Disc Brakes or Rim

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gmw492

Veteran
I am looking at getting a disc brake winter bike, reason being I’ve read they are better for the wet weather than rim, Tiagra groupset says mechanical and 105 which says hydraulic, question is will the mechanical be the same braking as a rim brake with it not being hydraulic or do they perform better in the weather than a rim brake, I presume that hydraulic are the all performing brake system, just thinking about the cost, rim winter bike cheapest,Tiagra mechanical mid price and 105 highest price. Only ever used rim so hoping some experts could advise ,thanks
 
In my experience, Shimano mech disk brakes perform about the same as V brakes in the dry and are not affected much by wet conditions. They need very little maintenance.
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
Hydraulic is the only option, cable are crap, however somebody will be along in a minute to say they've never had a problem with cable disc brakes & you should stay away from all that faff you have with hydraulics, unfortunately they will be wrong.

Edit:- There you go, didn't have to wait a minute.
 
Location
London
I am looking at getting a disc brake winter bike, reason being I’ve read they are better for the wet weather than rim, Tiagra groupset says mechanical and 105 which says hydraulic, question is will the mechanical be the same braking as a rim brake with it not being hydraulic or do they perform better in the weather than a rim brake, I presume that hydraulic are the all performing brake system, just thinking about the cost, rim winter bike cheapest,Tiagra mechanical mid price and 105 highest price. Only ever used rim so hoping some experts could advise ,thanks
Can see this producing a few arguments.
what sort of bike/usage./style of riding is this for?
From your other comments some form of road bike?
 
Location
London
Hydraulic is the only option, cable are crap, however somebody will be along in a minute to say they've never had a problem with cable disc brakes & you should stay away from all that faff you have with hydraulics, unfortunately they will be wrong.

Edit:- There you go, didn't have to wait a minute.
Hydraulic anything is usually a trouble free dream.
Until you have a problem.
 

Threevok

Growing old disgracefully
Location
South Wales
Hydraulic is the only option, cable are crap, however somebody will be along in a minute to say they've never had a problem with cable disc brakes & you should stay away from all that faff you have with hydraulics, unfortunately they will be wrong.

Edit:- There you go, didn't have to wait a minute.

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

If it's any consolation, the only advantage I have personally found with my hydros, over my old cabled BB7s, is that they don't freeze in the winter

Nothing worse than grabbing at your brakes, only to find any water that found it's way into the cable housing, from riding in deep snow, had frozen solid :eek:
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
TRP Spyre discs. Cable actuated. Best thing. For long distance (audax) and touring these rock.

Anyone who recommends hydraulic for anything other than club rides, trail centre stuff or leisure riding probably still lives with their mum. She’ll come and pick you up when it all goes wrong because they aren’t easily fixed in the field. :okay:
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Cable disc brakes are a bit of a mixed bag. Hydraulics are invariably excellent until they aren't - you'll need to learn how to bleed them but that's not a particularly difficult task.

In the dry Rim brakes can be almost as good as disc brakes - depending on the rim brake. I've recently acquired a bike with direct mount brakes and they are really really really good for rim brakes. That being said properly set up disc brakes require far less effort at the levers for the same amount of braking. This was most evident to me recently when I had a broken wrist - I couldn't pull the lever hard enough after the cast came off to brake hard with rim brakes even on the drops, but was able to get the back wheel off the ground from the hoods with my disc braked bikes.

In the wet there is no comparison discs are significantly superior and consistent - although metal pads don't perform as well in cold weather so that is a factor to keep in mind.

As far as the difference between cable and hydraulic - I think that comes down to the quality of the cable disc brakes - some are fantastic (TRP Spyre and Hy/Rd) some are pretty terrible (anything by promax). Essentially you want a dual action caliper where both pads move and not a single action where the rotor gets bent onto one of the pads.
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
TRP Spyre discs. Cable actuated. Best thing. For long distance (audax) and touring these rock.

Anyone who recommends hydraulic for anything other than club rides, trail centre stuff or leisure riding probably still lives with their mum. She’ll come and pick you up when it all goes wrong because they aren’t easily fixed in the field. :okay:
Definitely one thing I like about cable discs - I know how to fix them in the field.
 
Location
London
TRP Spyre discs. Cable actuated. Best thing. For long distance (audax) and touring these rock.

Anyone who recommends hydraulic for anything other than club rides, trail centre stuff or leisure riding probably still lives with their mum. She’ll come and pick you up when it all goes wrong because they aren’t easily fixed in the field. :okay:
:smile:

The barmiest thing I ever saw was from Dahon (and they set the bar high with their barminess at times) - a foldable tourer with hydraulic brakes.
 
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