Originally Posted by riderx
Maintenance? Yeah right. Nothing compared to a rim brake. I bled my brake once in year and that's because I broke the lever/reserviour body and had to replace it. On the other hand, replace your cables once a year, multiple brake pad changes and adjustments for cable stretch and pad wear on the V-brakes, cleaning the grimed up rims, etc. The only bike with less maintenance than a rigid SS w/ hydro discs is a brakeless fixed gear.
I'm a big fan of SS, but not a MTB guy. However, I would disagree with your view of maintenance on cable brakes. I've never, ever adjusted for cable stretch on my C'dale, and only adjusted once on my kokusia (fixie), and that was to set up for 700 CC wheels. That bike is OLD too. I think long term it's about even really, I'm sure.