And people who parse language in such a manner on the interwebs technically are fairly unhelpful. Short answer, if you ride in the wet a lot it might be worth it. I also think it's fair to say you can modulate them a little better. I find em indispensable on my MTB. I find rim brakes more than adequate on my road bike. If I were building a commuter I would lean towards disks, but if I got a good deal on a set of wheels or a fork that wouldn't accommodate them I would be cool with that too. Avid BB7 are certainly not expensive, and they work great, so money isn't the real issue here.