Haven't had a chance to break those front brakes down yet and spend all that time trying to make them function, but...

1. Now the rear break is squealing, and what's worse:

2. I took my front wheel off to lock up to a public rack today, you know, like bikers do once or twice in their lives... and now the front rotor scrapes... scrapes... scrapes... . Unless I force the wheel into the dropouts crooked. (It was chucked up straight before. Any component that fragile has no place on a touring bike.)

In my opinion, disc brakes are a disaster, at least on a road bike. They're hard to instal, hard to adjust, don't do anything important cantilevers don't do, and jump out of adjustment -- which takes hours -- at the least provocation. They leave you no side to lay your bike down: derailleur on one, rotors on the other. Rotors that potato-chip if you stare at them too hard.

There's just no call for all this falderal; you set up your cantilevers, you ride. If anything goes wrong with them (and what would? it's a cable that pulls two pads against the rim) you see it and know how to fix it. They're sure not louder than disc brakes, and -- something I just learned -- just as good in the wet.

I wish I hadn't fallen for the sales pitch. Sigh. But I guess I'm stuck now, so you'll see me around here, trying to keep this boondoggle on the road.