disk brakes or not?

[xpc316e]

I have dual pivot, side pull, rim brakes of good quality on some of my bikes, V brakes of good quality on others, cable operated discs on the trike, and hydraulic discs on my MTB. I used to have Magura hydraulic rim brakes on another bike, so I have a wide breadth of experience. I would always prefer hydraulic discs for their power, ease of modulation, lack of maintenance, wet weather performance, and general user friendliness. The trike's brakes are superb though and can deliver a stoppie on a recumbent trike on demand - quite what it would be like if I went to hydraulic discs I hesitate to think.

 

[MacB]

One of the downsides of disc brakes on non-MTBs seems to be that they tend to go hand in hand with alu forks.

I found the choice limitation was trying to find nice steel ones rather than carbon, I saw very little in the way of alu offerings, certainly as aftermarket parts.

 

[Pauluk]

A question regarding disc brake modulation: I have a modulation adjustment screw on my disc calipers that I have not tried to alter as my brakes seem to work fine. Can anyone tell me what this adjustment does and what effect I could expect.

 

[Andrius.B]

I have hydraulic disk brakes on my commuter bike, and couldn't be happier. They have enormous stopping power in all conditions - rain doesn't affect my breaking performance in any notable way. For mountain biking, they are the best choice though. For road they might be a bit heavy, but since I am just commuting, I don't mind a bit of extra weight. So, in short, any quality brakes can be good, but personally, I prefer hydraulic disk brakes for commuting.

 

[Psycolist]

The key word here is Quality. A poorly set up, cheap rim brake on a cheap rim is almost worse than useless, you hope/think/pray they gona work when you need 'em, but will almost certaily let you roll straight into the back of a car, when its not even wet.... However, a good quality set that are well maintained and porperly set up, will , and have, stopped me short of all obstacles in all weathers. Similarly, I think that the cheap end of disc brake equipment, in my experience, leaves alot to be desired, but, get a good mid range set, cable or hydraulics ( far too much of a phaff for me ) will do all thats needed. I may be old fashioned, no, I am old fashioned and prefer a good quality, easy to set up, easy to adjust, able to judge wear at a glance , SET OF RIM BRAKES. A very good point made earlier in the thread is that a new disc is alot cheaper than a new rim, but that is really, for me, the only advantage. Not sure I agree with a disc brake making it easier to centre a wheel, easier to centre the disc, yeah.

 

[potsy]

Sure that's not just you?

Shut it shorty

 

[ColinJ]

Shut it shorty

Shouldn't that be "Shut it, even more of a shorty than me"?

 

[mickle]

I favour coaster brakes and roller brakes me. Or even ceramic rim brakes. But then I'm weird like that.

 

[ColinJ]

Rim brakes can work really well, but rims and blocks don't half take a battering in wet conditions.

I wore out loads of brake blocks and a few rims on my first MTB which had v-brakes. I much prefer the disk brakes on the MTB I have now.

 

[Alun]

I have Magura Julie hydraulic discs on a MTB, which are entry level, and can't fault them.
I wouldn't swap the twin pivot campag centaur calipers on my road bike, either.
The mini vee's on my CX style are OK, but I would swap them for discs, esp hydraulic disks if I could.
Canti brakes are rubbish, end of !

 

[Crankarm]

The OP is a joker. He posts a contentious title and a "?" He has not been back since.

 

[Andrius.B]

yeah... but still the thread might be useful to someone else

 

[skudupnorth]

Rim brakes are great,even more maintenance friendly than any damn disc set-up ! Sadly i cannot change my MTB to them so it's discs only.I remember the good old days when we had lovely chrome rims and we had no chance of stopping in the rain ....oh what exiting times some younger riders have missed out on

 

[Alun]

Skud, did you mean "exciting times", or "exiting times"?
Either could be appropriate when talking about inefficient brakes!

 

[sidevalve]

Rim brakes are great,even more maintenance friendly than any damn disc set-up ! Sadly i cannot change my MTB to them so it's discs only.I remember the good old days when we had lovely chrome rims and we had no chance of stopping in the rain ....oh what exiting times some younger riders have missed out on

That said it tought you to read the road ahead though [well you either learnt or - - ] and a healthy respect for the road / weather conditions. Ther's a lot of drivers [and a few cyclists] who would do better to put less faith in "the machine" and a bit more in thinking ahead.