firebird854

I was simply speaking from experience in the area of maintenance as I have both hydraulic disc brakes and rim brakes on two different road bikes that have been ridden for a year each in the same, not particularly hilly, location. Of the two, the hydraulic disc brakes have needed 0 maintenance whatsoever and perform perfectly in all conditions with carbon rims, the same cannot be said for its rim-brake counterpart.

Also, if I decide to ride a bit away from Lake Michigan, there're plenty of hills taller than 400', Blue Mounds (raced as the national road race a decade or so ago), Cascade, (as noted, Rib Mountian) etc. The Madison Ironman is known as being a hilly bike course for a reason, and it is host to events like Horribly Hilly Hundreds which sports around 12,000' of climbing in just over 100 miles.

IMO the only reason to stick with rim brakes is that they are cheaper and in most cases slightly lighter, but maintenance and performance? Naaa