Are disc brakes better than callipers?

[Piemaster]

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.

Hydro brings in yet another factor to discs (cable/hydro) But the hydro front one on the xtracycled hybrid has never been touched since the bike was new. Which is more than I can say for the cable operated brakes (caliper and disc) on other bikes. The rear hydro had to go when it was xtracycled as the hose wasn't long enough - admittedly it would have been easier with a cable. I'll admit to being a disc brake fan and I wouldn't buy a new bike without them now.

This is almost as good as a helmet debate.

 

[Drago]

It will one day need attention, be it tomorrow or in another decade, and when it does you'll wish it was as simple as changing a cable. Regular fluid changes can delay that greatly, but even that is a bit more involved than, er, changing a cable, even with the correct bleeding too for your set up.

Despite that, I still probably will place discs on the shopping list for my next roadie.

 

[Drago]

You appear to have given up on English in favour of some sort of patois there.

Seeing as I am Scottish ill take that as a compliment.

 

[vernon]

It is my belief that bicycle disc brakes for road bike use is just a marketing/bikebling accessory.

So it's an opinion then and not a fact?

I'll add an opinion of my own. Last week I was descending from Winlatter Pass in torrential rain. There was a noticeable lag between applying my v-brakes and any braking effect to manifest itself. Disc brakes would have hauled my heavily laden touring bike and lardy ass to a halt in a much shorter distance than my rim brakes.

 

[Piemaster]

@Drago As the brakes are only juicy 3's I'd just replace them completely and be happy I'd had my moneys worth. The £ difference between them and new blocks/cables over the expected lifetime is insignificant to me.

Road bikes. Isn't there one of the big manufacturers switching to an all disc line-up now?

 

[vernon]

Seeing as I am Scottish ill take that as a compliment.

So why aren't you called McDrago?

 

[normskirus]

My cantis on my tourer can stop me fine in the dry - almost as good my hydraulic disks on the MTB. BUt its the white knuckle experience I get on the cantis in the wet means that my next road type bike will have disks.

 

[vernon]

Kilt, lift, quarter pounder?

 

[Pat "5mph"]

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

I think the set up makes the difference.
My newer bike (hybrid) has disk brakes. On buying it I was very excited by this even though I never had a problem with v-brakes.
Well, my excitement was all for nothing, couldn't spot the difference, when wet the bike squeals like a bus, no matter how clean the rotors are.
Then I got to try a friend's mb, same brakes as mine, Tektro hydraulic.
What a difference, almost went over the handlebars, a light touch was enough to stop the bike.

 

[tommaguzzi]

So all these years i have been riding around on bikes that won't stop in the wet??!
How come i have not had one serious problem with brake lag in the wet?
( it takes a second to dab them dry every now and then)
How is it that the pro pleleton blasting along at 40kph all day every day in all conditions isn't in the fields every time it rains?

To go back to my original post. We were riding in dry conditions. The following rider was claiming onlynhis discs saved him.
I think some riders have been tought to belive by advertisers that discs are just better in all condions, which is obviously not the case.
I accept there maybe marginal gains in wet conditions and rim wear and pad material wear but disc breaks are not just better per se.

 

[Wafer]

So, a guy made a statement that might be a bit over certain, whether accurate or not we can't tell and never will be able to.
You're certain he's talking bs and additionally that disc brakes are entirely pointless.
Other people make comments about how they found disc brakes to be better/no better than callipers....

Well I've always found red ones faster than green ones and I won't listen to anyone who says otherwise....

 

[raleighnut]

I've got bikes with just about every kind of brake (even a drum band brake on the back of the trike) they all stop me perfectly easily although I've not got steel rims on any of them anymore.
Keeping them in tip-top condition is paramount IMO, even to the point of removing caliper/V-brake pads and filing them flat (and removing the ingrained flecks of aluminium that cause massively accelerated wear on your rims)

 

[Piemaster]

So, a set of pads of a friction material clamping onto an annular surface and the friction thereby created being transferred to the tyre/road interface thus slowing the bike are better, or maybe not, than a set of pads of a friction material clamping onto an annular surface and the friction thereby created being transferred to the tyre/road interface thus slowing the bike.

I'll still want the disc one on future bikes though.

A thought. Do rim brakes mainly exist because it was the most obvious and easiest place to put them during the early days of the modern bicycle? With a fixie (childs trike to a standard bicycle) stop pedalling. With a freewheel a brake becomes necessary when going downhill.

 

[vernon]

So all these years i have been riding around on bikes that won't stop in the wet??!
How come i have not had one serious problem with brake lag in the wet?
( it takes a second to dab them dry every now and then)
How is it that the pro pleleton blasting along at 40kph all day every day in all conditions isn't in the fields every time it rains?

To go back to my original post. We were riding in dry conditions. The following rider was claiming onlynhis discs saved him.
I think some riders have been tought to belive by advertisers that discs are just better in all condions, which is obviously not the case.
I accept there maybe marginal gains in wet conditions and rim wear and pad material wear but disc breaks are not just better per se.

Confirmation bias based on an incredibly small anecdotal data set.

 

[anothersam]

NOTES
Stopping distances have been made up for illustrative purposes.
V-brakes are a type of cantilever, and they don't look much like a V, so disappointment all around then.
Skid stop graphic courtesy the documentary Premium Rush.