Are disc brakes better than callipers?

[User33236]

Smokey Joe

More power means grab a hand full in a panic and you are over the handlebars.
Also remember what I said , all brakes are limited by the amount of traction the can get from the skinny bicycle tyres.
Fitting motorcycle disc brakes to be bicycle won't make it stop any better because the tyres won't grip the road any better.

Brakes can also be limited by the friction between pad and rim or pad and disc dependent on conditions. When I'm cycling home and its piddling down, as it's been apt to do a lot recently, I know what brakes I'd rather have.

 

[tommaguzzi]

Thmnet
I have ridden a borrowed bike fitted with discs .
I rode it for a day
I stopped just like any other bike. There was no difference.
What I was trying to say in my original post was the chap believed that only his disc brakes saved them from further injury.
I think any bike fitted with good caliper brakes would have braked just as quickly.

 

[screenman]

Me? I own several bikes, some with disks, others not. Between them, and their predecessors, some.

It was aimed for Tommy.

 

[User33236]

I think any bike fitted with good caliper brakes would have braked just as quickly.

Very likely so in good conditions.

My 'good' bike has Ultegra calipers with Kool Stop Salmon pads braking against the rims on Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels. Even with these all-weather pads the otherwise excellent braking performance drops off quickly in heavy rain (ie Ride London last year). My disc brakes lose a little performance but nowhere near as much.

 

[Beebo]

I commute almost every day of the year to work in all weather (the only exception being heavy snow / ice) and have done so for a number of years. I started out on a hybrid with cantilever brakes but moved to a CX with mechanical disc brakes . My current commuter is a road bike with hydraulic disc brakes. I remain convinced that they are more than a mere fashion accessory.

This is why i have a disk braked steel framed work horse.
I can bung it in the shed on a dark wet night and jump back on it the next morning in the knowledge that i dont need to worry about it. It just keeps going with minimal servicing.

 

[martint235]

Are you saying that when it's persisting it down with rain you don't notice the difference in performance of your rim brakes over when they are dry? Rim brakes still work in the wet, they just aren't as consistent as a disc brake in the we

This is why i have a disk braked steel framed work horse.
I can bung it in the shed on a dark wet night and jump back on it the next morning in the knowledge that i dont need to worry about it. It just keeps going with minimal servicing.

Same here.

I also remember watching a wet stage of a TdF a few years back where riders were just pulling their brakes on a descent and nothing happened. They just seemed to ride off the road at the bends. I don't think that was lack of traction on the tyres.

 

[Drago]

Eventually all hydro systems need serious work. Well, serious compared to 30 seconds fiddling with a cable adjuster. The time period during which you don't need to worry with hydro systems is finite, and if you push it to its limit a lot more aggravating than swapping out some brake blocks a new cable. They're good, but they ain't the second coming.

 

[ColinJ]

I also remember watching a wet stage of a TdF a few years back where riders were just pulling their brakes on a descent and nothing happened. They just seemed to ride off the road at the bends. I don't think that was lack of traction on the tyres.

Maybe they were scared to brake hard because they knew their front wheels would lock up and slide from under them?

 

[tommaguzzi]

Maybe they were scared to brake hard because they knew their front wheels would lock up and slide from under them?

This.

And this


Even the best brakes are only as good as the tyre's grip on the road.

 

[Drago]

Maybe they're a bunch or wooses with no upper body muscle tone?

 

[Drago]

Your words, not mine.

 

[summerdays]

On my old bike with V brakes I wore down the rims in 18 month, and you get all that grey crud.

With disk brakes, I rarely have to do anything to them and it's that it's a constant. I don't lock the wheels as I'm so used to the power and the differing pressure required to slow or stop the bike, it isn't changing depending on weather or how worn down the blocks are.

My main annoyance is the noise when they get damp, once wet they are fine .... Just that first noise as they start getting wet.

 

[Drago]

Clearly not, else you wouldn't have felt it necessary to clarify the situation. But now you have were in no doubt that only real men can operate a bicycle brake.

Which is probably why you crash your bicycle a lot.

 

[Archie_tect]

Not going o have a bike with disc brakes any time soon because it'll be years before I need to replace the ones we've got.

 

[Drago]

Just that first noise as they start getting wet.

I've been with a few girls like that.