Brakes - which is liked better?

[Chief Broom]

My next bike will be a Thorn tourer and will go with their recommendation of a front v brake and a rear cable disk. Here in the highlands its a lot of single track roads and instead of carrying speed on downhills i find a lot of braking is necessary in case a vehicle appears around a bend. I get through a lot of brake blocks which is a pain....when i have a rear disc i can use this to scrub speed and save wearing out the front rim. If i carry on using v brakes i'll probably get through a set of wheels a year!

 

[kingrollo]

Hydro disc imo are by some distance my favourite. Maintenance can be a pain though

Cable disc when correctly adjusted are decent - but do require a lot adjustment IME.that said maintenance is fairly routine

V brakes - good enough for many years - performance imo isn't up there with hydro disc - but you adjust your riding style accordingly.

The other thing about discs is that they allow you to use a range of tyre sizes .

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

In general I prefer hydraulic disc brakes and have them on three of my bikes.

Last time I rode a bike with a coaster brake was coming down the Blue Mountain in Jamaica. Never again 😂.

 

[Jody]

So nothing a £3 can of brake cleaner would not sort out then, I would imagine most people would have used it to clean rim brakes as well, or am I the only one.

Tried that, with sanding and trying to burn it off but it seems to embed itself in the material.

I used to clean rim brakes with a brillo pad. Always looked brand new after but not sure it was the best choice.

 

[si_c]

I'm sure you can. But it isn't as much harder as people try to make out.

If you can do the job in 2-3 minutes, it really can't be described as a PITA.

I think the last time I did it took me between five and ten minutes, but I remember it most distinctly because most of that time was spent cleaning up the hobnobs I dropped on the garage floor.

The cable discs on my CAADX are like that. A big part of the problem is the brake lever cable pull ratio being badly matched to the callipers. The brake pads don't contact the discs until halfway through the lever movement. I can pull the levers right to the handlebar before getting a good braking action.

That can be a bit of a gotcha, not had an issue with TRP Spyres or HY/RDs with modern Shimano levers but I can imagine it could be with the wrong combination.

On my Planet X bike though the pull ratio of the levers is better matched to the brake callipers. I get braking after 25% of lever travel, powerful braking after 50%, and can lock the wheels by pulling the levers more than that. The brakes are as good as the excellent rim brakes on my other bikes. They are not quite as good as the fantastic hydraulic disc brakes on my mountain bike though!

My MTB hydraulics have more power than the 105s I have do, but that's a combination of bigger pads and rotors, more pistons and bigger tyres. But then the v-brakes it used to have weren't that much different (in the dry).

If I were buying another bike I would definitely opt for disc brakes, preferably hydraulic ones.

New bike has cable discs not Hydraulic! Well set up I have no problem with either - slightly more adjustments needed with the Spyre cable discs as you need to occaisionally tweak for pad wear, but that's a 3mm allen key and a minute of time, Hy/Rds are better as they compensate for the pad wear.

So nothing a £3 can of brake cleaner would not sort out then, I would imagine most people would have used it to clean rim brakes as well, or am I the only one.

I use brake cleaner to clean pretty much everything, not just bike related.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Hy/Rds are better as they compensate for the pad wear.

Personally, I think this is a disadvantage - there's no indication of pad wear until your brakes fail. Rim brakes much better in this regard, as you can see them easily, and cable discs a bit better in that you have a reminder to check the pads when you adjust for wear. But this is personal preference I think.

 

[si_c]

Personally, I think this is a disadvantage - there's no indication of pad wear until your brakes fail. Rim brakes much better in this regard, as you can see them easily, and cable discs a bit better in that you have a reminder to check the pads when you adjust for wear. But this is personal preference I think.

I think so, I don't mind it at all - it was more important when I was doing 800 commuting miles a month, less so now. I find it quite easy to check the pad wear though, I can eyeball whether or not it's in need of replacing without dropping the wheels out. I am lazy though and prone to chancing it and not changing pads and have had a couple of instances of wearing through the entire pad and getting metal/metal screeching.

Rim brakes it's probably easier on balance to see the pad wear, but I tend to leave it longer and then wear through the water grooves so braking actually becomes less effective in the wet, and if left too long or used in poor conditions then I find the grub screw holding the pad in starts to corrode and becomes a PITA to take out.

Overall, for the better braking performance - particularly in wet conditions - I'm quite happy to trade off a minute of extra labour to change the pads.

 

[Dogtrousers]

So nothing a £3 can of brake cleaner would not sort out then, I would imagine most people would have used it to clean rim brakes as well, or am I the only one.

I normally clean my rims just with the hot water and car shampoo that I use for the rest of my bike. But on special deep-clean occasions I use Isopropyl Alcohol.

 

[T4tomo]

I normally clean my rims just with the hot water and car shampoo that I use for the rest of my bike. But on special deep-clean occasions I use Isopropyl Alcohol.

Cheapskate, @tyred uses Laphraoig

 

[Gillstay]

I normally clean my rims just with the hot water and car shampoo that I use for the rest of my bike. But on special deep-clean occasions I use Isopropyl Alcohol.

Surprised. I just tend to use water or if a special occasion a bit of detergent. You have to be careful you know.

 

[Gunk]

I do love a canti and well set up V brakes.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I normally clean my rims just with the hot water and car shampoo that I use for the rest of my bike. But on special deep-clean occasions I use Isopropyl Alcohol.

Nothing like turtle wax on the rims to increase your average speed

 

[geocycle]

I’m happy with dual pivot on the spa audax as a sunday bike. In winter I’m more tempted by the spa elan with hydraulic disks and the thorn commuter is just fine with v brakes. In terms of stopping, the hydraulic disks are best especially in wet, followed by v brakes, followed by the dual pivot. I like the simplicity of the rim brakes which gives confidence on longer trips on the Thorn and keeps the weight down on the Spa Audax. The only downside to the v brakes on the Thorn is that I’ve got through quite a few rims in 50,000 miles, especially when they stopped making tungsten carbide coated surfaces.

 

[C R]

I've only ever used canteliever and cable disc. The discs were better in every way (especially in the wet). If hydraulic discs are anything like on a motorbike then I would certianly rate them, but never used them on a push bike

Cantis are only one step above rod brakes.

 

[tyred]

Cantis are only one step above rod brakes.

Cantis set up properly are pretty good. The '90s MTB I often tour on will stop on a sixpence.