PeteHski

I don’t think anybody has a problem with you liking rim brakes. It’s the uninformed drivel you insist on writing about disc brakes that people complain about.

You always seem to pop up on threads about modern tech like disc brakes, electronic shifting for no other reason but to deride it.

If I don’t like something and I have no interest or experience of it then I don’t see any point in commenting. What’s your point in this discussion?

smd4

Uh-huh. How do you stand on Brussels sprout posts?

smd4

Except regarding my posts, apparently.

Eric F 

You're missing the point. No one is saying you should change your opinion. Commenting that a disc brake maintenance issue has "dissuaded" you from disc brakes is disingenuous. Your opinion was already made up a long time ago.

Eric F 

That sounds delicious...except for the Brussels sprout part. There are other foods that I have grown to love, like, and tolerate over the years. Brussels sprouts aren't one of them. That opinion is unwavering.

tomato coupe

I heard the head of Shimano was "dissuaded" from putting SRAM on his personal bike when he read that SRAM brakes use DOT fluid.

cyccommute 

How about an opinion from someone who doesn’t have confirmational bias and works hard not to fall into that trap? If someone told me that disc brakes are “no hassle”, I most certainly would ignore them or argue against their point as I have is this thread. There is a lot different information that you need to know to make them work correctly. You have to consider adapter sizes…which are often not clear which adapter is needed for which rotor. There’s also the rotor size to consider. There are also about 300 different brake pad configurations that need to be considered…far more than rim brakes, for example, use by about 300 times. Lever type and lever throw, frame mount type, etc. They are more complicated because they are far less standardized than other brakes.

Add in the bleed issue of hydraulics and the complication increases several fold. Add to that the different fluid systems and complication is increased even more. Add in hose changes and/or length adjustments and it becomes extremely hard to say that disc brakes have “no hassles”.

Personally, I don’t like bleeding the damn things because it is messy, time consuming, and fraught with places where the whole process can go wrong and needs to be repeated. I recently was involved in a new brake install of a set of brand new Shimano 105 road levers that took 2 hours with multiple attempts to bleed that didn’t work. There was a leak that may have be caused by a tear in a diaphragm. We are sure because we could find the area of the leak but couldn’t see any tears in the diaphragm after disassembly. Other bleeds I’ve done certainly aren’t simple, hassle free, nor quick.

I’ve worked with discs…both hydraulic and mechanical. I have had them on multiple bikes. I would never say they are “hassle free”. Nor would I say that they are particularly more effective.

If you are going to throw “comfirmational bias” at other people, you should check your own at the door. I’ve been doing off-road “technical alpine descents” since 1984. I did them with cantilevers. I’ve been doing high speed “technical alpine descents” on roads for nearly 10 years before that. I’ve never found the latest and greatest brake technology to be all that much different in terms of effectiveness over cantilevers. I still do loaded touring bike high speed “technical alpine descents” with cantilevers. They work just like disc do. Neither one is superior in my opinion. Braking is less about the mechanism than it is about the way you use the mechanism. Most people know crap about braking to begin with.

Again, let’s be realistic about hydraulic brakes and brake bleeding. If it is something that you feel the need to “take it to the bike shop” to do maintenance, it’s not that simple a procedure. I know that lots of people take their bikes to shops to have tires fixed but I can at least teach them how to do a tire fix in a few minutes. I can’t teach someone how to bleed brakes in a few minutes.

As to pad wear, I honestly don’t know what you do to go through a set of any kind of pad in a week. I have thousands of miles of loaded 4x4 road touring on my discs and have yet to wear out a set of disc pads. I have thousands of mountainous miles of loaded touring on rubber rim pads and seldom wear them out. I agree that changing pads is fairly simple for disc…both hydraulic and mechanical…but I just don’t understand how they need to be changed weekly or even yearly.

smd4

It's EXACTLY what some people are saying.

cyccommute 

Again, as someone who has actually done maintenance on hydraulic disc brakes, the maintenance issue is what dissuaded me from using hydraulics.

The touchiness of the brakes didn’t do much for me either. Hydraulics are the only brake I have ever had to really think about while using them. I never experienced the oft claimed “superior modulation” of hydraulics. “Modulation” to me means being able to apply a little bit of brake or a lot and everything in between. Hydraulics have always been an on/off affair for me.

tomato coupe

It sounds like hydraulic disc brakes aren't for you. Maybe hydraulic brake fans find them tolerable because they have more manual dexterity?

PeteHski

I don’t need any confirmation. Like you I’ve got many years of experience with all types of brakes. Your experiences are somewhat different to mine, but I’m not going to argue about that.

PeteHski

I have both experience and interest in the things you were deriding in your posts. That’s why I commented. I only post on things I either know something about or have an interest to learn more about.

big john

After the first few posts where the question was answered and the OP expressed thanks, the Brussels sprouts are the best part of yet another thread that has devolved into rim vs disc, or anti hydraulic disc, at least.

smd4

What "things" have I "derided?" Pete, Pete, Pete. You may not have confirmation bias, but you are delusional.

I made my first post on page 5, when I simply wrote "You forgot ugly and inelegant." An opinion I still have. And that's it. You really think my personal opinions about the looks of disc brakes is deriding?

Wow.

PeteHski

You have derided Disc brakes and other modern bike tech many times and in many threads. All without any personal experience. I’m not exactly the only poster to have noticed this.

smd4

I have personal experience using them. I don't like them. What's the damn problem?

tomato coupe

That's pretty much the definition of "deride":

smd4

I think you guys are just overly sensitive.

It'll be OK. I promise. Your brakes don't really care what mean ol' smd4 thinks about them.

tomato coupe

I don't really care what you say, but you look pretty foolish trying to claim you didn't deride something when you quote the post where you actually did deride it.

rsbob 

Now who ever said, “Never say never”?

smd4

I don't see it as derision. I'm not that sensitive. Saying something is ugly or inelegant is in no way expressing ridicule or contempt. It's an OPINION. Something only people on the right team are allowed to have.

elcruxio

It's ironic that you call out others for being too sensitive while you're the one pulling a hissy fit when your opinions are challenged.

I think there's a word for situations like these. Mirroring? No that's not it.. Reflexing? Nah, that's not it either. Deflating? It'll come to me.

tomato coupe

Of course you don't.

smd4

Hissy fit? Hyperbole much?

Again with the wanting me to change my opinion to conform? When will it end!?

elcruxio

What would you call it?

No one here has wanted to change your opinion. The fact that you feel posters here have tried to make your opinions conform is worrying..