Originally Posted by dynaryder
My first winter commuting I was running V brakes. I'll never do that again. And I'll gleefully enter into a flame war with anyone who disses discs. They're superior,end of story.
Okay, then
I think discs are not needed if you live in a mostly dry area. Superfluous and a waste of money that could be spent on upgrading other components on your bike like the drive-train. I stated in another thread that I see their uses in rain, mud, and out-of-true rims. I do not see their uses in plain dry road conditions.
I have test-ridden a bike with disc brakes (Trek SU200) and have seen absolutely no difference in stopping power between that and the cantilevers on my aunt's 1993 Schwinn mountain bike. I've had V-brakes that were stronger than the disc brakes on that Trek.
Seeing as how the SoCal environment is rarely ever wet (or at least Central Orange County where we get rain like 3 days out of 365), discs are not needed down here on the streets.
By the way, thanks for the info on the Novara Element. I'm not considering that thing anymore, now that I know that it could only go up to 32's on the knobbies. I think the Schwinn DBX has everything I'm looking for in a road commuter for when I move to Seattle. It's got a triple chainring setup on front, which should make the hills less painful to climb.