Road sometimes gravel.
Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes
- Thread starter philipp10
- Start date
I would say it then depends on your budget. Even the good mechanical disc brakes are more reliable and cheaper than the cheaper hydraulic brakes. If going cheap, I think mechanical is best and overall less hassle and maintenance. It takes a pretty good bump up in price to get hydraulic brakes that are solid and limited hassle. There's really nothing much worse on a bike than dealing with cheap hydraulic brakes that don't work right or fail outright. If going a bit more expensive, then hydraulic brakes would be nice, but not critical for road and gravel riding. Any disc brake is going to be orders of magnitude better than rim brakes of any quality or caliber.
I would disagree that ANY disc brake is better than decent V-brakes. For a casual rider, V-brakes will work for decades with the odd pad replacement, no worries about contaminating them with chain lube, etc. Sometimes the KISS is a better way to go if added performance isn't required. Atleast at the level I ride at, and with only 200ft descents, brake type isn't a large factor in rider speed. Back in the early 2000's I used to run some Ontario downhill races and could always finish in the top half with a hard tail and V brakes, back then it was about the drops(which I rolled mostly) for a lot of guys, but you make a lot of time in the corners... Once your at one finger braking(in the dry atleast) how much more do you need just to ride some trails?
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I don't think so. Hydro all the way.
Brake Lesson 101 -
How would one know they have “quality” mechanical disc brakes versus “cheap” hydraulic disc brakes?
Is there a “Bobisthe BikeGuy” forum out there in two-wheeler land?
I'm just a beginner at this and have never owned a good bicycle, but I can tell you the mechanical disk brakes on my new Schwinn Axum have much more stopping power than the ones that were on my Mongoose Dolomite fat bike (also from Pacific bike co).
The difference is the rotors are larger diameter on the Axum.
The difference is the rotors are larger diameter on the Axum.
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Just about any of the cheap mechanical brakes on bikes NOT sold at Walmart (or any similar quality-level of bikes) will have decent entry-level mechanical disc brakes. Most of them are going to be a Tektro brand or Avid, which are both pretty reliable.
I've used MANY different styles and price points of disc brakes, including the silly ones on $100 Walmart bikes. The only main thing that sets them apart once beyond the Walmart price point, is rotor size and how loud they are when wet, and maybe the quality of the brake lines and levers.
I always figured that the implementation of disc brakes on bicycles was more at the direction of the marketing department.
I had no complaints with the Avid BB7 brakes I had a few years ago. I had a set of Tektro cable actuated discs on my fat bike that wouldn't deliver adequate power no matter what I did (set them up again and again, new cables, sintered pads, strip and lube the internals). They were scary. I eventually replaced them with a set of hydraulics and braking is normal.
I think hydraulics are basically going to be good, cable actuated is going to be hit and miss depending on make/model.
That said hydraulics do suffer from bleed issues occasionally and the pads will get stuck out if you squeeze the lever with the wheel out so they aren't as beginner friendly or idiot proof as cables.
I think hydraulics are basically going to be good, cable actuated is going to be hit and miss depending on make/model.
That said hydraulics do suffer from bleed issues occasionally and the pads will get stuck out if you squeeze the lever with the wheel out so they aren't as beginner friendly or idiot proof as cables.
I don't think it matters much. Mechanical, hydraulic, Shimano, SRAM, whatever. They all work much better than brakes of the past, and require less maintenance. There are more important factors to base a bicycle buying decision, like the type of frame, size of wheels, and how well it fits.
Nope. Especially in mountain biking. Rim brakes are garbage and hydraulic discs are spectacular.
The trend for disc brakes is driven in part by marketing. They're "cool" and people want them. For the average all-around cyclist it doesn't make much difference, rim brakes work just fine. But disc brakes have some practical benefits for mountain biking, tandems, and other applications.
- For biking technical trails, 1-finger braking is great, putting more of your hands on the bar. And less hand fatigue. The mechanical leverage required for this is impossible with rim brakes.
- With discs, if you break a spoke the wheel still spins freely and is rideable. Not with rim brakes.
- Putting the braking stress and heat on the rotor, not the rim, is A GOOD THING. Rotors are easily replaceable; rims are not.
- Disc brakes make carbon wheels viable; you do not want rim brakes with carbon wheels. Even though some bikes do this, it's a bad idea.
- Tandems are faster and have twice as much weight, which is more than twice the energy/heat to dissipate, so disc brakes are more effective.
Agreed.
Disc brakes are a major improvement on mountain bikes and have clear cut advantages on other bikes as well.
Are they necessary on every bike? No, but they're nice to have and offer some definite safety and maintenance advantages.
About the only place they seem to have any downsides is road racing where there's a disadvantage in terms of aerodynamics (not an issue if everyone is using them) and some heat management issues in the mountains where longer, faster descents and smaller diameter rotors seem to put more heat into them than mountain bikes have had to cope with (this is more of a teething issue than an actual fault).
This is only true if you don't have enough spokes. I have 36 spoke wheels for a reason.
I kind of figured that I might be the only one here old enough to have 36 spoke rims...
I've broken as many as 3 spokes on a single rim on a ride and still made it home fine, even riding more then 20 miles like that.
My mechanical disk on the rear ran over the peak of the cam on a downhill leaving me with only the front. It seems it needs careful adjustment so the the required level travel stays within the cam's ramp. It's a cheap ebike, would go for hydraulic next time.
It's surprising your lever didn't go to the bars before this happened.
I'd guess someone was adjusting them wrong (using cable adjuster to make up for pad wear instead of the pad adjuster on the caliper).
Oh, it did, suddenly as well. But I'll take the blame as I had adjusted it. I'm surprised the design allowed that scenario because it should stay on the cam face over the full working range of the lever, irrespective of the cable or pad settings.
I ordered new pads thinking that was the problem but the new ones oddly had no more meat that the 5-year old pads. But it's all working good now, I just moved the working range of the pads to be further within the cam's range.
I ordered new pads thinking that was the problem but the new ones oddly had no more meat that the 5-year old pads. But it's all working good now, I just moved the working range of the pads to be further within the cam's range.
