Hydraulic Brakes and Carbon Forks question

[bigchiefally]

Sooooo, buying a bike on the cycle to work scheme and had settled on a Boardman Comp. However due to an annoying combination of my works insistence that I buy the vouchers in multiples of £100, the bike and accessories that I want coming in slap bang in the middle of a multiple of £100 so I have to fill it up with stuff I dont really want, and the tax savings in the c2w scheme it works out only about £118 more to buy the next model up, the Team.

Anyway, that is just a bit of back story, the difference as I can see in the bikes is that the Team, the more expensive one, - is about 10% lighter, which sounds great till I get on the bike, at which point the kilo saves me and the bike about 1%, so maybe not such a big deal.
- has carbon forks (as opposed to metal ones)
- has hydraulic disk brakes (as opposed to mech disk ones)
- doesnt have such a nice paint job!

I will be commuting about 4 miles each way, with a proper nasty climb for about 1/2 of it. I also plan on getting out for a exercise ride for about an hour at the weekend and hopefully one evening weeknight whilst the light is good.

So - what are peoples opinions on the hydraulic brakes - are they genuinely a plus point?

- What about carbon forks - do you genuinely notice the difference?

Many Many Thanks

 

[Herzog]

So - what are peoples opinions on the hydraulic brakes - are they genuinely a plus point?

- What about carbon forks - do you genuinely notice the difference?

Many Many Thanks

- Disc brakes are great (many presict they'll be standard on road bikes in a few years)
- Yes, lighter and better (thn Alu) at soaking up road buzz

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Having tried both mechanical and hydraulic discs my experience is that they both give great stopping power when properly set up. However, hydraulic gives a slightly better feel and decent ones are self adjusting so generally require less maintenance (periodically checking pads and discs for wear, fluid change at the recommended intervals).

 

[vickster]

My hybrid (Whyte Cambridge) has this combo and it's incredibly comfortable on the truly dreadful roads around here! To be honest, more so than my carbon road bike ... and it'll take a rack and mudguards for commuting

I'd look at one