Disc or Rim

What matters is HDR, and a screen capable of rendering the colours, so probably OLED to get the black, number of pixels is nowhere near as relevant (especially with all the compression artifacts you’re going to get due to the delivery system)

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If my trip to the LBS today is anything to go by there’s pretty much no choice, out of about 25 bikes on show only 1 had rim brakes, and that was mostly because it was the entry level to get costs down.

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There going cheap already too, ribble have there top disc roadie on offer already ?!

Ribble have an aluminium endurance with 105 hydro disc for £1100 .

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When I got my nicer summer bike last February, I plumped for the rim braked version.
Why? My existing TT bike and winter bike were rim brakes, as were my spare wheels.

I don’t do enough descending or hills to want disc brakes…but I also don’t know how to service them. Having built a few bikes from scratch, I like being able to fettle the machine myself.

Furthermore, disc brakes in the wet squeal like a banshee. If you like a nice, quiet bike, then you won’t get that with discs on winter roads.

Having said all of this, if I was in the market for a new cross/gravel/road/commuter bike - like @hewligan - then I’d opt for a 1X disc Ti build.

3 of my 4 bikes are now disc. It’s only my posh road bike with hydraulic brakes that ever squeals; the two with cheaper cable calipers are fine :thinking: Probably down to the forces being exerted, and no hydraulic fluid to seep from the cheaper brakes.

I’m dreading having to do much on the hydro brakes and will probably take it to the shop, the late change at Nice cost me as the rear one was rubbing all the way round :rage:, probably cost me about 30 minutes :rofl:

Most of my wheels are rim brakes, the other problem as well now is that a lot are through-axle, and there’s different standards for them, the 303’s I use on the Enigma have converters but I’m not sure they’ll work with a lot of modern bikes.

It’s an expensive game.

BTW, if anyone likes a 2019 Scott Foil, they have about £1k off in the sales ATM, if I could sell my TCR I’d actually be tempted. Disc brakes and mechanical Ultegra on the Foil for about £2k

Jeff

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Actually, it still is bloody rubbing, but as I haven’t ridden outdoors for months it’s not a big problem, and I’m classing it as resistance training :slight_smile:

If riding in crap roads, disc brakes are unnecessary
Just plain wrong - braking is sharper and so you can stop more rapidly.

If riding regularly in wet conditions, disk brakes are unnecessary
I’d love to hear some scientific or even logical justification for this. Stopping distance is clearly reduced with discs and it’s an experiment that anyone can do

It’s incredibly pedantic to say that disc brakes are ‘unnecessary’. Are they an absolute game changer? No, I’d agree that they are an incremental improvement but they are clearly better at slowing you down, especially in poor conditions.

On a more general point, I find it incredible that you’d choose this battle to be so dogmatic. It’s like people saying helmets don’t prevent injury.

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Careful there! A poindexter would be quick to point out that they don’t prevent injury, they merely reduce the risk of injury :+1:t3:

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A fair if slightly pedantic point :slightly_smiling_face:

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There are some plonkers that say a helmet increases your risk of injury.

One tried to tell me you’re more likely to break your neck because of the extra rotational force. I asked for some evidence, he said it was true because his mate told him and hes a dr.

The science is because braking performance should be limited by tyre traction and not anything else, if your disc brakes are so clearly superior then it suggests your rim brakes are poorly set up. My commuter rim brakes are often worse than my road rim brakes, because I don’t keep the rim’s adjusted 'cos the adjustment is such a PITA.

Just to be completely clear, my point was that there’s an overwhelming body of evidence to say that helmets make cycling safer. That doesn’t mean that they will help much if, for example, you get hit by a car.
Similarly, disc brakes make cycling safer - as many have said on this thread, that doesn’t mean that rim brakes are unsafe. I’m not about to ditch my summer bike with rim brakes but at some stage I will … and it will be a disc brake bike I buy. :slight_smile:

That response was replying specifically to braking in the wet, which you didn’t copy across in your reply

That still doesn’t change anything, traction limits are indeed even easier met in the wet than the dry. Wet means you might get some use out of your back brake when stopping as quickly as you can, but doesn’t change the absolute nature of if you brake too hard you skid, and any brake system should be able to achieve a skid.

Now there are lots of brake systems that don’t reach the limit, so the theory doesn’t apply and some of course can be influenced by the position of the brake, as well as the materials of the system, so many rim brakes are rubbish, but that’s about specifics rather than the technology.

If you want funky shaped carbon rims and not ludicrously expensive regularly adjusted pads, then disc’s probably will always better.

The hydraulic disc brakes I’ve had have needed very little maintenance until last year and have managed 3 or 4 fairly bad UK winters, I do need to get them changed now though, or work out why they are rubbing. There’s a lot of corrosion particularly on the rear one.

Rim brakes don’t seem to last as long before they get wrecked.

Jeff

Rubbing is usually a warped disk. They can be bent very slightly back into place, just spin the wheel and the bit warped just put a small amount of pressure on. There are YouTube videos on it.

I’ve watched a few, but it happens on 2 different wheels, there’s also some micro-adjustments you can make, it had new pads which are thicker but I think the pistons are seizing or something, it’s pretty corroded. The LBS were supposed to be getting some in last year to replace them but never got back to me despite asking about 3 times.

They don’t seem very interested in bike maintenance these days, just want to shift bikes which is reasonably understandable but annoying someone who has bought 3 off them in the past isn’t the best way to go about it.

Jeff

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I’m a year late here!
What bike did you build, @Matthew_Spooner ?
I just got a Cervelo R5 VWD rim brake frame and Ultegra parts for a build…

…I did a search for rim vs disc as I’m debating again :see_no_evil: