Originally Posted by
WhyFi
It's funny that you credit a Big Bike conspiracy when you've already provided the more simple, and more likely, answer -
What? That the disc brake guys have unlimited funds? They need to crawl to their shop with Gold Card in hand every time they need brake work?
Yep, that's what it's come down to. My early-adopter riding pals drive 30 minutes both to and from home to shop through impenetrable traffic gridlock to get disc pads replaced.
With rim brakes, if someone said that they need to go to a shop to get new pads installed (cost: $4 per pair) they'd be publicly ridiculed.