charlesrg

I've never maintained drum brakes neither in cars or bikes so I don't have much knowledge to talk about them. The auto industry switched to disc long time I thought it was because they were better. Honestly I don't like pulling cables. Di2 is electric and disc brakes are hydraulic. From my experience my shimano hydraulic disc brakes on all others bikes are very low maintenance. Perhaps drums need even less maintenance but the hydraulic discs I got are working great so far and replacing the pads once a year or two should not be a problem.

fietsbob

I am still using the drum brake Bicycle Hubs, the same shoes for almost 30 Years

have You been riding any Disc Brake Bike for that long without changing the Pads ?


Hydro Discs get air in their lines and that fancy electronics will fail at some point

Spend Up on the lastet High end gear but dont fool yourself into thinking its as durable

as an Old Dutch OPa from the 50's.. they are on their 3rd generation of owner .

Opa means Grandfather in Dutch.

PatrickGSR94

My only experience with a bicycle drum brake was from some 3-speed bike I had when I was 11 or 12 yrs old (3 chain rings, single rear cog, yes it was weird), which had a drum brake on the rear wheel. I don't remember much about the bike but I remember the drum brake clearly and how it was ALWAYS needing adjustment. It would come out of adjustment all the time and lose almost all braking power.

And also I cannot STAND drum brakes on cars, super complicated compared to disc brakes.

Maybe there are quality bike drum brakes out there but I've never experienced one.

dim

here are some ideas
Budnitz Model No.1 - High-End Belt Drive Bicycle | Budnitz Bicycles Store

fietsbob

Last car I owned had disc front and drum rear . a 1968 Saab 96..

Setting the parking brake on a car's Hot rear Disc proved a Problem in warping the disc they had to solve.

with drum rear brakes it was well sorted out for decades ..

PatrickGSR94

My 94 Integra with 352K miles and 4-wheel disc brakes has never once warped the rear rotors, even with the parking brakes operating the rear disc calipers directly. But my rear brakes usually don't get that hot anyway. After replacing and bedding brake pads I always park by leaving the car in gear and not using the parking brake for awhile.

Other cars like Toyotas use an auxiliary drum and shoes for the parking brake, built into the rear discs (the center of the rear discs is large and is actually a drum parking brake).

My wife's 96 Corolla has drum rear brakes, with a leaky wheel cylinder on one side. I'm dreading working on those.

Darth Lefty 

tjspiel

If I didn't use my bike in the winter, disc brake maintenance would be fairly low. As it is, I'm going to need to pull the pistons out of my front brakes to clean up the surfaces. The pads don't sit quite flat anymore. Had to do the rears last fall. It also doesn't seem to take much to mess up the alignment of the calipers, - like taking a wheel off and putting it back on. I have to say that after all the love they get here on BF they were one of my more disappointing upgrades. Still prefer them to most anything else but they have their issues.

I've had roller brakes before but not drums. I agree that roller brakes are much lower maintenance than discs, but the grease adds noticeable drag in cold weather. Heavy too.

Drum brakes on a car are a PITA because of how often you have to change the shoes. Not as much of a problem on a bike.

gsa103

QR or through-axle? I've found that I can remove TA wheels with no issues, QR wheels seem to be touchier.

Colorado Kid

I'll second that on a Fixed Gear. Yes, you can gear them down to climb just about anything! Weight, a lot lighter than a gear bike. Low maintenance is the hallmark of a fixed gear. If you consider a fixed gear, please consider a road version rather than a track version (road bikes have longer frames and brakes, track bikes have shorter frames and no brakes).

350htrr

Bah, Humbug... About the only good thing about drum brakes was that it was consistently bad, wet or dry... Disk brakes on the other hand were/are consistently great, wet of dry... IMO...Rim brake for bikes are in the same category as are drum brakes, poor performance but also with poor consistency when wet or dry... IMO...

EDIT; Oh, I have a hydraulic disk brake system on my bike for the last 16 years... Never done, needed to do ANYTHING to it, never adjusted it, never repaired it, never worried something would fail with it... All I ever did was use it and changed 3 sets of brake pads in 16 years, 36,500KM on the bike so far... How is that for reliability/low maintenance?

Tundra_Man 

Seeing as we're now talking about drum breaks as well as drum brakes, I'm surprised that list didn't include The Incredible Bongo Band's version of "Apache." That's the most iconic hip-hop drum break I can think of.

ph0rk

There are some pretty good mechanical disc brakes out there - BB7 and Hayes CX expert, to name a few.

Albino Wino

Contrary to the extensive body of passionate opinion to the contrary, I've found on my very snowy commute (Upper Michigan) that WD-40 is absolutely magic when it comes to keeping cassettes and derailleurs clear of icepack.

charlesrg

Okay, I've been enjoying the ride and went beyond the 100 mile mark, currently the bike has 200 miles.
It's rides great. Fenders are awesome, riding through the snow/slush yesterday never felt so great. Besides on snowy days the path is all mine.
Only issue so far is a squeak that apparently comes from the EBB. I've taken it out, and put anti-seize all over it except 2mm around the outer ring, then I installed it and left 1mm out, following I put the Effeto Mariposa Carbogrip and locked it in place. Waited overnight, but again the next day the squeak was there.
I already tried different pedals to ensure the noise wasn't the pedals.
It's not out of this world, but yes, I wish it was not there.
Besides that all smooth. Brakes, gears, everything great. I just added a stages power meter today and I'm drinking the coolaid.

chas58

Yup, my fixed gear is inexpensive, light (19lbs) fast (cruise at 20mph all day) and as simple and reliable as you can get. Even in single speed mode, can't beat the cost/weight/speed/reliability mixture for commutes that are not too hilly.

Barchettaman

Funky rear mudguard - never seen stays mounted like that before.

dim

sounds like you need a e-bike

mercator

Very nice

But have to agree with Barchettaman, why did you attach the fender stay up there?
Also, a power meter on a commuter?

charlesrg

Fender is attached to the first spot I saw when I was building, since it worked fine I didn't move. I can move it down to please you guys

Power meter because I train during 20 miles commute. This is the bike that I spent the most time on, therefore the one that I can do intervals and check power output.

rfmarotti

It here. Says it in the title.

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/bik/5539975715.html

dim

my wife's bike is a newish dutch style bike with drum brakes and loop frame with basket etc ... brakes work pretty well, but tend to squeek when riding in the wet ... good stopping power though