Disc brakes in the rain.

[jimboalee]

I can thoroughly recommend bikes with discs as commute bikes.

These are the first discs I've had. The bike was bought because of just this.
I was getting really fed up with cleaning the black 'squidink' sludge off brakes, rims, tyres, stays and forks; so splashed out on a cheapish bike with disc brakes.

Wonderful.
I rode up Edge Hill for a looksie hil climb on it last evening, and then it started raining.

Applying brakes on the down grades through Kineton and into Wellesbourne was positive, secure and CLEAN

I had sprayed the bike with Waxoil and polish. The rainwater formed globules and it was easy to wipe down with kitchen towel.

Another bonus is I have ContiGatorskin 26 x 28mm tyres and MTB mudguards. I can get my hand in the clearance to wipe the grit and dirt away.

The only downside is diesel fuel soluted roadspray is carsinagenic.

 

[Crankarm]

Not raining here so rim brakes are fine for me .

 

[GrasB]

Hydraulic discs front & rear on my commuter, it's a real confidence inspirer. I've had a few times when a situation was just a mild irritation as a quick squeeze of my right brake leaver resulted in an instant, smooth & confident scrubbing of 10mph. In similar situations with rim brakes it's always been a little disconcerting & not instant & no where near as confident even when the brakes do start to work properly.

 

[Jezston]

Mechanical Disc Brakes on my Kona Dew Plus. Boy do they howl when it's wet! But they do the job

 

[psmiffy]

Hydraulic discs front & rear on my commuter, it's a real confidence inspirer. I've had a few times when a situation was just a mild irritation as a quick squeeze of my right brake leaver resulted in an instant, smooth & confident scrubbing of 10mph. In similar situations with rim brakes it's always been a little disconcerting & not instant & no where near as confident even when the brakes do start to work properly.

I have always fancied having the stopping power of disc brakes but my bikes are not very suitable for conversion- I have put Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brakes on my tourer and commuter - very progressive without the little bit of dwell (mainly the rear) that you get with Vs -excellent in the rain - a little squeeze clears the rims immediately -totally maintenance free apart from twiddling the clearance adjuster every now and then and replacing the brake blocks - fairly infrequent compared with the Vs I had before and a simple snap in and out - once you have the angle of the dangle right you do not need to worry about it when you change the blocks

 

[Dayvo]

I used disc brakes (Scott Sportster P3) for the first time ever on my ride in Australia.

They were excellent; probably look a bit naff on a road bike, though!

 

[Crankarm]

......... once you have the angle of the dangle right you do not need to worry about it when you change the bollocks

.

 

[HJ]

I can't understand why people are so set on rim brakes when disc brakes are so much better at stopping the bike. They are an excellent choice for a commuter bike and I will be fitting them to my bike just as soon as I can find the money (and the time).

 

[HLaB]

I can't understand why people are so set on rim brakes when disc brakes are so much better at stopping the bike. They are an excellent choice for a commuter bike and I will be fitting them to my bike just as soon as I can find the money (and the time).

I think you've answered your own question

 

[GrasB]

Assuming your bike is set up for rim only brakes doing a front disc conversion requires:
* new front wheel
* the brake its self
* new forks
you may also need to buy a new headset, possibly change your brake leavers. If you want a rear disc you're now talking about a new frame, that's a big expense especially if you'er not confident or competent enough to swap everything over to the new frame. It's one of the reasons I got a bike with discs on this time which wasn't quite what I wanted.

 

[buddha]

I've just converted my old (well 2006) MTB to a commuter. Original mechanical discs, rigid fork and Schwalbe Durano 26x1.10 tyres.
Bombproof, and pretty fast. I made full use of the discs a few hours ago when a POB crossed the road at speed between parked cars Lucky I was awake!

 

[Tynan]

you can only lock the tyres in an emergency, and rim braked vaguely well adjusted seem to do that pretty well, especially in the rain, I had disc brakes on my short lived canondale and liked them very much although dirt used to get in them (who wold have thought of that?) and made them very noisy

 

[Crankarm]

Assuming your bike is set up for rim only brakes doing a front disc conversion requires:
* new front wheel
* the brake its self
* new forks
you may also need to buy a new headset, possibly change your brake leavers. If you want a rear disc you're now talking about a new frame, that's a big expense especially if you'er not confident or competent enough to swap everything over to the new frame. It's one of the reasons I got a bike with discs on this time which wasn't quite what I wanted.

New frame ............. for sure as with conventional non disc mount frames how is one going to mount the brake calipers? A whole new bike would be more accurate as one will also need a new set of wheels as well for disc hubs. Not economic really IMHO. Two systems are like chalk and cheese. TBH I've never had probs stopping with conventional rim brakes - Vs or road bike caliper side pulls. Just keep the wheel rims clean and brake blocks in good order.

 

[GrasB]

It's not just an efficiency thing though, it's a confidence & modulation thing. While in ultimate power the calipers on my road bike match the discs on the hybrid when they're called on the hybrid always inspired confidence & are much easier to modulate, also because they're hydraulic rather than cable the hybrids brakes actually have feel.

 

[J4CKO]

My only regret going to a road bike vesus the hybrid is the braking, it just isnt as good.