hydraulic disc brakes are amazing! i was a bit skeptical at first, but after owning a bike equipped with them for a year now, i too worship at the church of disc.

for wet, gloppy, sloppy, snowy, slushy, icy, dirty, messy, filthy winter riding, disc brakes simply work much better than any rim brake set-up i've used (caliper, canti, and v-brake).

I will be interested to see just how disk-brakes find themselves distributed throughout the bike market over the next few years. Disks probably will be seen with greater regularity on commuting bikes, but I’m not sure that they’re going to come to dominate on the road in anything like they way they now do on mountain bikes.


The reason has to do with the move that disks have made from mountain biking to other segments. Disks came out on mountain bikes when they did precisely because the deficiencies of then-existing brakes were clear and urgent to mountain bikers. Road cycling, including commuting, has been going on a much longer time than mountain biking and there has never been any similarly great impetus toward disk brakes. Indeed, here we are in 2012 and only now are we being told that road bikes will adopt this technology in significant numbers.

The most natural explanation for these two timelines is that there just isn’t as much background demand for disk brakes on road bikes. This could be for a variety of reasons: weight, aerodynamics, cost, or something else. Whatever the explanation of the fact of differing background demand, it is clear there is this fact. If things were otherwise, we should have expected disk brakes to appear on road bikes much earlier than now—there’s no particular reason that the changes now being contemplated to road bikes to accommodate disks could not have been made a decade ago.

UCI approval isn’t a convincing story, either, on this head, as people just would have flocked to disk brakes because they were so useful, if in fact they were, with or without UCI approval. Lots of people have sub-UCI weight bikes around the clubs, after all. (Indeed, mountain bikes themselves emerged as a consumer preference first and then a race standard later.)

Consumer biking is a good test, anyway, of present background demand for disk brakes in one use since commuters care nothing for UCI standards. These forums record that a fair number of commuters want disks. On the other hand, a lot of the bike market does not post here.


I have my own preference on my commuting rig for rim brakes, but this is just one person talking and I don’t have time or willingness to elaborate on that now. To those who want disk brakes, buy them and use them. More power to you.

I must have the cheapest hydraulic disc brakes known to man (69€ per wheel) ... Hayes Stroker Ryde barkes and i'm quite happy with them, especially in bad weather.

We'll see how long they last (only 1250km on them so far).

What pads do you use?

I don't even know what they are. The ones on my Schwinn are most definitely the original ones that came on the bike. The ones on my Fuji are likely to be original too. So nothing really special.

I should maybe add that I'm quite light for my height (6'1", -140lbs) so maybe I don't need as much stopping power as the next guy. But I do generally carry an excessive amount of heavy stuff with me on the bike or in a trailer FWIW.

I really love disc brakes for their effectiveness in inclement weather (rain, sleet, snow) but IMHO hydraulic disc brake systems for bikes are an unnecessary expense with very few returns... a couple of which are that they add a level of complexity and points of failure... not to mention add weight (in most, save for extreme cases). In my experience a properly setup cable disc brake system gives the same level of stopping power and fade resistance as hydraulics yet is less expensive to purchase and less expensive to maintain. One advantage that hydraulics have is that they are self adjusting but IMHO that's a small benefit in comparison to the cost of repairs... and I've had to make a lot of expensive repairs on the ones that came through the shop in the form of fluid contamination causing scoring and failure of lever and caliper o-rings and pistons.

Something worth mentioning for fun. The increased braking efficiency of a smaller wheel may be more a matter of less reciprocating mass than it is of wheel diameter (the same reason a smaller wheeled bike may be easier to accelerate than it's large wheeled counterpart)... there is less mass to 'accelerate'. Also take into account that a smaller wheel has less leverage than a larger wheel to overcome the forces/friction of the brake pad clamping on the disc... so is it really a correlation of wheel diameter to brake disc diameter that matters?

Just having a little fun. ;)

I have avoided half a dozen serious accidents solely because I have hydraulics on my commuters. Not a fan of any mechanical brake.

After using disc brakes for 12+ years now I wouldn't go back to mechanical brakes even if someone paid me... Not that anyone would, as for hydraulic or any other type of failures my Grimeca disc brakes have never let me down yet...

If you look at the picture 10000degrees posted, you'll notice there is a metal fin also welded to the fork for additional strength that goes up the fork a bit. I have no idea if that is enough reinforcement, or how that would affect ride quality of the fork, but it looks like he is on the right track by not simply welding on eyelets.

How do discs help in good weather? I can understand in the rain and stuff, but I can lock up the wheels long before my brakes give up (on almost every bike I've ridden). Seems like everyone here loves them!

Disc brakes are much more consistent and thus easier to modulate so they don't lock up (also require less effort to apply) but give max braking power and it doesn't really matter if it's dry or wet...

I also like the absolutely minimal amount of effort required to activate them. Sure, a good v or caliper brake with good pads will stop you fast. My commuter is a testiment to that, but they are also require more grip. Now my mtb with discs will stop with the slight exertion of one finger on the brakes, and its smoother and gives more options for stopping force. Thats comparing standard v brakes with Cool stop salmon pads (adjusted just right) to shimano Deore disc brakes using xtr rotors.

My Nashbar rigid front fork with both disc and v-brake mounts also has a similar reinforcement running vertically up the fork from the caliper bracket, for the same purpose. I think that design is pretty much universal for forks designed to take disc brakes. That pic posted of the bent fork was obviously a very poor design and a failure waiting to (that did) happen.

BB5s are a bit harder to adjust than the bb7s.

I just bought a commuter with disc brakes for the stopping power, particularly in rain. I had avoided riding in rain too much. Now I not only don't mind getting caught in the rain, but start out when it is raining.
I think it is very important to be able to stop well on a street bike due to unpredictable motorists and pedestrians.
With a trail bike, it sometimes seems better to not go too slow or risk getting bogged down. Stopping is important, but I think the disc brakes off-road are more for mud and wet than the need to stop a lot.
Road bikes don't want to stop at all. They are light and built for speed in a straight line on a smooth surface with no obstacles or surprises. Each type of riding is great in its own way. I still have my old hybrid with rim brakes and sometimes do short trips around the neighborhood when there is no chance of rain. It does feel weird using rim brakes after getting used to discs.