Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
Ok... where do I begin... first off, with all the due respect, those that are questioning the validity of disc brakes do not have disc brakes. H
I have disc brakes on my mountain bike and rim brakes on the tandem. I have never ridden a tandem with disc brakes. However, we have descended some very steep hills and I never found myself wishing I had disc brakes. We have ridden almost all of the mountain passes in Colorado. We have ridden up & down Mount Evans - the highest paved road in north America. We have ridden up & down Mt Haleakala on Maui - 10,000 vertical feet. If rim heating were a problem, I think a disc would get hot enough to have problems as well. We almost never ride in wet conditions. It just doesn't rain that much in Colorado.
I think the only ones who can compare the advantages and disadvantages of disc -vs- rim brakes is someone who has ridden both under similar circumstances and can somewhat objectively compare the two. There is no "best". Just which compromises each is willing to live with.