Pros & Cons of Mechanical vs. Hydraulic Disc Brakes

rtsy

As a follow up to my post on V-brake vs. Disc, here's another one. Can mroe experienced folks kindly please share your experiences and insights on the above?

Thanks!

CrazyCourier

Hey Matey,

to put it simply, here are the pros and cons of disc brakes:

Pros: Hyrdo Brakes

Cons: Cable Brakes

Hahahhaa. Nah cables are ok i guess.

I currently have hayes cable on my bike, and they were awesome!!! for like the first week!!! You have to adjust them very regularly to suck the juice out of them.

They are good in the fact that they work in the wet, and you don't replace pads as often etc. But cable actuated discs in my short experience arent nearly as good as hyrdos.

I have heard that if you really do need to get cable discs (if ur on a budget) then avids are the way to go. Also, check out Liquid's. They are pretty good, my mate Jed swears by them ( but he runs the company, hahaha), they are dual actuating like hydros (hayes cables are single actuating) which is a big improvement and they also run on bearings.

Liquid Bikes

I plan to get some hyrdos (or maybe the liquid cables) soon, with some new levers as they hayes set up eats large amounts of penis.

Ride away!

Cheers,

Ken

Adski

Cables: cheaper to buy, cheaper to maintain, less power.

Hydraulic: better modulation, meaning a more progressive feel at the lever.

Alnamvet

Unless you are a 6 figure mtb pro racer, the mechanical discs like Hayes using your existing brake cables are more than adequate; for me, my xtr rim brakes are more than I need, but going disc appears to be more for techno weenies who are desirous of one upping the neighbors. Just ride everyday, enjoy, and you'll soon forget the latest and greatest gimmicks out their.

iamdigital

in case you have not noticed cantilevers and v-brakes destroy your rims. whether your going with a mechanical or hydraulic disc brake system you are making a wise choice. increased braking power, less maintenance, no wear to your rims, and more safty are just a few of the benefits.

As far as whether mechanical vs. hydraulic thing goes:

Mechanical disc brakes are heavier, require more maintenance, and provide less brake power

Hydraulic disc brakes are lighter, require less maintenance, and provide more brake power. However prey they don't start leaking

jmitting

[QUOTE]Originally posted by iamdigital
[B]in case you have not noticed cantilevers and v-brakes destroy your rims.

Oh puhleeze! Nobody I ever heard of or met anyone who ever wore out a set of rims with their brakes. Speaking as a mechanical engineer the sort of miles you would need to do to wear hardened (sometimes anodized) alloy rims to the point of failure with rubber brake blocks would see your whole bike wear out several times over. People who imagine that their latest wheel failure is due to their brakes wearing away sufficient sidewall to cause failure are ignoring more probable cause like meybe hitting solid objects at speed or going really fast over rough ground and exceeding the wheels design limitations.
Of course if you dont replace the brake blocks when they have worn down and are hitting the rim with metal to metal contact then yeah the rims will fail! That is outside the performance criteria of the rim or brake block and is proof that no system can be designed to be fool proof.

Back to the thread; I dont own disks but when I upgrade or replace my bike it will have hydro disks. Cant see the point of swapping one cable system for another, cables stretch and require adjustment regularly, hydros like on all my motorbikes never do that.

Zozzle

You need to start hanging around people who really ride their bikes then. I've seen many worn out and radially split mtb rims.

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Zozzle

the blur

well, my rims are definitely scalloped from the brake pads- i think it has to do with riding in wet/muddy conditions, cause i can hear a difference on those kinds of days. add dust and sand and moisture in the equation and you can get some wear. i don't have any problems yet with the rims but they are worn down. they are 4 years old though.

Duckwah

Hydraulics - good when they work, S%^T when they don't !!!

I was trying to bleed mine tonight and it almost drove me insane, everytime I almost had them done the filler bottle would slip off the nipple and DOT 3 would leak everywhere and the system would get full of air.

I am bloody angry now especially since the Hayes bleed kit cost an extortionate amount for bascially a plastic squeeze bottle and a length of tube and the tube they supplied kept slipping off.

__________________
Don Stevenson

Strength and Conditioning Coach

Octogen Fitness

www.octogen.com.au

fitness@octogen.com.au

moparchris

pft wearing rims, BAH go buy some descent rims then lol, ive got some 5 year old mavics (which ive wanted to replace for a while now anyway) that are only just showing wear, its hardly anything though but if i put up a straightege to the rim its SLIGHTLY curved in, my mate has some cheaper rims, i dunno what brand they are but theyre probly not 2 years and theyre pretty wasted

the reason i dont get discs is if i got them id want hydraulic ones and instead of that, why not just put some light as V's on ?

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GT Ruckus SS
2006 Giant Trance 1
Giant TCR Euro

mjw_byrne

jmitting: I wore a rim out on my commuter bike in about 6 months. I live in a hilly area, so the brakes get used a lot. In wet conditions, a rim brake will chew through rims in no time.

However, what you say is surely true for dry, clean brakes - my road bike never sees wet conditions and after several hundred miles, the rims look and feel as new as when I bought the bike.

jmitting

Hmmm, pattern occuring here, wet place + V-brakes = wear on rim sidewall. I could be wrong I suppose, unlikely as it seems. What can I say I live in a dry place and getting dryer every year too. Which could be why I've never seen or even heard of the problem except here in these forums.

andygard

Pattern here! Correct, I live in the North of the UK and ride a Marin Mount Vision with good Mavics. I wear through rims every year with my XT V's. I have now gone over to Hope's new mono mini's 180 from and 160 rear. http://www.hopetech.com/products/hyd_07.htm
Good modulation, less finger effort on long hard rides with technical downhills. These come with either sintered or normal pads. Use sintered every time they last longer, (still only around 2 months with 2 hard rides/week in the mud/rain)

The mud is very abrasive on rims but doesnt effect my discs at all so no more messing with new rims.

Was a good move for me if a little expensive as I had brake/shifter pods and had to buy new XT shifters as well as the brakes and new hubs.

chileanrasta

I run Avids and have never said I don"t have enough brake.
They work great if they are setup correctly.