I can see both sides of this. I’ve been thinking about a new frame and I was pretty sure that I’d just buy rim brakes again even if they are “old” tech.
My reasoning is that I have 3-4 sets of wheels and IME disc brakes have been a little bit of a PITA for me on my gravel and mountain bikes.
Fast forward and I just moved to a new area where I live on a 15% hill and routinely find short and steep ups and downs. So now I think I want my next road bike to be disc. I used to live in a flat area where brakes didn’t matter much at all. It also rains a lot more here so it’s entirely possible I’ll get stuck in the rain more often.
Conclusion - if terrain and weather merit disc brakes then get them. If not then rim brakes are fine.
Two years ago I specced my (new then) frame with rim brakes, mainly because I know where I am . Also all my wheel sets (tubeless) are rim brakes and the majority of disc sets I’ve encountered have been OTT squeaky. Rim brakes give me enough stopping power but they don’t have to stop much (up to 55kg this morning). I could be wrong but I think the tyre/road contact regardless of the brake type will be the larger factor for me.
Rim brakes for me too. They work, easy to maintain. I was also chatting with my LBS owner who was telling me 50% of all mechanical issues They have now are disc brake related…he hates them too. I also spent 3h riding with a friend who’s disc brakes rubbed constantly After he changed discs the day before…
The prob might be that he’s not doing is job properly… or again I’m very lucky guy. 4 years this November with discs on my daily commuter/weekend ride bike with zero issues. If it’s rubbing as many already explained above it’s a one minute job (and anyone can squeeze a brake leaver you don’t need to go to your LBS).
Nope, this is as good as a bike shop gets. I suspect it’s simply people don’t know what to do when their brakes are not working properly so they bring them in
I ride disc brakes on my mountain bike and they’re very good but there’s always some or other that needs adjusting…if you’re travelling as a bike racer will and you don’t have a team mech looking after your bike then I’d go rim
If you live in the mountains and primarily race crits, it is a no-brainer: go for disc brakes. You won’t have to pick between training and race wheels any longer (and change brake pads) either.
That seems really weird and sounds way overblown. I have traveled plenty with my disc brake bikes, everything from multiple transcontinental flights to local races by car, neither my mates nor I have had a problem with our disc brakes. Why should we, disc brakes have been dead reliable for 10, 15 years. A lot of people in the road community are just afraid of them, because they don’t yet know maintenance and hear freak horror stories (everything fails, just rarely). Even bleeding brakes is dead easy, especially in this Youtube day-and-age.
If anything, disc brakes require much less maintenance and fiddling than rim brakes as they are self-adjusting (to compensate for brake pad wear). It is just slightly harder to check whether your brake pads need replacing, but if you clean your bike regularly then you just do it while cleaning. And you may need to clean your pads and rotors, if you ride in the rain or in dirty conditions (e. g. off road in the mud). Plus, carbon wheels on a disc brake bike can be your everyday-is-a-race-day wheels, you don’t have to worry about changing brake pads to suit your wheels or that braking in the wet on many carbon wheels can be, ahem, sketchy.
I’ve had discs on my mtb since early 00s and never had failures, an early set of maguras were under powered but never failed.
I descend faster in some places on my gravel bike just cos I slow quickly into corners.
On a proper racer I’d definitelyefinitely save time going down over slight weight loss and better climbing for a rim bike. Have to look at it as a whole, climbing, descending, spares and upgrades.
I have had one benign failure, but it was just that braking performance suffered and brakes felt quite spongy. (It was Hayes FX9, which used Dot fluid, and according to the bike shop part of the fluid formed crystals on the interior walls of the brake lines. So they recommended to have them replaced, which I did. But that was after many years of intensive use.)
Even though the XT brakes on my mountain bike are 8 years old now, they still work great. I must have put 15,000 km or more on them. Perhaps I should replace my rotors, but since I have mostly relegated it to commuting duty I’m ok with the brakes squeaking a bit. I don’t even bleed my brakes very often (once a year, twice tops).
IMO dosc brakes are better…but the better is really only measurable if you live in wet or hilly areas.
Regarding cleaning them…I races two seasons of cross on a set of pads/same disc. Didnt do anything to them besides squirt hose water at them. And this is after many cross races where the brakes were not visible anymore die to 15 pounds of mud on the bike.
Think the different stories of easy/hard to maintain depends on if dealing with hydraulic discs (very easy to centre and maintain) vs mechanical cable discs (the devil’s invention and a total nightmare!)
No problems with disc brake rubbing, except if I remove a wheel and something or someone presses the brake lever. Use the plastic brake stop every time the wheel is removed or you take chances the self-adjustment feature will adjust to no rotor.
For the pro peloton, I don’t think there is any weight penalty due to disc brakes. If you have the cash, you can easily get disc brake bikes that weigh significantly less than the UCI weight limit of 6.8 kg. In some cases teams even need to add weight to get up to 6.8 kg. There is a slight aerodynamic penalty, which could be mitigated if the UCI allowed aerodynamic devices (such as fairings).
