Originally Posted by
TimothyH
Most people on this thread are not addressing what the OP is asking about.
He is talking about lever travel before the pads actually engage the rotors.
He isn't talking about modulation or bedding in or fade or cable pull.
Rim brakes can be adjusted so that the pads are almost touching the rim. You get instantaneous engagement, hair trigger. Disk brakes have a little travel before the pads touch the rotors and start to work. That's what the OP is talking about.
-Tim-
Two bikes in the family fleet have disk brakes. In my view, there's nothing preventing hair-trigger adjustment of disk brakes,
except for how true your rotors are, versus how much rubbing you want to put up with. And the truth of the disks is not perfectly stable -- I've noticed that if I have to brake hard, the heat will temporarily warp the disks. As a result, I do adjust my brakes so there's some clearance.
I prefer calipers, but certainly won't get rid of my disk brake bike. We can take hair-trigger rim brakes for granted because we're fussy about the truth of our wheels. Getting used to any kind of brakes takes about 100 feet of riding, but I'm not at the level of where I need the performance that you probably need.
One thing I've noticed is that beginning riders
greatly prefer disk brakes. That's not to say they belong on every kind of bike, but I can appreciate their appeal. They have a feeling of definite-ness.