Considering pulling the trigger on an S Works SL8 at some stage fairly soon. This will be in addition to my steel framed Condor Super Acciaio with mechanical Campagnolo Chorus and rim brake.
Quite a change, and unfortunately, no places at all offer a test ride before purchase. Couple of concerns -
Is disk brake rub still a thing? Which groupset offers the best disc brake performance?
Has anyone else gone from a bike similar to my Condor to an SL8 and noticed much difference? The SL8 would be a lot lighter and is carbon as opposed to steel in the Condor.
Just purchased an SL8 last week and now have about 200k on it. So far, I absolutely love it. No brake rub, easy shifting with the SRAM setup, and smooth ride
There is certainly a learning curve with disk brakes. They arenāt as āset and forgetā as rim brakes. Iāve had mountain and gravel bikes with disks and they have at times been a big PITA. But youāll learn the ropes over time or just have a shop service it.
I have a completely different experience. Discs on my road bikes are set and forget, until you ned to change pads. I guess bleeding them every 3ish years is more workā¦..but otherwise perfecto. The only thing that may cause grief is if you use different wheelsets and the rotor spacing is not the sameā¦.that can be annoying, but shims can solve that issue.
Iāve had two bent rotors on two bikes - just a minor out of true but enough to be an annoyance. No idea how they got that way. I havenāt really had squealing brakes at all.
My biggest annoyance has been with my Sram master cylinders. Iāve had two brakes go flat over winter storage. One couldnāt be rebled and still needs to be rebuilt. The other needed to be rebled.
I finally just replaced the rotors and pads on my gravel bike and it has been perfect since minus the lever going flat over the winter.
Itās all manageable but just a small series of PITAs that you donāt get with rim brakes. Maybe Shimano is more set it and forget it? I also find the Sram DOT brake fluid to be annoying to work with. I read that they are switching to mineral oil like Shimano?
Yeah, thatās my experience as well. Much less āroutineā hassle compared to rim brakes. With rim brakes (especially on carbon), brakes tend to glaze pretty quick and/or pick up debris (particularly in the rain) and Iād always be pulling them off to sand them down to bring back the braking performance. Disk brakes just work, rain or shine. And besides the improved performance, disk brakes donāt wear out your wheels like rim brakes do. Replacing a rotor is a lot cheaper than replacing a wheel with a worn brake track.
Biggest downside IMO is that so many bikes have cables/hoses routed through the headset these days that you often have to redo brake lines when swapping parts or changing headset bearings. Itās a pain whether you have cable brakes or hydraulic, but hydraulic adds some steps and you can only cut and redo the hoses so many times before you run out of hose and have to buy another set. If you donāt do your own maintenance, something as simple as a headset swap can get really expensive. I guess another negative is if you are swapping wheels. Some hubs have just enough difference in spacing that you might need to adjust your calipers if swapping between wheels. Not always a problem, just depends on the wheels.
My works SL7 is a killer bike. Very snappy and fast. Shimano groupo. No issues with brake performance. I did ride thru some wet oil durning a rain storm. Replaced the pads and cleaned the rotors with alcohol. No problems.
I do have SRAM on my gravel bike. No issues with those brakes. Both groupos now have adjustable levers for feel and reach.
Just got a Super Acciaio myself pretty much the same setup as yourself. Tarmacs a popular bike might be able to reach out to someone local through forums and group rides see if anyone will let you test ride that way. If you uses mechanical shifting your likely had to put up with derailleur rub from time to time canāt imagine disc being to much more of a hassle.
Not really, provided that your brakes are set up correctly. I only have a tiny amount of brake rub (a ting) after sustained long descents (think 500 m of elevation difference) with my Force D1 (first-gen Force eTap AXS). And I didnāt have issues with my 105/Ultegra hydraulic drivetrain either.
I think the current king of the hill are SRAMās latest E1 groupsets (Red, Force and Rival E1), thatās the consensus of the reviews I have read. SRAM redesigned the brake mechanism, the master cylinder is now horizontal, which means it is larger and offers better leverage. The result is that you can consistently rely on 1-finger braking.
To chime in here: disc brakes are not fussy, but you need to learn new maintenance procedures. Iāve had hydraulic disc brakes since 2004 or 2005. In many circumstances, when people write that rim brakes are easier to set up (āset and forgetā) one factor is simply experience, they arenāt as used to the new thing. This is mine:
You will need much less force to brake with a hydraulic (rim or disc) brake. This was a game changer for me.
Disc brakes are virtually maintenance free once set up. Unlike rim brakes, hydraulic disc brakes automatically adjust for wear and donāt need to be centered (something I hated on rim brake bikes I owned).
You should clean the rotors and brake pads every once in a while, especially if you rode offroad or in the wet. With installed correctly, I mean that the calipers need to be parallel to the rotors and the rotors need to be straight. When cleaning rotors, you should inspect the pads for wear. It happened to me twice that my brake pads were worn and I hadnāt noticed, because I had zero issues before and was too lazy to clean pads and rotors.
Bleeding a bike is definitely a procedure, and might take some time and skill. However, I think it matters what you compare it to. If you e. g. need to replace inner and outer cables of a rim brake bike with internal cable routing, you also need some patience. You can outsource this to your LBS.
New brake pads and rotors need to be bedded in.
When people complain about noise, I would like that they ride behind a former team mate with fancy Enve carbon rim brake wheels. His brake tracks literally sang
No more training wheels, because your rim is no longer a wear item.
Overall, it is really a no brainer, disc brakes are a lot better. Plus, they allow for new frame shapes and wider tires. (Before anyone responds to that, I know about things like V-brakes, my first mountain bike that I got over 30 years ago had wide tires and rim brakes. )
This is absolutely critical and often overlooked. Proper bedding not only creates improved braking performance but also reduces many of the problems people associate with disc brakes.
There was a good article on Escape collective about it at one point (might be a subscription article though).
Think it depends enormously on the riding you do. My nice/summer/race bike that rarely gets wet and only travels carefully placed inside the car is exactly as low maintenance as your experience. And my winter and gravel bikes which get used year round in all weathers and get wet, muddy, salty, put in bike bags and chucked in the hold of planes, etc require a lot more maintenance. Bleeding them, adjusting the calipers and cleaning up sticky pistons are pretty regular tasks, and have had to straighten rotors a couple of times as well.
Although any bike that rides a lot in adverse conditions needs to be maintained much, much more often. Your drivetrain components will wear out much more quickly, too. If you have exposed cables, for example, then they may be impacted, too. Another factor is how often and hard you use your brakes. Since I moved to someplace flat, my brakes need minimal maintenance as I rarely use them.
