The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

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hamish
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by hamish »

I have a mix of disks and rim brakes.

I must admit the rim brakes on my Troll are great. I have a non disk Rohloff and Son so are confined to rim brakes. The rims are CSS Ridiga (carbide coated) ones and don't seem to be wearing at all. They were getting a bit less effective in the wet but I moved back to normal compound pads now the braking surfaces are polished, and the braking improved a lot. In the dry they stop as well as by BB7s on other bikes. In the wet the disks have the edge.

I have disks on most of my other bikes and they are fine. They do take some fiddling to stop them rubbing. This is easier with cable disks because you can control the clearances between disk and pad much better. I do find that disks go out of true - but I'm not sure whether that is from general use or bashing them about. I also find that it is easy to contaminate the rear disk with chain lube so rendering it less effective. I go through about 3 sets of pads a year on my BB7 equipped bike so it's not cheap!
Brucey
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by Brucey »

al_yrpal wrote:My Dobbin has cable discs, my MTB has hydraulic discs but on my Mercian they would spoil the elegant curve of the forks.


and the ride quality, and the weight I expect.... turning it into another.... dobbin...?

All three are decent are decent braking systems but if I ever buy another bike it will have discs.


I've used disc brakes for over 15 years on some bikes and I have absolutely no plans to have an entire fleet of bikes with the same brakes on, far from it. Horses for courses.

cheers
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Des49
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by Des49 »

Graham O wrote:
Des49 wrote:Wish my bikes had disc brakes, especially everytime I have to replace a worn rim....


This is the oft quoted benefit of disc brakes, but how often have you replaced a worn rim and after how many miles/km/years?


Surprisingly frquently when commuting all year round. With some mucky lanes, then on the brakes due to hills and traffic, sometimes my rear rim would need replacing in 12 to 18 months. Nowadays I work largely from home and rims last a lot longer.

Used my old MTB for a few races last winter, had to replace the rear rim, a Mavic X719, in that time. Mind you I have found these rims surprising soft and they wear so fast then the side walls splay out.

We did try some Mavic Ceramic rims, lethal in torrential rain (or on wet grass) as the rims never dried off. Used these on the rear only as a result, have worn out the coating on one rim, another on a bike my wife uses is just worn now after probably 20 years.

As I faff around with brake blocks and dirty bikes I wish for discs, but I am sure discs also have their issues like pad wear in extreme conditions, rubbing pads, bent discs, sticky pistons etc.
reohn2
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by reohn2 »

Brucey wrote:
al_yrpal wrote:My Dobbin has cable discs, my MTB has hydraulic discs but on my Mercian they would spoil the elegant curve of the forks.


and the ride quality, and the weight I expect.... turning it into another.... dobbin...?

"dobbins" have their uses they're hardy,robust,carry loads only dreamed of by other 'horses',and can go places where racehorses would brake(sorry)their spindly legs.
Plus they're not uncomfortable to ride,yes they maybe a leettle slower but then again speed isn't everything is it?



I've used disc brakes for over 15 years on some bikes and I have absolutely no plans to have an entire fleet of bikes with the same brakes on, far from it. Horses for courses.

cheers

Your prerogative of (horses for)course(s).
The thing is if you get the right system discs pretty damned good.
I've yet to bend a rotor or melt any brake parts,plus I have the best braking system I've ever experienced on a bike.And all my bikes are comfortable,thanks to good,large section,supple tyres,for a wisen old codger such as me :)
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Mattyfez
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by Mattyfez »

Mick F wrote:First car I owned with disc brakes was a Triumph Herald 12/50, though I've never owned a car with four disc brakes.

I wonder, what is the benefit of rear discs?


Quite often mountain bikes will have a smaller disk on the rear, same many with cars if you look closely, it saves weight and doesn't really affect performance as the centre of gravity is on the front when braking, so you don't need such a big disk at the rear.
reohn2
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by reohn2 »

Mattyfez wrote:
Mick F wrote:First car I owned with disc brakes was a Triumph Herald 12/50, though I've never owned a car with four disc brakes.

I wonder, what is the benefit of rear discs?


Quite often mountain bikes will have a smaller disk on the rear, same many with cars if you look closely, it saves weight and doesn't really affect performance as the centre of gravity is on the front when braking, so you don't need such a big disk at the rear.


And on cars they far easier to maintain and replace pads/discs,etc.Drums OTOH are full of potential problems on cars.
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fatboy
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by fatboy »

Mattyfez wrote:
Mick F wrote:First car I owned with disc brakes was a Triumph Herald 12/50, though I've never owned a car with four disc brakes.

I wonder, what is the benefit of rear discs?


