Originally Posted by
veganbikes
I would not want cable actuated brakes for a cargo bike. I would go Magura MT5s or the TRP equivalent (c 1.2 or something). Longer cable runs lead to less braking performance.
Too much is made of the supposed weakness of certain brakes or the supposed strength of hydraulics.
If…and that’s a big “if”…there is a difference, it is relatively small difference. Cargo bikes predate discs by many years (decades?) and I’ve never heard anyone complain that they couldn’t stop their cargo bikes with the (assumed) super weak rim brakes. I have tandems which only have cantilever brakes…the Horror!…that stop just fine and that bike is carrying far more load than any cargo bike will. I even took the drag brake off the tandem because it was unnecessary. My current tandem has mechanical discs front and rear and I have no issue with controlling speed.
My Hydraulics don't require much maintenance really just the normal replacing pads and rotors when needed which you do on cable stuff and maybe once in a blue moon I might bleed them but in 4k miles I haven't had to do it and probably won't for another 4k miles and maybe another 4k after that too. I think people assume hydraulic brakes are harder to work with because...uhhhh...maybe the very occasional bleeding which a shop can handle quite easily if you don't want to do it and every few years or more is really not much I would likely be wanting to replace cable and housing every year or two years and may have to adjust things in between that.
We assume that hydraulics are harder to work on because they
are harder to work on. A brake bleed isn’t “simple” or “easy” or “trivial”…all things I’ve had people tell me. I also had people try to convince me that changing a cable on a mechanical brake is more difficult than a brake bleed. I don’t know if those people have never done a brake bleed or are just stupid. I’ve also heard the thing about replacing cable and housing every year or two which is also very silly. Cables can last decades without the need for replacement.
Replacement of cable and housing brings up another issue related to hydraulic systems…replacement of housing or adjustment of housing length. If you have cables or housing that is too long or too short, it’s simple to cut new housing to the proper length. If you have hydraulic housing that needs length adjustment, you need something to cut the hose, barbs and olives, something to help install the new barbs,
and you have to do a brake bleed. It’s far more complicated and, thus, more difficult. I can, and do, change housing and cable on mechanical brakes all the time. If it takes me 10 minutes to do a whole bike, it’s probably because I’m shooting the breeze with someone in the shop and not paying attention to what I’m doing. It would take me 10 minutes just to set up for a hydraulic housing swap and another hour or two to do the job.
It doesn’t matter if you use and like hydraulics, just don’t try to convince me or others that they are simple to maintain, especially when compared to cable brakes.