Originally Posted by
Jeff Neese
I don't think it's "throwing around the term".
I disagree. It
is “throwing around the term” because I have not seen anyone really describe what they mean by “superior modulation”. Is it easier to slow a little or slow a lot? I can do that with any brake I’ve ever used…except the supposedly “superior” hydraulics brakes I’ve used. Those offered no ability to attenuate the amount of pressure I put on the pads making for very grabby brakes.
You're an experienced cyclist and must certainly recognize that there are differences in modulation between different brakes, even two different brands or models of the same type.
Yes, I’ve a very experienced cyclist and I’m saying that there is very little difference in modulation between different brakes. I don’t get on a bike that is equipped with disc and use the brakes differently from a bike that has cantilevers. I have a bike that has a disc on the front and a linear brake on the back. There is no difference in lever feel nor lever pull between the front and back. There’s also no difference between that bike and two other hub mounted disc equipped bikes I own. There’s no difference between the cantilever equipped bikes and the hub mounted disc bikes. I don’t brake differently when riding one of my road bikes and my mountain bikes. Nor, for that matter, is there a noticeable difference between my road bike, disc equipped tandem and my mountain bike cantilever equipped tandem.They all feel
and work the same.
What I do find funny about brake discussions is that the same arguments are made when each brake comes out. When cantilevers became prevalent in the 80s, they are touted as being vastly superior to side pulls. I’d even agree that they were vastly superior to the Weinmann center pulls that were poor Mafac Racer knockoffs. But the same was said about U-brakes when they were introduced. I never owned any U-brake equipped bikes because the brake placement was just stupid. The same was said about linear brakes when they were introduced. Hub mounted discs are just another iteration of the same argument.
I currently own bikes with disc, disc/rim, cantilever, and dual pivot. Not one of them is significantly better at braking that any other. They all work quite well and I have no issues throwing them down hills at stupid speeds. I don’t ride any of them differently because they have different brakes.
Sure, all brakes behave as you describe - I can pull on either a little or a lot and get the bike to slow a little or lock the rear wheel - but there's a vast difference in how brakes behave in between that range. I agree that the term "either on or off" is an exaggeration, but some brakes are definitely too grabby for me.
The only grabby brakes I’ve ever owned were early hydraulics. I’ve never had a brake that was vastly different in the way it worked from slow to emergency stop, except the hydraulics.