Quite often mountain bikes will have a smaller disk on the rear, same many with cars if you look closely, it saves weight and doesn't really affect performance as the centre of gravity is on the front when braking, so you don't need such a big disk at the rear.


Despite braking more on the front I wear through many more rear rims. I think more muck accumulates there (probably my poor cleanliness regime! So I think that a disc on the rear might have benefits (Thorn do a version of their tourer with a rear only disc brake).
"Marriage is a wonderful invention; but then again so is the bicycle puncture repair kit." - Billy Connolly
reohn2
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by reohn2 »

fatboy wrote:Despite braking more on the front I wear through many more rear rims. I think more muck accumulates there (probably my poor cleanliness regime! So I think that a disc on the rear might have benefits (Thorn do a version of their tourer with a rear only disc brake).


This is the inherent problem of rim brakes,the rim is next to the tyre which is next the road which means the rim gets covered in water borne grit and other road crap,and is made into grinding paste quite quickly when braking.
I've posted on here a few times that the best rim brake pads I've found are BBB Techstop(for DP calipers) and Tristop(for V's and cantis),they wear quicker than others but rim wear is reduced greatly IME and the bike remains cleaner as there isn't the same amount of aluminium sludge spreading everywhere :) .
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Dave W
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by Dave W »

I can't believe what I'm reading :shock:
Can't wait for the carbon bike naughty step when it comes out!
reohn2
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by reohn2 »

Dave W wrote:I can't believe what I'm reading :shock:
Can't wait for the carbon bike naughty step when it comes out!


Stay tuned! :)
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Dave W
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by Dave W »

I love disc brakes. At the moment though, the bike suppliers seem to be playing silly wotsits with their pricing. I have a carbon Cannondale Synapse. if I wanted the carbon one with disc brakes I'd have to find another £1000 :shock: Also any wheel upgrades would most likely have a premium too for disc ready hubs. Give it a couple of years to settle down.
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al_yrpal
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by al_yrpal »

Nothing wrong with my Dobbin, good comfy load puller but cant keep up with my son on his road bike on it. The Mercian can, even though his is 3kg lighter - no discs but pretty good Campag Veloce brakes. I agree that discs on a road bike wouldnt be right but I am not intending to buy another one, but I might upgrade to a better tourer sometime.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Mattyfez
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by Mattyfez »

fatboy wrote:
Mattyfez wrote:
Mick F wrote:First car I owned with disc brakes was a Triumph Herald 12/50, though I've never owned a car with four disc brakes.

I wonder, what is the benefit of rear discs?


Quite often mountain bikes will have a smaller disk on the rear, same many with cars if you look closely, it saves weight and doesn't really affect performance as the centre of gravity is on the front when braking, so you don't need such a big disk at the rear.


Despite braking more on the front I wear through many more rear rims. I think more muck accumulates there (probably my poor cleanliness regime! So I think that a disc on the rear might have benefits (Thorn do a version of their tourer with a rear only disc brake).


I suppose that's another few benefits of disk brakes, they are higher from the ground so don't crud up as much, and it's pretty much completely isolated system from the wheels, ok the disk is bolted to the hub, but with rim brakes, the wheel is very much part of the brake system. Let the wheel concentrate on being a wheel, I say, and let the brakes concentrate on being brakes.

The only possible draw back to disks would be weight I suppose, but that can be negated to some extent as when building a wheel you don't need to consider the need for it to accept rim brakes, so it could be built lighter /more aero, and... I'll stop now before I'm put on the rotational mass naughty step!
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RickH
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by RickH »

Fuelling the thread drift to cars we've had a couple with slightly unusual systems (or at least ones I've not noticed elsewhere). A Volvo 240 which had both disks & drums on the rear. The pedal worked the disks front & rear the drum was on the handbrake.. It's replacement was a Citroën Xantia which has the handbrake connected to the front brakes &, I think, some sort of valve like to the suspension that basically turned off/reduced the power of the rear brakes when unladen.

Back on bikes I love the disc on the tandem loads of braking power whatever the weather (& the added benefit of a lovely squeal the is far better, in my experience, at getting the attention of pedestrians than the ding-dong of a bell).

I wish I had them on my road bike although I've now moved away from Mavic Open Pro rims, that lasted about 4000 miles on the rear, to Rigida Sputniks which don't seem to produce the same grey "rim soup" in the wet. As well as having more meat on them, it may mean they last better. If/when the bike is changed I will probably go disc.

Rick
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
geocycle
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Re: The Disc Brake Naughty Corner Thread

Post by geocycle »

Lots of positives about disc brakes and rightly so. I'm stuck with v brakes having a SON and Rohloff set up. But, with 18,000 miles on the CSS rims and more than enough stopping power, I'm not sure I'd benefit!
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