the rim overheated (happened to me once many years
ago, https://flic.kr/p/9XmmWn ). Disc brakes can also overheat, and then
fade, but this hasn't been a problem for me.

Overall I prefer the disc brakes, but should note that I have no
experience with road bikes.

Ned