Originally Posted by
VegasJen
Now this is just my silly opinion, but unless there's prize money on the line, no way is hydraulic worth the expense. Cable brakes have been around for how many decades? Minimal maintenance, proven reliability, low cost. There's simply no comparison. If you just have money to burn (I never have, probably never will) and you want the latest and greatest tech, or you need that last 0.01 second to beat the next guy, then knock yourself out.
But that's just me.
Modern hydraulics (shimano) are easier to maintain than cables. At least if you follow any reasonable maintenance regimen. You need to swap brake cables and housings every two years or so. Hoses last triple that.
With every housing swap you need new bar tapes.
Every time you swap your cable you need to do the whole adjustable ferrule, brake arm tensioning song and dance. If we compare that to bleeding you put on a funnel, put a piece of hose on the caliper. Let oil flow down through the system. Close both ends and that's it for two years.
When you swap mechanic pads, pull back inner pad all the way, pull back outer pad all the way. Take out wheel (because that's mechanic brakes for you), swap pads, put back wheel, adjust both pads until you have that rub free non spongy spot. That usually takes a while. Oh and adjust cable tension and hope you have enough adjusting space in the ferrule ends.
Compare to hydraulics. Take out pads. Push pistons in. Put in new pads. Pump levers and go ride.
One thing that also doesn't happen with hydraulics is cable freeze. When you go from wet to sub freezing it sometimes happens that the cable freezes inside the housing. That essentially means you'll have no brakes until you defrost your bike. Hate it when that happens. Granted hydraulics used to have issues in the cold back in the day but it seems those have largely been solved.
the expense thing is silly to begin with. We should all be riding walmart bikes because if you're not racing what difference does it make? We all value different things. Personally I value really good brakes. You might value other things. Like your bike being more capable than a walmart one size fits no one.