Disc brakes on road bikes

[T4tomo]

There is much more to brakes, than whether you can get them to lock up a wheel. Being able to lock the wheel doing not inherently make them good brakes. Hell, I could lock up a wheel by sticking a stick through the spokes.

A there would be an enormous f**king squeal, from the rider though not the bike!

 

[Binky]

Cyclist the cling to rim brakes remind me of firemen on diesel locomotives. Lost cause. And------------the mfg are now pretty much geared up on producing disc brakes.

My bikes have all been rim brakes and not had any issues. Next bike will have discs and I'm happy as I'm convinced they are better overall.
However, what concerns me is lack of options for those who for whatever reason want a new bike with rim brakes. As time goes on there is less choice, certainly from the big manufacturers. Cyclists are being steered towards discs which not everyone may want.

 

[Punkawallah]

Cyclist the cling to rim brakes remind me of firemen on diesel locomotives. Lost cause. And------------the mfg are now pretty much geared up on producing disc brakes.

“You will use disc brakes, and you will be happy”?

 

[AndyRM]

Cyclist the cling to rim brakes remind me of firemen on diesel locomotives. Lost cause. And------------the mfg are now pretty much geared up on producing disc brakes.

Have you got shares in a company which manufactures discs or something?

 

[HLaB]

“You will use disc brakes, and you will be happy”?

I won't be. My Gravel bike has disks and I have barely ridden it since losing its front wheel in the cold and wet. Since my chemo my fingers go sore and numb in the cold in those circumstances I prefer the more gradual pull and modulation of rim brakes. I've hired disk braked road bikes in the warm and I can't really complain about their modulation but its all in the fingers and that scares me in the cold and wet.

 

[Chislenko]

I can't say I've noticed, but it may be that I just automatically hold by the stem without thinking about it.

I'll think about it as I'm storing the bike tomorrow when I get to work - the bike storage in our office has racks like these, so I have to lift the bike to almost vertical.

View attachment 817526

You will be fine with that as you automatically hold it by the stem / bars. I am talking a rack like this

 

[FishFright]

My bikes have all been rim brakes and not had any issues. Next bike will have discs and I'm happy as I'm convinced they are better overall.
However, what concerns me is lack of options for those who for whatever reason want a new bike with rim brakes. As time goes on there is less choice, certainly from the big manufacturers. Cyclists are being steered towards discs which not everyone may want.

Or do the manufactures know that the rim braked bikes won't sell in sufficient numbers to make it profitable?

 

[rogerzilla]

I've tried various disc brakes and hated them all: the faff of bleeding, the rubbing, the squealing. I don't have any now. The other thing is that they add weight that wasn't there before; a rim brake uses an existing component.

 

[Alex321]

I've tried various disc brakes and hated them all: the faff of bleeding, the rubbing, the squealing. I don't have any now. The other thing is that they add weight that wasn't there before; a rim brake uses an existing component.

What "faff of bleeding" or "rubbing"?

I have had my current bike for 5 years and 16,000 miles. I've had to have teh left lever asembly replaced twice due to damage, and got the LBS to do that. I assume they bled that side then. But apart from that, I haven't needed to bleed the brakes once in that time.

 

[Mike Ayling]

Cyclist the cling to rim brakes remind me of firemen on diesel locomotives. Lost cause. And------------the mfg are now pretty much geared up on producing disc brakes.

The career path for steam locomotives was cleaner, fireman then driver. A lot of the firemen on diesel would have subsequently trained as diesel drivers. In the modern area they might have been made redundant.

 

[katiewlx]

I've tried various disc brakes and hated them all: the faff of bleeding, the rubbing, the squealing. I don't have any now. The other thing is that they add weight that wasn't there before; a rim brake uses an existing component.

well as Im often acutely aware, the one thing that adds more weight that wasnt there before alot, is me, the rider, not the brakes and that has alot more effect on the weight of the bike & rider combo, and the faff of setting up rim brakes perfectly ? with metal rims in the wet of the winter, you were de-picking chunks of your rim out every week minimum if not every ride.

give me disc brakes any day of the week.

 

[Punkawallah]

I won't be. My Gravel bike has disks and I have barely ridden it since losing its front wheel in the cold and wet. Since my chemo my fingers go sore and numb in the cold in those circumstances I prefer the more gradual pull and modulation of rim brakes. I've hired disk braked road bikes in the warm and I can't really complain about their modulation but its all in the fingers and that scares me in the cold and wet.

I was alluding to the WEF and the ‘you will own nothing, and be happy’ dystopian vision.

 

[rogerzilla]

well as Im often acutely aware, the one thing that adds more weight that wasnt there before alot, is me, the rider, not the brakes and that has alot more effect on the weight of the bike & rider combo, and the faff of setting up rim brakes perfectly ? with metal rims in the wet of the winter, you were de-picking chunks of your rim out every week minimum if not every ride.

give me disc brakes any day of the week.

The chunks of rim thing is poor brake pad choice. Years ago, I tried Clarks red pads because I couldn't get Kool-Stop salmon. They embedded chips of grit and alloy, and really grooved the rims. The Kool-Stops never do this, being harder - ironically, soft pads punish rims more due to the embedding issue.

RIm brakes are trivial to set up, unless we're talking 1990s cantilevers. Yes, the rims wear out, but if you can replace them yourself it's not a major problem. I commuted on a fixie with only a front brake, so the rim wear issue was just about non-existent, front brakes not being bathed in gritty water.

 

[matticus]

The chunks of rim thing is poor brake pad choice.

Exactly (and stated 14 pages back! ).

Its very unfortunate that Shimano blocks are quite bad for this - it's understandable that owners would put their faith in the people who actually make the calipers 🤦‍♂️

 

[Dogtrousers]

When I bought my bike from Spa the brake blocks were some anonymous nasty ones. I don't blame them for that as they have their margins to think about. Anyway I wasn't so assiduous inpecting and cleaning things back then as I was just getting back into cycling.

It took that combination of horrible blocks and insufficient maintenance just one winter of filthy riding to completely eat a pair of rims.