Brakes - which is liked better?

[Jody]

and changing pads also more of a PITA.

No more than 2 minutes at the most. It's way easier than installing/re-adjusting brake blocks

 

[Badger_Boom]

I like a break with tradition.

 

[wafter]

Situational specifics notwithstanding I'd take hydro disks any day of the week, on the basis of:

- Feel / ease of modulation / control
- Lightness of operation
- Cleanliness
- Consistency of operation (less affected by water / other contamination)
- Wear of a small, easily-replacible, function-specific component rather than the whole rim
- No issues with degraded performance from cable / outer wear or contamination
- Greater ease of replacing components - pads just drop in and need no manual alignment


The only downsides I can see are:

- The need for a stiffer (and potentially less compliant) fork to react the braking forces
- Additional complication of hydraulics (potential to leak, ingest air)


I find V-brakes useable but a bit of a pain to setup / regularly adjust, and have no direct experience with mech. disks but have heard they can be problematic and lack many of the refinements of hydros - i.e. light action and good modulation.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

No more than 2 minutes at the most. It's way easier than installing/re-adjusting brake blocks

Rim brake: glance at pad, if wear indicators show needed, slide out old and slide in new.

Disc: get torch, peer at pads, guess if replacement needed. Take wheel off. Take pads out. Inspect. Replace if you think needed. Replace wheel.

 

[raleighnut]

Standard Caliper brakes on most of my bikes although my Saracen 'Blitz' has discs

 

[Jody]

Rim brake: glance at pad, if wear indicators show needed, slide out old and slide in new.

Disc: get torch, peer at pads, guess if replacement needed. Take wheel off. Take pads out. Inspect. Replace if you think needed. Replace wheel.

Ah, I thought you were on about replacing the full block rather than a pad..

No need to guess if they need replacing as the spring starts rubbing before the pads wear through. Pull the split pin, shove the pistons back and drop new pads in.

I've never used a torch for inspection but if the pads are getting as thin as the spring then you might aswell.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not by choice, but a Vauxall Corsa was pretty effective in stopping me.

I tried the "massive pothole" braking system which was pretty good. Unfortunately it was a once-only system as my front wheel was no longer round afterwards.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Just a few thoughts of mine on the matter

In terms of sheer power (in dry conditions), l don’t feel that discs have any advantages
BUT, in the wet, certainly they do
We’ve all had those moments of panic whilst waiting for rim-brakes to clear the moisture/road-gunk off the rim & started working

Unfortunately, with a disc, especially at the front, all of the braking force is at the wrong end of the fork, compared to a calliper/cantilever set-up


Cable v hydraulic disc; I wasn’t sure myself, until l got hydraulic discs (first on a long gone Trek MTB)
What I did realise was the complete lack of cable issues
Ie; in heavy braking, the stretching of the inner, & compression of the outer
(as evidenced by the sound of ‘tyre-squirm’ from the MTB tyre tread
The fluid is essentially incompressible at the grip that most mere humans can pull the brake lever

There are other factors that not many think about with discs
1. ‘Wheel wear’, if your hub has cartridge bearings, given a lack of damage, the wheel ought to last indefinitely, as the braking surface can be replaced
2. If a wheel is buckled due to an unavoidable pothole (for example), the brake still works, unlike a calliper/cantilever which may require slackening off?


My old Pace RC100 had hydraulic rim-brakes & those were powerful
In fact, they once scored through a rim, during a race, due to a trapped stone!!!!
Pad changing was simple, they just pulled out & ‘self-centred’
BUT….. they could only be changed with the wheel out, & the tyre had to be deflated to take it out

 

[HMS_Dave]

Drum brakes. I can hit them with a hammer and they start working again.

 

[wiggydiggy]

No more than 2 minutes at the most. It's way easier than installing/re-adjusting brake blocks

I love how people on the internet assume I am a 8 armed bicycle mechanic with the speed and co-ordination of a modern F1 pit crew! Changing rim brake or disc brake pads is more than a 2 minute job for me.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The kicker though, is what’s actually available. You’ll struggle to get a nice road bike without hydro discs (and probably Di2 as well…). You definitely won’t get a decent rim braked MTB at all unless 2nd hand. All this adds cost; the ubiquity of hydro discs has IME put a significant cost barrier to getting into cycling.

Not sure I agree with this. Kind of depends on what you mean by "nice" road bike. But if you are getting into cycling and cost is an issue there are plenty of rim braked road bikes at the cheaper/entry level end of the market - I just took a peek at the Decathlon website to check and this is true.

However I know nothing about MTBs so no comment on that bit.

 

[Drago]

Surprising no one is a fan of the old style anchor and chain.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Not sure I agree with this. Kind of depends on what you mean by "nice" road bike. But if you are getting into cycling and cost is an issue there are plenty of rim braked road bikes at the cheaper/entry level end of the market - I just took a peek at the Decathlon website to check and this is true.

However I know nothing about MTBs so no comment on that bit.

It's now a very small niche though. I had a glance at specialised (my LBS does that brand)

No rim brakes.
Entry level mechanical disc £1000 (Claris)
Next up Tiagra hydro disc £1600

So people think they "need" hydro discs - only the cheapo rubbish doesn't have them. So it looks as though you need £1600 for a road bike worth having. Which just isn't remotely the case; the difference is minimal.

 

[screenman]

I was chatting to someone about this subject once, he was almost an expert on hydraulic disc brakes, well he spoke like he was, he did not have them on his only bike, he had never ridden a bike with them on and could not figure out how they worked without cables.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

No more than 2 minutes at the most. It's way easier than installing/re-adjusting brake blocks

More than that. You have to drop wheel out, remove old pads, reset the pistons, before inserting new pads, and putting wheel back in. I really can’t see how you can do all that in 2 mins.