ThermionicScott 

I was replying to a classic rydabent seagull post, but my understanding is that cable vs hydraulic by itself doesn't make a big difference in braking power.

Your riding companions might be the best to judge whether your bike could use a catalytic converter.

Metieval

Lots of people say that. but have you personally broke hydraulic brakes in the middle of nowhere?

tim24k

Nope! Not me as I don’t own any but my buddy’s did when we were riding up in the Olympic Peninsula. He had a seal/o-ring go in the rear. I like to keep things simple on my bike.

Kapusta

Yep.

Since I started riding disc brakes 19 years ago, have finished 2 rides with only one functioning brake (also, though it is not what you are asking: one epic day cut very short due to a failing brake, several with a brake so squishy it is barely useful, and several rides that never happened due to brake troubles that I had not had the chance to fix).

ALL of these were involving hydraulic brakes. None with mechanical, despite my using mechanical for far, far longer.

I have (estimate) 4X the ride time on mechanicals as I do on hydros. That’s just mtb. If you count my gravel bike it more like 5X.

My experience with hydros vs mech is that hydros are much less maintenance and hassle.... until they are not, and then they are a huge hassle and time suck.

cyccommute 

A curious observation I’ve made is that used hydraulic brakes are very common while used mechanicals are difficult to find. My co-op has a bin full of hydraulics at both of our locations and zero mechanicals. I recently went to Veloswap (a local huge swap meet in Denver) specifically looking for mechanicals. I found dozens of hydraulics brakeset (front and rear) but only 5 or 6 mechanicals. And I could only find the mechanicals as single units...which I find really odd. The Colorado Mullet is somewhat common but not that common.

Metieval

my first disc brake (mech) was 2005 Hayes
my first hydraulic was 2013

the only brakes that I ever had issues with was mechanical BB5. BB5 is why I went hydraulic. I am pretty sure that I have enough of my time invested in BB5 that no amount of bleeding/maintaining hydraulic systems will ever catch up to that amount of time wasted.

My favorite brakes so far are my hydraulic Magura HS11's. Post mounted rim brake hydraulics! Oh yeah, just don't crush a modern rim with them!!

Edit: Realistically stuff in life just breaks. All of it, bikes trains airplanes cars escalators elevators etc..... That is just life. I won't live mine avoiding what is nice! Like a a short flight from eastern Midwest to the west coast. Although some flights get delayed or cancelled due to mechanical failures. Or taking the risk of getting stuck in an elevator.

starters fail, fuel pumps fail, distributor caps fail, Gah I got stranded in the middle of nowhere because my truck broke and there was no cell service either. Should I never drive a vehicle again?

To each their own. Personally some stuff is worth the risk. I mean who wants to stay in their 'safe space' of the lesser of the brakes, Lots of spokes, 4130 frames just in case they break. You know because there is a welder hidden behind MANY boulders in the middle of nowhere. LOL

livedarklions

Careful you don't hurt yourself shifting the goalposts like that.

Kapusta

You are the one who asked if anyone had a hydro brakes break in the middle of nowhere. You got you answer: Yes. If your point now is that it does not really matter, because "stuff breaks", then why ask the question to start with?

Anyway, if your only experience with mechs is with crap models, you are not really getting a very good representation (Thus I did not include my experience with my Hayes Hydros from 2002). I was comparing BB7s to XT's hydros. In my head, mechanical always meant BB7. Those have been the standard for years. IMO, nothing else mechanical was really worth considering until a few years ago when TRP and Paul came out with some good ones.

BB5s? Ouch. Yeah, no wonder you hated mechanical.

"Stuff breaks".... true, and your your truck crapping out in the middle of nowhere is exactly why you avoid using parts more likely to fail on the road.

Kapusta

Metieval

False. I did NOT ask if 'anyone' had hydraulics brakes break in the middle of nowhere.)

I said in reply to tim24k
If your mechanic aptitude is on par with reading aptitude, I am not so sure that I would lay the blame onto hydraulic brakes. More likely it was the mechanic of said hydraulic brakes.

to actually address your questions.

1. I asked the question out of curiosity. Nothing more, nothing less.
2. "stuff breaks" was an after thought.

livedarklions

"Lots of people say that but" definitely implies skepticism that it EVER happens. You know damn well you didn't just ask out of curiosity--it was presented as a rhetorical question, and now you have to backpedal when faced with someone who actually had it happen to them.

Amazing how every conversation with you ends up in you denigrating the person disagreeing with you. The reading comprehension was fine, and there's no basis for calling the guy a bad mechanic other than your usual nastiness.

Metieval

well color me a skeptic then...

a color that I'll willingly wear.

Kapusta

Right....

Because when YOU have issues setting up your BB5s, it is the fault of mechanical brakes. When someone ELSE has issues with hydros, it is their lack of mechanical aptitude causing seals to leak.

That all makes perfect sense

Metieval

again False!

I NEVER said what the issues were.

Kapusta

Well, what WERE your issues that have nothing to do with your mechanical ability? You said you spent a lot of time working on them. So what was it that you kept not being able to get right?

Jax Rhapsody

Also people see steel as steel regardless of what kind, seperating steel from alloys, as alloys are usually considered non-ferous metals; such as alloy wheels for cars, unless they're specifically magnesium wheels, are usually aluminum wheels.

cyccommute 

subgrade’s point is valid. Alloys are made of several elements mixed together in a solid solution. Steel just happens to be made of iron and other stuff while aluminum alloy is aluminum and other stuff. “Alloys” may be considered by the public to be non-ferrous but the “public” is often wrong.

livedarklions

The guy you're arguing with will likely call you some variation of "fat" within two posts, somehow connecting the fact that you eat food to your brake "issues."

livedarklions

No one I know refers to bronze hardware as "alloy", and that's non-ferrous. Orchestras have brass sections, not alloy sections. Again, non-ferrous. I think people are trying to invent a general rule for why aluminum alloys are called this, and I think the answer is a lot simpler. For marketing reasons, it's better to note that it isn't pure aluminum because it's a fairly soft metal if it's not part of an alloy, aluminum alloys don't have short, well-known names, and "aluminum alloy" is a mouthful .

Darth Lefty 

Well this is a fun thread. Perhaps you should call it hydra?

livedarklions

What really drives me crazy about hydra brakes is when you remove one, and two grow back.

hefeweizen

OP - I am just confused to why people shorten it to 'Hydro'. The o makes it pertain to water?

why not just shorten hydraulics to 'HYDR' ?


Why did you shorten your thread title to "Hydraulics" instead of something like
why do people shorten Hydraulics to 'Hydro' ?
It would save many people from clicking into such a mindless thread.

livedarklions

I, for one, thought that people were pouring water over their wheels in order to stop.

macbobster

Well, because of this goofy post I learned what Mangalloy is.

Cheers, MAC

Phil_gretz

...this was a good convo.