Originally Posted by matt92037

I saw this thread and wanted to weigh in, not with opinion, but more with my experience and curiosity. I am 200-205lbs been MTB'ing for 30+ years and riding discs for about 18 years. I have been roadbiking for only 4 years however and have never tried a bike with rim brakes (or mechancial shifting for that matter). My road bike has Shimano 9170 brakes and 160mm rotors front and rear.

My rides are typically straight up for 3 miles, then down for 3 miles, two to three times per ride. The decesnts hit grades of 14-17% frequently, lots of speeds in the low 40's. Some of the decents are smooth, no tight turns, etc so you can just open it up the entire way and brake hard at the bottom. Some decents find you in situations where you haul major ass, need to brake hard on a 15% grade (aweful concrete or tight turns in a narrow bike lane), then open it up, then need to dump speed quickly again, over and over. Before I can get to the bottom of those decents my front and rear rotors are nuclear reactor meltdown hot. I don't drag my brakes, I alternate front to back to give the opposing brake a break. There are many times I wish I had my XTR 4-pots and 200mm rotors on my road bike. Which leads me to the curiousity part:

How would a high end rim brake set-up work in this situation? For me I think I found the limits of a 200+ pound rider on tiny brake pads and tiny rotors. Going slower down the hills in question doesn't work to well either because when you are on grades that steep, to go slow you will be dragging you brakes. To reiterate i dont like using brakes going downhill but in some situations i have to, a lot, on really steep hill, for miles.

What do you guys think? My last rim brake setup on my MTB were ceramic coated Bontrager rims and they did really well for what they were.