Originally Posted by
This Wreckage
Thanks for that. The bike I linked to has hub gears (according to the over-designed Gazelle
website) and roller brakes which I've read are not great on hills.
The only thing I remember reading about roller brakes and hills was to do with long descents on a fully loaded touring bike, where
some people have experienced the bike overheating and the grease burning off. But remember, that's where people have used the brake as a "drag brake", leaving it on for a long time. I never tried that with mine, so couldn't say how true it is. But for ordinary cycling they stopped the bike fine.
Here's a discussion:
https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/q...le-for-touring
Some people think the Sturmey Archer hub brakes are better than Shimano roller brakes. Both are very similar in being enclosed in the hub.
One drawback with hub/roller brakes is that on the rear they have to come as a package with the hub gear, if that's what you're going for. So you can't change one without changing the other. Whereas a hub gear plus disc brake combination gives you more flexibility.
Whether roller/hub brakes vs disc brakes need more or less maintenance isn't really clear. The pads on disc brakes need replacing once in a while, and if they are cable disc brakes need adjusting. Also with QR (quick release) wheels, if I remove the wheel anytime, I sometimes have to spend a bit of time resetting the disc brakes. While roller/hub brakes might appear to be maintenance free, from the link above maybe not always. But remember, people who post problems on the internet are the ones who have had problems. The ones who didn't have problems won't, usually.
Originally Posted by
This Wreckage
Darlington is a bit hilly, though nothing like, say, Bradford that I visited recently where I saw not a single other cyclist for the entire day I was there.
I'm not surprised. Bradford has some appalling drivers. I am forced to work there sometimes. I don't even feel that safe driving there, I wouldn't cycle there.
Originally Posted by
This Wreckage
If roller brakes would be okay for the kind of simple, short journeys around town and occasionally in the countryside, then I'd be content with the cheaper model.
They could very well be, though I can't say for certain. One thing that would put me off them is that the average bike shop will probably never have seen them, so won't have a clue how to service them, if or when they need it. Whereas disc brakes are now a lot more common, and in fact have largely taken over from rim brakes. I'd be happy with roller/hub brakes, because I wouldn't mind servicing them myself, right down to a complete strip and rebuild. But it's clear that you don't want to get into bike servicing, in which case discs might be a better choice.