Originally Posted by
Steely Dan
i've had a mountain bike with cantis, a folding bike with v-brakes, a road bike with calipers, and my new hybrid with hydraulic discs. in dry conditions, any of those braking systems, properly adjusted, will do the job just fine. however, in the wet & sloppy, there's just no comparison between the discs and the rim brake set-ups i've used. discs are made to stop you no matter what kind of wet and messy conditions you're riding through.
if i could only have 1 bike (heaven forbid), it would be hydraulic disc brake equipped.
I mostly agree, other brake systems can work as well as discs, but only under optimal conditions (properly adjusted brakes on dry, clean rims). Anything less than optimal, and discs are better.
I pull a trailer that is sometimes heavily laden, and I don't have to worry about the rims getting too hot with disc brakes.