Do I want disc brakes?

"WhatsUp" wrote in message
...
I am used to rim brakes.

But I am in the market for a new bike, and the ones that interest me
come with disc brakes.

Do I want disc brakes?

Or should I limit my choice of bikes to those with rim brakes?

Most of my riding is on streets and urban dirt paths. I want the
ability to go off-road occassionally; but by off-road, I mean
relatively tame mountain trails, not downhill racing and jumps. In
any case, I do not anticipate biking in sloppy (wet) conditions.

I have disc brakes on 3 bikes,, 2 mountain bikes, 1 with Magura Hydraulic
Brakes which works very well, the other has Hayes Hydraulic brakes, which is
very hard to keep adjusted, and 1 cycle cross bike with Shimano road
shifters, Avid Road disc brakes, It works very well. I prefer the Avid
brakes because they are so easy to adjust. I can't see any difference in
the braking ability of any of them. I love disc brakes and would put them
on every bike I have if the frame and wheels were set up for them.

snip
Hydraulics, I've had problems with on really hot days
and/or going down extremely steep slopes: the fluid expands or
something, causing the break to lock up and one has to wait
it out until the fluid cools. There's also a PITA factor
when it comes time to replace the fluid.

snip

This is only ever a problem with closed systems. Most if not all hydros
these days are open systems (with expansion reserve) and dont suffer from
this.

Cheers Dre

"(PeteCresswell)" wrote in message
...
Per WhatsUp:
But I am in the market for a new bike, and the ones that interest me
come with disc brakes.

Do I want disc brakes?

Greater minds than mine will say "No Way Jose'"

But I *like* my disc brakes.

I even replaced my rear discs with rim brakes for awhile just
because the rear brake obviously doesn't need the braking power
or modulation that the front does.

Took about three days and I went back to the discs.


To wit:

- If I taco a wheel, the braking functionality lives on.

- When I ride into a rain shower, my braking power at the
wheel stays constant (don't get me wrong... the wheel might
skid all over the pavement.... but at least there's no issue
of nothing happening when I squeeze the levers) I've got
a front drum brake on my (very old) utility bike for that
reason.

- I find disc brakes less failure prone. I've crashed with
cantis, failed to notice that one of the pads had bent up to
where it rubbed the sidewall, and shortly thereafter blown that
tire.

Hydraulics, I've had problems with on really hot days
and/or going down extremely steep slopes: the fluid expands or
something, causing the break to lock up and one has to wait
it out until the fluid cools. There's also a PITA factor
when it comes time to replace the fluid.

Cable-operated Avids, I've never, ever had a problem with.

The only disc issue I can think of is oil: you get oil on
the disc (or some kid with emotional problems squirts some
on said disc while the bike's laying somewhere) and it's all
over. Happened to me once when my Rohloff hub was leaking
oil.

- The pads last longer. I hear stories of people wearing out
as set of rim pads on a single descent. The v-brake pads
I had on my utility bike didn't last a year. OTOH, I get
multi years out of a set of disc pads.

- Mud is not an issue. The noise that rim brakes make in mud
makes my skin crawl - and what it does to the rim isn't
pretty. No such issue with discs.

- My experience is that discs offer better modulation than
cable-operated rim brakes. Hydraulic discs == even better
modulation; but cable discs are still ahead.

- With disc brakes, wheels are no longer a consumable (i.e. the
walls of the rims never wear out).
--
PeteCresswell

Oh and I love my discs too!

Have hydro discs on all my bikes (front and rear) except on the rear of my
trials bike, that runs a hydraulic rim brake (HS33)

Once setup, hardly any maintenance at all. I change my fluid once a year
for piece of mind and thats that. Even changing pads only takes 5 minutes,
wheel off, old pads out, new pads in, wheel back in, done, no tools required
if you have quick release.

Would absolutely hate having to go back to mechanical brakes shudder at the
thought

Cheers Dre

Dre wrote:

Once setup, hardly any maintenance at all. *I change my fluid once a year
for piece of mind and thats that. *Even changing pads only takes 5 minutes,
wheel off, old pads out, new pads in, wheel back in, done, no tools required
if you have quick release.

The hydraulic discs on my motorcycle are comparatively reliable and
maintenance-free. But when they do need work, I have to dick around
with plastic tubing and jars of waste fluid that peels the bike's
paint if not cleaned off. The front calipers let me know it's time
for new pads by surreptitiously dropping a pad out on the ground and
giving me zero braking the next time I reach for the front brake
lever.

They work, but I think I'd be happier overall with suitably robust
cable-actuated brakes. (Disc or drum brakes, just to be clear.)

Would absolutely hate having to go back to mechanical brakes shudder at the
thought

I have a friend who set his working pedicab up with Magura hydraulic
discs. After a few disappointing lost-revenue failures of his brakes,
he was only too glad to switch to Avid BB7 mechanical discs. He says
they work better when they work, and they are faster and easier to fix
when there is a problem.

