I rode mountain and road/commuters with rim brakes for years and I would give up gears and suspension before disc brakes and dropper seat posts.
Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
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Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#32I switched to tubeless on rim brakes and had a downhill blowout from pressure cooking the sealant. I also tend to abuse my rims and rarely true them, so my brakes are always loose or rubbing. Both these problems may go away with carbon rims, but pincher brakes with carbon pads don’t have much stopping power. Discs do, but they are heavy and put extra torque and heat stresses on the frame, as well as a twisting moment…
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#33Uhhh yeah, do yourself a favor, pay no attention to this article. Always buy hydraulic disc brakes whenever possible. The rest of the bike can be whatever, but when it comes to stopping power, you will smile endlessly from the smooth yet responsive safety hydraulic disc brakes provide. They are inexpensive and easy to replace, and need much less maintenance to adjust. Every single time you brake, at all, you will be…
I love my disc brakes, but I don't like the hydraulic aspect of them. I do wish that they used cables, instead. Those are easier for me to maintain/repair. I only use my bike to commute, though, and I don't think that there's a real difference in performance between hydraulic and cable with that use case so it's all about ease of maintenance for me.
This is a great guide that includes a list of cable actuated disk brakes. And if it works for bikepacking with the heavier loads it generally works fine for anything.
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#34Biking for 40+ years from around the neighborhood to centuries, and do maintenance except cost-prohibitive procedures.
I have road and mountain bikes with rim brakes (grew up with them), disc brakes, and a 4kW scooter with disc brakes and regenerative braking.
Disc brakes are high maintenance: oil (leaks and water content), pads, and springs.
Rim brakes are more-or-less maintenance-free except cleaning the rims maybe every year or 2, and pads every 5-10 years. Only rarely alignment.
The mechanical advantage and safety is theoretically better with rim brakes because the forces are much higher in disc brakes due to the differences in lever distance.
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#35I read the entire article hoping to learn why rim breaks are better than disk breaks. Other than "they're simpler", I came up pretty empty.
- Rim brakes are cheaper. The price of carbon-frame road bikes has dramatically increased because of disc brakes and inflation.
- rim brakes are easier to maintain. Disc brake DIY maintenance required equipment and expertise beyond most riders.
- rim brakes are more than adequate for the riding the average avid cyclist does.
- A rim brake bike that has been sitting in the garage needs little TLC and service to get back in service, in contrast to a much more expensive and time-consuming effort to get a hydraulic disc back in service.
- rim brakes create torque at beefier parts of the frame (where they are mounted) than at the end of the fork and end of the chain-stays and seat-stays
There is no question a quality disc brake is better at braking than its rim brake counterpart. But generally it was a solution in search of a problem and makes cycling even more out of reach for most consumers despite the industry lamenting for decades that ridership was flat despite a growing population.
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#36Rim brakes are suicidal garbage. This twi^H^H^Hperson hasn't spent years commuting in all sorts of weather.
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#37I read the entire article hoping to learn why rim breaks are better than disk breaks. Other than "they're simpler", I came up pretty empty.
Good news, you're now thoroughly educated in all the manners that rim brakes are better than discs.
Seriously. If you're bikepacking long distances or in remote areas and you're running rim brakes because they're repairable on-trail or with basic tools and every shop has parts, that's reasonable.
This article is nonsense.
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#38If you're not an avid cyclist please take this article with a grain of salt. It's largely understood that disc brakes are better, full stop. A few guys in my cycling group who are still on rim brakes will not take the really fun descents, even when it's completely dry. They don't trust them. Pad fade, overheating brake surfaces causing de-lamination and popping inner tubes. So, sure, if all you're ever going to do is…
Interesting you prefer hydraulic specifically, even the disc brake zealots mostly agree mechanical is more reliable and easier to maintain.
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#39Was wondering how riders like pros in Tour de France stop before disc brakes were available
Re: Disc Brakes Took over the Cycling World. Here's Why That Was a Mistake
#40I used to do fast descents of Bonny Doon and similar. Think 60Mph / 100kmhr at the base. With my fat butt and damp brakes I would run through the stop signs at the bottom using rim brakes. I’ll never go back to rim brakes now that I’ve had discs. I still use my rim brake bikes for clear weather around town. For real work it is discs every single time. The author seems to have only used bicycles in optimal conditions.
I'm old and back in the day all we had were caliper brakes on road bikes and I rode two centuries in the rain in a paceline and somehow we all survived, as did all those decades of Tour de France riders. Maybe guys can only do "real work" with disc brakes now, but at least in the past riders managed with rim brakes outside of optimal conditions. Maybe excessive smartphone usage is compromising grip strength these day…
did you feel attacked by the OP in some way?