20+ years ago I used to ride bikes a lot then I got out of it for various reasons. Then several circumstances this year came together and I ended up buying a Trek DS3 about 5 months ago... got about 700 miles on it now. Being away from biking for so long I consider myself a newbie, although one with past experience. With that in mind here's my 2C worth about the entry level hydraulic brakes on the DS3... remember, you get what you pay for.

When researching to buy a bike, I shied away from hydraulic brakes. I had visions of plastic brake hose lines or compression fittings leaking or even the calipers themselves leaking and with those things the accompanying loss of brakes. That and I didn't have a clue about how to fix them or even replace the pads when that time would come. Well, here it is 5 months and 700 miles later and my opinion has changed. Do I have to have hydraulic brakes? Nope rim brakes work just fine. I now simply prefer and want to have hydraulic disc. There are a couple of minor downsides but on balance I really like them.

I really like and appreciate the nice one finger smooth stopping. I've had zero leak issues. Replacing the pads can be done in less than ten minutes (I haven't replaced them but I have taken them out, more about that later). I bought a bleeder kit to have on hand and bleeding them, if ever needed would be another 10 minute job if that much. We (wife has a DS3 also) haul the bikes to Rail trails inside the back of our CR-V with the bikes standing up on a fork mount hitch thing. The front wheels, of course, need to come off. With the quick release wheels, you just slide the wheel out without the need to release the rim brake so it will open up and slide over the tire (our tires are 38 wide). I do slip a spacer into the caliper (takes 2 seconds) just in case I might bump the brake lever and close the pads but even if I did a tire tool / flat screwdriver will spread them back apart. In terms of time saved, that's probably a wash compared to rim brakes because releasing the rim brakes takes almost zero time also. Hydraulic brakes aren't all that complicated as some think. In the simplest terms you pull the brake lever(s) which increases the fluid pressure in the caliper which in turn pushes the disc pads together against the rotors and you stop/slow down. The hydraulic brakes on our bikes are entry level Tektro (even though Trek's website say they should be Shimano). With the Tektros there is no recommendation to change the hydraulic fluid at a specific interval but I'll probably do that anyway just for peace of mind. So any kind of regular maintenance is minimal.

The things, so far, that I don't like aren't a big deal. When I first got the bike those brakes really squealed all the time and loudly... annoying like fingernails on a chalk board. That's when I removed the pads, and lightly sanded them thinking that would help... it didn't. Then I read somewhere (and later verified by the Trek mechanic) that sometimes you need to go out and seat the pads. Basically get the bike up to speed and ram on the brakes. Do that about a dozen times. Yep, that worked and I've never have had another squeak. Anyway, taking out the pads to lightly sand them is when I learned that replacing the pads is less than a 10 minute job. The other minor dislike is every once in awhile when we get to our Rail trail and reinstall and tighten the front wheel, the pads may endup a few thousands out of alignment with the rotor and so one of the pads is just touching the rotor. Not enough to not allow the wheel to spin but enough to slightly slow it down. The fix is fast and simple. You simply loosen the two mounting screws for the caliper, pull the brake lever in like you're applying the brakes (which you are!) and while holding the lever, tighten the 2 mounting screws back up... takes about as long to explain it as it does to actually do it. After that the pads are back in alignment with the rotor (and not touching it) and are where they should be.

Bottom line and as already stated, on balance I really like them. Again, rim brakes will stop you or slow you down and will get that job done. I simply better like the way hydraulic disc brakes do that. I can't comment on mechanical disc brakes other than I suspect nice smooth one finger stopping power probably isn't there. I'm looking to buy another bike in the next several months and hydraulic brakes are one of the things I want on it.