That's my experience with the first-gen Avid Mechanicals on the rear
on my MTB, too. The only thing those brakes give up compared to
hydraulic discs is the hydraulic lever feel. Good cable prep and
careful routing make this irrelevant. I've had shop mechanics tell me
some of my rim brakes "feel hydraulic".

Chalo

On Jul 15, 1:28*am, WhatsUp wrote:
I am used to rim brakes.

But I am in the market for a new bike, and the ones that interest me
come with disc brakes.

Do I want disc brakes?

Or should I limit my choice of bikes to those with rim brakes?

Most of my riding is on streets and urban dirt paths. *I want the
ability to go off-road occassionally; but by off-road, I mean
relatively tame mountain trails, not downhill racing and jumps. *In
any case, I do not anticipate biking in sloppy (wet) conditions.

I've been riding disc for several years now (mechanical Hayes MX2) and
I will NEVER go back to rim brakes if I have my way. I ride my mtb w/
disc for commuting / trails, etc.

Mechanical discs are quite easy to adjust & maintain, easier than rim
brakes if you ask me. You no longer have to worry about cable releases
when you remove the wheels, or worry about forgetting to re-engage the
cable when putting wheels on.

To me, discs brake better and feel nicer than rim brakes.

If the bikes you like have disc brakes I say go for it. If you come
across a bike that doesn't have discs I wouldn't disqualify it,
however.

It seems to me that folks either love disc or hate disc, I'm in the
former category but clearly some other respondents are not.

Best of luck with the new bike purchase.

-Tom

On Jul 15, 12:47*pm, "JP" wrote:
"nmp" wrote in message
JP wrote:
When I remove a wheel I have to deflate the tire to get
it past the rim brakes.

Er... You should be able to simply unhook the brake cable
in such a way that the brake "opens".

No, *not my setup.

I am glad you mentioned this. I like to use a meaty tire (currently
2.24 WTB Mutano Raptors). And I too, am used to unhooking the cable
to provide sufficient clearance to remove the tire. Most new bikes
come with V-brakes. Not sure they open up like that. Something to
think about.

I don't like the idea of deflating and re-inflating the tire. I
remove the front wheel frequently; makes it easier to transport the
bike in the back of my hatchback. On the other hand, I am thinking of
getting a different rack, one that will work with my hatchback.

On Jul 16, 12:27*am, TT wrote:
To me, discs brake better and feel nicer than rim brakes.
[....]
It seems to me that folks either love disc or hate disc

And nothing beats a test ride to see what category I am in. Thanks
for the comments.

I do have a bias toward KISS design, and even mechanical disc brakes
sound like the antithesis. But my biases have held me back, making me
a slow adopter of technology that proves to make good sense over
time. I need to challenge my biases more often.

(I was the last person in my division to trade in my two small-sceen
terminals for a single large monitor that supported multiple windows.
In my defense, those were the days when windows could only be tiled
side by side. But looking back, my hesitation was "stoopid".)

On Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:05:54 -0700 (PDT), WhatsUp wrote:

On Jul 16, 12:27*am, TT wrote:
To me, discs brake better and feel nicer than rim brakes.
[....]
It seems to me that folks either love disc or hate disc

And nothing beats a test ride to see what category I am in. Thanks
for the comments.

I do have a bias toward KISS design, and even mechanical disc brakes
sound like the antithesis. But my biases have held me back, making me
a slow adopter of technology that proves to make good sense over
time. I need to challenge my biases more often.

(I was the last person in my division to trade in my two small-sceen
terminals for a single large monitor that supported multiple windows.
In my defense, those were the days when windows could only be tiled
side by side. But looking back, my hesitation was "stoopid".)

Sometimes being slow to adopt bleeding edge technologies only makes sense. Saves
a bundle both up front and on replacing things that just won't handle more
recent formats of associated products.

By missing the first generation of mechanical disks you get the chance to only
buy one set of brakes and having them work right the first time.

Disks are great where you need them (riding in horrible muck or other "Xtreme"
situations) and okay everywhere else. Just only "okay" everywhere else.

RonSonic wrote:

A lot of canti pads will hang on the inside of the fork legs or stays limiting
how far they open even without the straddle cable. Run into that on cross bikes
all the time.

Yep. Usually, I can simply squeeze the tire though without messing up
the brake pad adjustment, but when I can't, it's a real nuisance to
have to deflate the tire.

Often, this can be avoided by using short pads or by positioning
asymmetrical pads backwards.

Chalo

On Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:17:15 -0700 (PDT), Chalo wrote:

RonSonic wrote:

A lot of canti pads will hang on the inside of the fork legs or stays limiting
how far they open even without the straddle cable. Run into that on cross bikes
all the time.

Yep. Usually, I can simply squeeze the tire though without messing up
the brake pad adjustment, but when I can't, it's a real nuisance to
have to deflate the tire.

Often, this can be avoided by using short pads or by positioning
asymmetrical pads backwards.

Or taking a hacksaw to the brake pads and holders. Sorta the same thing as using
short pads.