Originally Posted by tsl

These threads always go off the rails when someone says discs have extra stopping "power".

They don't.

Real-world stopping "power" is limited at the tire/road interface, not the brake. (I'll grant that in the lab, discs do have better "power", but I don't ride in a lab. But as soon as you mount a tire on teh rim, put it on a bike, and head for the road, that "advantage" disappears and is replaced by the tire/road interface. This is why I don't give a damn about thoreticals.)

In everyday, real-world cycling, what disc brakes give you is greater predicability and control.

They stop the same way every single time, no matter what the conditions. Then, all you have to worry about is the tire/road interface.

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

I smirk in your general direction... I could be wrong... I hope not... but I think me and mine, on our 65lb. tandem with the loaded trailer, weigh more than you. We stopped just fine all summer one year when only the front V-brake was working on that bike. Our other tandem has BB7's and they are fine, no question, but we'd still have bought that other tandem if it had OEM V-brakes. I don't rate mechanical disks that much above V-brakes. Hydraulic discs are another matter entirely! Modulation? Are you competing in trials events? How much modulation do you need?

It's getting harder and harder to buy a bike without discs and that's fine. It's also getting harder and harder to find sidepulls that aren't dual pivot. I kind of smirk when someone says with a straight face that their mini-v or canti or whatever non-disc brake equipped bike only slowed to 20mph when they applied the brakes... ... that wasn't time to upgrade to discs.. it was time to sue the mechanic of the bike they bought!!! Or tell the truth and admit that it wasn't an LBS or manufacturer with accountability on the line that put them on such a death trap in the first place. Old steel rimmed, pre-salmon pad caliper brake bicycles had awful wet weather stopping ability. That kind of sub-par braking ability has not been tolerated in decades. Many on here act like its either disc brakes or .... possible death or injury. Erm... no... that has not been true for a very long time now. And even then, only in wet weather.

H

P.S. what do you mean, "even from the interrupters"? There isn't anyone else on BF who thinks that modern interrupters are in anyway akin to the 'suicide levers' of the 80's. Frame flex? Dude... you're killing me...