JohnJ80

Well, for one reason to use mechanical, if you have to disassemble your bike for air travel such as a bike with couplers. That's more difficult or at least more problematic with hydraulics. Paul's components now make a mechanical disc brake so there will be a mechanical disc brake available for a very long time.

There are also a ton of frames out there set up for mechanical and they will continue to need support. This is the same thing that has happened with cantilevers, V-brakes, long pull calipers etc.... All still available. I doubt there will be any difference with mechanical disc brakes either.

Terex

Didn't everyone have this discussion 20 years ago re mountain bikes? I still have my Titus Racer X with mech discs and they still work great. Hydros have always worked a little better, but with a tradeoff of complexity. Cable selection has always been critical for mech discs.

Chi_Z

sounds like you mech disk is not properly setup, also most newer internal routing disk brake frame is designed for hydro, for my Niner, I have to route the rear brake cable outside the chainstay, the internal routing creates too much bending of the cable

Paul Barnard

It really doesn't take much to haul a bicycle to a controlled stop. I have built 2 disc brake bikes in the past year and I went with mechanical disc in both cases. TRP Spyres on one and Spykes on the other. The Spyres took a little breaking in and are still what I would describe a s soft, but perfectly adequate for my touring bike. I put the Spykes on an MTB. I have yet to really challenge them, but I can tell they will serve me well in the mountains.

Comparing the hydros on one MTB to the Spykes on another several things stand out. The hydros are easier to finesse with one or two fingers in technical stuff, and that is where I think hydros really stand out. They are also a bit easier to accidentally lock up in panic or emergency braking. I took a good spill last year on account of an accidental front end lock up. That never happened on the mech disc brakes I had on my previous MTB. My hydros also decided to act up last year in a way that I couldn't fix myself, so it had to go to the shop as I didn't have bleeding equipment. I can't see the same thing happening with mechs.

For the OPs intended use I don't see hydros offering any tangible performance advantage.

JohnJ80

Completely agree. I doubt there will be any noticeable advantage especially if the brakes are installed with high quality compressionless housings. Compressionless housing is fantastic on any mechanical braking system but especially beneficial on mechanical discs with the long housing run. That done, I think it's going to be difficult to tell the difference.

J.

WhyFi

I won't put something on my bike if it has no regard for my feelings.

Jack Tone 

I was watching the Amgen Tour of California on the stage when Alex Hoehn got the mountain jersey, and when the camera zoomed in to his Cannondale, I noticed he was using mechanical discs. I thought that was pretty interesting.

f4rrest

Compassionless housing... funny autocorrect.

JohnJ80

Given me a whole new way of looking at bike parts. Hmmm.

no kidding. I fixed it. But I'm sure compressionless housing is, in fact, compassionless.

And this is interesting for sure. Wonder which brakes?

Jack Tone 

^ They looked like the ones fietsbob mentioned earlier with the U shaped actuating arm.

JohnJ80

Ah. TRP Spyres then.

PeteHski

Is this another "bot" experiment?

Litespud

I built up a hardtail MTB in the mid 00’s, using BB7 mechanical discs. I thought they were a significant improvement over rim brakes in terms of power. I had QRs, which meant that if I dropped and reinstalled the front wheel, I might get slight disk rubbing, but adjustment with the two red adjustment wheels was very straightforward. The only other thing was that the return spring on the calipers wasn’t particularly strong, so you had to pay attention to your cables - keep them clean and free-moving so they didn’t hamper brake return. Hydro might have the edge re modulation, but I’d have no hesitation spec’ing a bike (especially a travel bike) with cable-op disks

mstateglfr 

Mechanical disc brakes are lightweight which is why they are comfortable and stable?
I cant say I ever looked at my disc brakes, mechanical or hydraulic, and considered one to be more comfortable than the other due to weight. And neither ever came to mind as being more stable due to weight than the other.

Kapusta

You are most likely engaging with a bot.

WhyFi

I hear that's a market that's expected to grow quite a lot in the near future.

mstateglfr 

most likely, yes. figured i would respond in case its the most formal and quirky person of all time.

tomato coupe

Bots need friends too.