delbiker1 

Yep, I still 4 rim brake bikes, and 1 with disc brakes. I live in flat land and do not notice all that much difference, even when wet. I am rarely anywhere that I ride in significant elevation. My disc brakes are mechanical. Modern rim brakes, pads, and rims are pretty darn good.

Kapusta

I keep my old ones for lawn art.

Ironfish653

So, "they" should keep component groups backwards -compatible with every bike that's been made, for, what, the last 15 years? 20? 30?
If the current 105 is a Di2, hydro disk group, but they also offered it as a mech shift rim- brake set, is it really still the same group? The only common part would be the cassette.

Right now, road bikes are going through the same kind of technology shift that MTBs did in the early Y2Ks; from the 3x "26er" era to the current 1x "29er" bikes. Very little of the current tech crosses over.
Where MTBs were always evolving, road bikes didn't really change, but incrementally, for decades. STI was the last big shift in components, other than increasing numbers of cassette cogs, but it didn't fundamentally change the architecture, like disks and Di2 have

big john

I've never heard anything like this except on this forum. I ride with 2 road clubs, hundreds of members, and we interact with other clubs and riding groups. It doesn't matter what you're riding. If you ride like a jerk other riders will treat you like a jerk. If you ride safely and are cool than people will enjoy riding with you. I'm the biggest Fred out there most of the time and people don't disparage my bikes or my clothing.

When you are riding nobody gives a crap what you are riding, only how you are riding.

Lombard

What? No 8-track players?

Lombard

Good one!

mstateglfr 

I complain about this too, but I do it while recognizing it's a very selective complaint and can be easily countered.

Currently ycou an still buy 105 and Ultegra rim brake cable actuated groups.
Sometime in the bearish future it will be Tiagra as the highest cable shift/brake setup. So that is what you are referring to, but it'll still be possible.
At that point, one can turn to microshoft/sensah/ltwoo for mechanical brake drivetrains. I expect those brands will continue to refine and at that point in time the shifters will be quite capable and the handwriting will have been overblown.

wolfchild

My Surly has both disc brake mounts and v brake or canti mounts on the fork and frame. My Rocky Mountain MTB is only disc specific, my KHS can only use rim caliper brakes. I remember years ago many different manufacturers produced bikes with options to run ether disc or v brakes. They don't make them like this anymore, I wonder why ?

Eric F 

Because it's more expensive to produce a frame with multiple options, and disc brake bikes could be sold at a higher price point.

Ferguron

I live in extreme NW New Jersey. The terrain is constant rolling hills...not mountains. The truth is on a typical fifty mile ride I will barely have to use the brakes at all.

Improving my brakes are about the last thing I care about...I guess i would care more if I lived in the Alps...

cyccommute 

Yes, several. I have some disc equipped bikes as well and, quite honestly, can’t see what all the kerfufflage is all about. I even have a mountain bike…a 26er, The Horror!!!…with disc front and rim rear. I can’t tell the difference between the brakes at all.

My touring bike even has…avert your eyes if you have a heart condition…CANTILEVERS!!!! I actually have 3 cantilever equipped bikes…Yes, I’m an evil monster! Considering that all current touring bikes have very untouring like geometry I’m keeping that one (and my touring bike based running around town bike and the extra touring bike frame in the attic.)

Consider yourselves warned if rim brakes offend you

Ironfish653

Everyone thinks they’re freaky until the guy with the U-brakes shows up; then it’s just some garden variety vanilla kink.

Nice PAUL’s btw; but what’s going on here? I see a Station badge with what looks like CAAD wishbone stays

Koyote

If you knew me irl, you would understand just how hilarious this is!

But you have So your "experience" isn't worth a damn - by your own admission.

When I was gravel racing in the very hilly Eastern US (typically >100' of climbing per mile), this was a significant advantage of hydraulic disc brakes. Over the course of five years, I was in two gravel races in which riders broke their necks on long and steep descents -- and plenty of other riders got injured in those races. Brakes matter.

+1. In fact, when I roll up and see a dude in Carhartts and a hoodie who is riding a nasty beat-up SS, I figure he's one of the strongest riders in the group. And I'm usually correct.

rsbob 

Coaster brakes only. Everything else is too fussy and a fashion statement.

Leinster

this

I have a (cable) disc brake hard tail and cargo bike. They’re fine. My road bikes all have caliper rim brakes. Some even single pivot. They, too, are fine.

Chuck M 

While I love my disk brake bike, why would it have a bearing on if I were to keep my rim braked bikes?

Leinster

Road vs MTB evolution isn’t really a like for like; MTB didn’t exist as a bike category before 1980, so it only stands to reason that MTB tech would change quicker than road, which has been around for over a century.

Ironfish653

In the 25 years or so since that time you so fondly recall, disks have become pretty much the standard fitment on all but the cheapest of MTBs, hydraulic disks in particular. Besides the potential performance benefits, they also package better on suspension systems, and allow for a bike to potentially run different rim and tire sizes, (especially super wide +plus sizes)

Disks really didn’t start becoming a mainstream option until near the end of the 26er era, and then they were still a costly upgrade.
A lot of the midrange bikes had mounts for both, and there were rim and disc versions sold alongside each other.
It often broke down that the Disc brake Deore LX bike cost almost as much as the V-brake version of the XT bike that was the next step up the model line

Your Surly is an outlier; Surly’s niche is that their frame is an everything bagel; it’s got everything: disk and canti mounts, sliding dropouts and derailleur hangers; you can build it any number of ways, and even with things that normally don’t go together. You can have a fat tire 11-sp bikepacking rig on the weekend and switch it out to a fenders and skinnies single speed to ride to class on Monday. (Or that’s kinda the thinking behind it )

smd4

So my own experience isn’t worth a damn to me?

You’re brilliant.

badger1

It is winter.

Disc brake/rim brake threads have jumped the shark.

It is now official: disc brake/rim brake threads are the new Waving threads.

That is all.

seypat

Aren't you the one who goes through shifter cables so fast you'd buy them in bulk if you could? And, the situation gets worse with each group upgrade? No wonder Shimano is pushing electronic as hard as they are. Once they went to the hidden cable design, the product suffered. They don't care.

datlas 

I get about 3k miles from a RD cable. I don’t know why but must be my shift frequency is higher than average. I have come to peace with this. At least the newer generation shifters make cable change easier.

seypat

To each their own. I detest the long, crunchy throw of a Shimano brake lever shift. You're right though, it'll be searching the net because of Big Bike. It's all a conspiracy.

Ironfish653

Im not talking about the rates of evolution; but that disk/Di2 is the inflection point at which you’re either compatible with the new technology or this is as far as you go.

This is a thing that MTBers are used to. There would always be a point where you wouldn’t be able to upgrade to the latest and greatest, because it was designed for the new bikes, not your old one.
You either enjoy your bike as it is, knowing it’s “maxed out,” or you retire it and move on to a new one

Koyote

It seems odd that someone who acknowledges "admittedly limited experience" with something would then hold such a strong opinion about it.