Why's no one else out there using disc brakes...?

[jawj]

Howdy all! Hope you're not too cold today...

Reading through all the posts it seems there aren't many peeps on here using disc brakes. I personally love them. I mainly use Shimano disc brakes, though do dabble with Magura, as these brakes use (relatively) harmless mineral oil.

My Thorn has a Shimano disc on the back and a Magura HS33 rim brake on the front (as the fork as no disc mounts) and is, rather shamefully, mainly used for commuting, though I bought it for touring and load-carrying.

These brakes are consistently good and require no maintenance other than pad changing. The mineral oil doesn't absorb water as regular brake oil (DOT fluid) does so they never really need bleeding and there's no cables to rust and stick.

Any reason why people persist with V-brakes? Is it a small and reasonable fear of maintaining hydraulic brakes?

Come on people, I want my love of hydraulic brakes questioned! Is there anything I haven't considered...?

[vik]

I'm reposting my response to a similar question over on the Crazyguyonabike Forum since I'm feeling lazy!...

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I run both rim and disc brakes [Avid BB7s]. I wouldn't want disc brakes on a go anywhere touring bike.

Some things to think about:
- can you get spare parts for disc brakes as easily as v-brakes?
- disc brakes add more dish to your wheels [you now would have a dished front wheel]
- disc brakes pads can wear out quite quickly in gritty conditions
- v-brakes provide loads of stopping power [can you skid wheels or endo with v-brakes?..I can.]
- disc rotors are easy to damage in transit
- are expedition tourists on your site finding rims are wearing out particularly fast?
- disc brakes can overheat as well at similar temperature ranges as rim brakes
- v-brakes take seconds to adjust and don't require much attention
- disc brakes complicate rack mounting
- discs are heavier and more expensive
- disc brakes require special hubs [how easy will they be to find on the road overseas?]
- large disc rotors can create so much braking force on sticky [paved] roads you can damage the fork/frame
- disc brakes will require a fork that can handle the forces involved and may compromise the comfort of the bike: look at the Safari, Big Dummy, Karate Monkey forks [all designed for disc brakes] compared to the LHT, REI Randonee, Thorn, Trek 520 forks [all designed for rim brakes].

I am a techy person and when disc brakes first came out I was sure they'd be better than v-brakes. After years of using both I'd prefer to use v-brakes on my touring bikes.

I haven't been overly impressed with disc brakes when touring on wet muddy roads and the fast pad wear is a real problem under these conditions if you can't get spares.

Not all rims are made equal - if wearing out rims is an issue you need to purchase rims that have a thicker and/or more durable braking surface.

A quick survey of touring bike manufacturers:
- Surly - they love discs, but don't spec them on the LHT
- Trek 520 - no discs
- Bruce Gordon - no discs
- Thorn - no discs
- Koga-Miyata - no discs
- Cannondale - no discs
- Rocky Mtn Sherpa - no discs

On Eric Parsons recent Lost Coast Tour he and his partner had to ride brakeless as the pads wore out so fast on their Avid BB7s due to the wet gritty conditions.

Just so I don't sound like a disc hater I have 3 sets of Avid BB7s in service and I have toured on two different disc equipped bikes. If I was commuting in the PNW or in a Canadian winter I'd spec a bike with discs.

safe riding,

Vik
www.thelazyrando.com

[bobs]

Think Vik has covered it all. Had disc brakes on a mountain bike and they were good but wouldn't want them on a touring bike.

[Teej]

All my bikes have disc brakes and I would never go back to rim brakes

With hope brakes and sintered pads pad life is thousands of miles

Plenty of stopping power that is unaffected by mud or rain even on my tandem

I have only once bent a disc and they are easy to straighten

There is no significant weight penalty as the rims are lighter

Disc brakes require no adjusting as they are self adjusting - maintenence is an annual bleed thru and clan and lube of the pistons

Rims no longer wear out

I have never heard of anyone damaging fork and frame on a bike designed for discs

I like powerful consistandt reliable brakes with one finger braking.  I will never go back to rim brakes

[onmybike]

Am I missing something here? Surely a rim is nothing more than a large diameter disk? And don't 'high performance' motor vehicle manufacturers choose large diameter disks over smaller to improve performance? In my own hopelessly unscientific tests a couple of years ago a friend and I chose to compare his mountain bike's disks to my (20 year old) tourer's cantilever rim brakes on a steep sealed road hill on a rainy day. 3 out of 3 for the rim brakes! My friend was left a bit puzzled as the purpose of the exercise was to prove how superior his disk brakes were to my rim brakes in the wet.

The test was conducted by pedaling up to speed then rolling side by side at about 30kph until Mr Disk Brake counted down '3, 2, 1' at which point we both hit the anchors.

Score 1 for rim brakes and unscientific tests!