deacon mark

I am going to order my first disk road bike. I have a Habanero Road bike that is fantastic and serves me well but going to get a disk one as good have another. I getting another Habanero and I am going with Shimano r8000 groupset. I want to keep is simple and I am my own mechanic. I have a choice to get mechanical disk brakes or hydraulic and what do most of you recommend? My research shows that hydraulic is superior in terms ot most things except for maintenance. The owner tells me that he ride mechanical and really cannot tell the difference that much. I know I can work on them if need but I also don't want a huge amount of fiddling with brakes. I have worked on mechanical disk brakes they we ok but a bit to get set up.

SInce I have only used rim brakes will that mean for me both is an upgrade in stopping ability. I assume the feel will be different than rim brakes but will it simply mean in my case I could be happy with mechanical disk. Maybe I am making this more complicated that it is. How much maintenance disk brakes need. Right now i have been riding 8 to 10000 miles a year so I ride a lot.

Atlas Shrugged

If you have a decent mechanical aptitude hydraulic disc brakes are easy to set up and maintain. There are countless tutorials on YouTube to walk you through it and mistakes if they do happen are easy to remedy so go for it. There is no comparison between hydraulic and mechanical disc brakes. You will not regret the upgrade.

mstateglfr 

There is no right or wrong, no matter who may claim there is.
With that said, there is 0 downside to hydraulic and it just isn't difficult to learn or manage.

If you have shifters already, I would just buy mechanical brakes if you don't want to spend more $.
If you are starting from scratch, buy hydraulic. It's 2023, the stuff is proven and reliable.

If you are concerned with the setup, slap everything on the frame, g et it dialed in, then take it to a shop and ask them to cut the hoses.
You then have a year or so to figure out how to bleed the hoses and clean out any naturally accruing contamination. Doing that is just no more work than cutting new cables and housing.

deacon mark

Habanero will actually build the bike but I have that skill in any case. I did a few months ago go through a bunch of youtube videos to see how to work in hydraulic brakes and nothing complicated for sure. I just want to t have the best and easiest braking as I ride. All I have seen so far is hydraulic is much better. What has thrown me off is Habanero the owner said she ride mechanical and could not tell the difference in a blindfold test. I am took that with a bit of respect given they are a fine operation. But to me so far I see no advantage to mechanical expect possibly in working on them and not brake bleeding.

Iride01 

I might be wrong, but to me cable pulled discs seem like keeping all the cons of cable pulled brakes. Though those cons are few.

If money isn't an issue then I'll recommend you go all the way with hydraulic brakes.

I took the plunge back in 2020 to electronic shifting and disc brakes (hydraulic). I don't regret it at all. And the two have actually been maintenance free... except for the time I thought I could set up the rear DR adjustment better and mucked it up so badly that I just took it back to the shop and let them do it.

I've done absolutely nothing to my hydraulic brakes other than check for pad wear.

merlinextraligh

I’ve had bikes with mechanical disc, hybrid disc and hydraulic.

hydraulic wins hands down.

about the only remaining cases for mechanical I see, are 1) using brifters you already have, and 2) travel bike where it’s easier to use couplers on brake cables.

mainintaing the hydraulic discs will require new tools, and learning a new skill, but it’s not harder, just different.

alcjphil

I can't remember how many years I have had my hydraulic disc brake mountain bike, but maintenance has been minimal. However, I am very easy on brakes. Last summer, I changed brake pads for the first time on my 2007 Look 595 rim brake road bike, and only the rear pads at that

surak

I've had mechanical disk, they left much to be desired. Tried upgrading the front to hybrid TRP HY/RD, didn't help much. Sold that bike and have 4 hydraulic disk brake bikes that stop so much better. Not an apples-to-apples comparison given the different bikes, but I'll never choose cable-actuated disk brakes again.

t2p

curious - did the owner tell you which mechanical and hydraulic brakes they ride ?

I‘m half joking - there might be a law against pairing cable actuated mechanical disc brakes with Dura Ace components ... guilty sent straight to Alcatraz