Originally Posted by
prj71
Mechanical disc brakes suck. Just barely a step above rim brakes.
If you have ever had or tried hydos you' would realize why...
-Disc brakes with hydraulic hoses to get braking force from lever to pad work better than cable-actuated systems
-Hydraulic systems are more efficient than mechanical disc brakes so you need to apply less pressure at the lever for an equal level of braking power. This means you can get better modulation.
-A hydraulic system is sealed so no contaminants can get in to affect braking performance, and complicated internal cable routing isn’t a problem, whereas it can add friction to a cable setup.
I used to run BB7 brakes and with gore shift cables, they worked really well, but on long steep downhills, they gave up tons to a good set of hydros. I also found them to require much more maintenance than hydros, which you basically don't have to touch once set up. But if I had a disc frame but did not want to spend the money, I could see mechanicals working good enough.