Tourist in MSN

I accept that if I wanted my titanium frame touring bike, I would have to accept the rear disc brake. And I must say, I have never had brake rub with my TRP Spyre. Maybe Froome needs a cable operated TRP?

djb

Ya, I'm pretty much sold on mechanical discs, for a number of reasons.

staehpj1

My experience is limited to hydraulic disks on one bike, but they just work. Easy to set up and once set up never seem to require any attention until the pads wear down. Feel and power are both excellent. So much less fuss than any rim brakes I have used.

djb

hi stae,
A little head's up to this, I've helped a neighbour a few times trying to figure out why his lever would go to bars sometimes, then be fine. Couldn't see any leaking, finally figured out that itwas hanging the bike on a hook, and a bubble must have worked it's way around. His pads were worn too but not hanging bike seemed to take care of that mystery.
Don't knew how common or due to very worn pads and possible lower fluid levels, but figured I'd mention it.
cheers

101stairborne

I have a Lynskey Backroad touring bike with disk brakes.

genec

Wow, a response to an 11 year old comment... how quaint.

Well I still have the old custom touring bike with the cantilever rim brakes... but honestly, I have not toured in a good 15 years. I do have a nice full suspension off road bike... The Giant mentioned in my sig... with disk brakes, and frankly they work quite well. I have ridden that bike in all sorts of wet and dry (and muddy) conditions and the brakes have been quite reliable. They are hydraulic and work quite well... the only "issue" I have ever had with them is that the wheel has to be centered just right or the disk "rings" against the pads... not much of an issue actually... rim brakes required proper centering too.

If I were to take up serious touring again, I would certainly seek disk (or is it disc) brakes. I believe all the bugs are worked out and they are a great asset.

staehpj1

Interesting. I can see where an air bubble might get to the caliper on an inverted bike. I guess it might be more likely as the pads wear since that effectively means the fluid level is lower. I have not seen that behavior though. I do hang my disc brake bike, but not upside down (it hangs on the wall, vertical with the front wheel up).

Just supposition, as my experience is limited.

djb

it was one of those times that my neighbours ask me to look at their bikes, and so I did myself experience once feeling his lever go to the bars, and then after it was fine after a pull or two. I think the first time I quickly looked for obvious fluid leaks at junctions, didnt see anything, and then probably didnt look at it again for a while--maybe until he said it did it again. Not being familiar with hydro stuff since back in my motorcycle days, I wasnt sure what to do or have ideas, as they seemed to be working properly.
It did come to me about the hanging thing, and he may have been hanging it in both directions at diff times, so all I know is that when I told hiim of my idea, and he stopped hanging it on the hook, he said it didnt do it again. At some point down the road (no recollection of when afterwards) he asked about the rears (same) not locking anymore, and I thought the pads were nearly done. He took it to a store and they replaced pads, and all was fine again--but Im not sure if they did other stuff, but seems to me he said they claimed there wasnt a leak or anything......

so not a great example because I dont have all the info, but I think the hanging thing and air bubble might have been a real issue....
I greatly suspect good ol shimano deore or whatever level hydros are super reliable.
He did have a rubbing issue also once, but it was his pitlock qr thing (the ones tyou need a special key) that wasnt tightened enough, once that was figured out it was fine again.

350htrr

Every spring when I take my bike off the hook after hanging with the front down I have had the same "issue"... And it is indeed caused by the fluid reservoir being turned upside down and any air in the system can go into the normally lower part of the system, needing some time to float up into the reservoir again where it belongs... Or you can flush it out by changing the fluid, (bleeding the brakes). I just pump the brake often for the 1st ride until the system is firm again and the air is out of the pressurized parts and in the reservoir... As a testimonial to hydraulic disc brakes, My story is, since I changed my factory dot3 brake fluid to dot3 synthetic, 20 years ago, I never blead the lines, I never changed the brake fluid, I never had a leak, I never even had to adjust them, for the last 20+ years that I have had my Grimeca hydraulic brakes... I changed the brake pads 4 times and that is the extent of my maintenance of these fantastic... Grimeca hydraulic brakes... that's about 53,000Km of riding...

djb

good to hear, thanks
Like I said, I lose track of when neighbours ask me to check stuff, so the timeline of stuff wasnt clear to me from memory---so he was probably hanging it one way sometimes and the other way other times. Throw in running down his rear pads (classic rear predominant user issue) towards the end and thats all what it was.