8 reasons not to get disc brakes — find out the hassles before you switch

I dislike the noises that my diskbrakes make, the little whine on the rear, and the howl that the front gives  when wet or at the bottom of a descent.  But the noise I really hated on my canti brakes (apart from the screams when badly aligned, mostly on the front) were the grinding noises when in any way wet or muddy, which I knew was the sound of my rims being eatten away.

The last set lasted less than a year of commuting, admittedly a shockingly wet and muddy autumn, winter and spring.

Discs all the way, bleeding is a bit of a faff but not difficult and only needs doing if changing a lever or calipers which is not very often. Perfomance is leaps and bounds better than rim brakes in every situation.

Not sure what rim brake caliper/pad combination you were using, but all my rim brake bikes stop in rain, snow or mud. They don't squeal either. Easy to adjust on the fly as well. Rim brakes are aesthetically nicer.

I find, like you, I don't have any issues with locking up wheels on rim brakes, especially in the wet. 
I have ridden hire bikes with disc brakes and they stop just like rim brakes. Certainly not in any way better, in fact I didn't really notice them after the first couple of hours. 
But it is getting more difficult to buy a new steed with rim brakes unless you go the custom route, which I did two years ago.

Seriously, is this article from 2014?  Author was up against a deadline and had no new  ideas for a topic? And how did they forget "they will cut you to the bone every time you crash?"

Daniel Norton wrote:

At the end of the day, in dry weather (i.e. most rides that normal people participate in), disk brake road bikes are basically slower.

I thought the whole point of brakes was to make a bike slower?

brooksby wrote:

I wouldn't go for disc brakes, after I've finally worked out how to fettle V-brakes to my liking! 

I do like the V-brakes on my ageing MTB though I suppose it's just a matter of time until my rims decide they've had enough of them.

I think road disc brakes really come into their own with carbon wheels - the designers don't need to worry about the braking surface and can just go for strength and aerodynamics.

why do you use disc brakes on the tourer, if rim brakes give equal performance, and with the benefits you list, why would you accept worse brakes?

A salutary warning but as you suggest in the last paragraph it seems to be much more to do with exceeding the weight limit for the wheelset; even good quality gravel wheels often have a max weight limit of around 120kgs, cheap ones will be much lower. I'd suggest that the same rim with a disc brake hub would probably do the same. I helped a heavier friend a while ago source tandem wheels for his bike and they have worked perfectly for him (with rim brakes). Still, discs are definitely the best option for in-wheel-motor ebikes as they spin up a lot more torque than most riders can put through the system.

I am surprised that Shimano Giant took a product to market with an unfixable problem.  FTFY.

Did you complain this much when your favourite frame suppliers replaced center pull for side pulls?  Or when V-brakes replaced canti's?  

Life moves on - so should you.

Manufactures and shops need to make money.  Chances are when you see something massively discounted its the rim braked model.  They just dont sell anymore.

doubt they know.

in wet conditions disc brakes perform so much better than rims and here is a person claiming the opposite >.>

Sounds like you are enjoying well sorted brakes (rim brakes not squealing) better than poorly sorted brakes (squealing disc brakes). Who doesn't?

totally agree, my disk brakes can be as noisy as they like,though sintered pads quiets them down alot, because that grinding metal noise the rim brakes make during the winter months are my wheels slowly self destructing. my next commuter bike will be mechanical disk brakes for sure as it just cuts the hassle of constant rim block maintenance for 6 months of the year.

I agree. If You exceed the weight limit and add wear to the rim it's bound to fail. Running 2.0 tyres at 60 to 70 psi probably doesn't help much either.

Ryde Andra 30 or 40 rims take it all in their stride though.

No, I'm only 39, 😂

I've only had to live through the transition from V-brakes to disc brakes on MTBs, which at least made significantly more sense from a braking power/arm pump point of view (I remember trying the Ft William World Cup DH track with V-Brakes)

V-brakes and cantis are interchangeable so that's irrelevant, and you can still buy high quality cantis quite easily.

But I'm Ill qualified to try and rebut your last argument which seems to boil down to 'capitalism'. Don't want to be branded some sort of pinko commie just because I don't like squeaky brakes 😂

Wish it were so, my disc brakes are as well set up, cleaned, adjusted and bedded in as possible, and I'm no newbie to discs having ridden and raced mountainbikes for more than 10 years.

Discs just seem inherently prone to squealing in wet cold conditions. Am happy to accept it's some combo of my weight and frame size that's maybe contributing to increased resonance or something, but I had to give up spending money on new pads, rotors and even different manufacturers of brake (SRAM, TRP and Shimano) as they were all the same in those conditions.

I await the brave journalist or manufacturer who acknowledges the issue and attempts to offer a solution, perhaps a system which offers enough space behind the pads to allow a layer of automotive anti-squeal tape, I tried it but even TRP Spyres didn't have enough adjustment to squeeze it in.

Some of the comments on here beggar belief; you don't have to like/use discs, but they ARE just better. Offering consistent braking in all weathers. So they may squeak in the wet. So what? 

And I say that as someone who has just bought a 2019 TCR Advanced, with rim brakes; but that is for summer/dry conditions. Any sign of rain/wet and the disc braked bike comes out.

"Disc brakes - unnecessary hassle with virtually little improvement in braking - in the wet."

Try reading with understanding!

I have Kool stop salmon pads on another rim brake bike and they

are as good as my Ultegra hydraulic disc brake bike. 

NZ Vegan Rider wrote:

Disc brakes - unnecessary hassle with virtually little improvement in braking - in the wet.

I have a hydaulic disc brake Winter bike. It would be fine if it was rim braked like my other bikes.

Have to say my experience is the complete opposite. Disc brakes in the wet are far superior than rim IMHO.

That's not to say that rim brakes don't work OK in the wet depending on your rim / pad combination it's just that IME discs are better.

Because noise is a sign of mechanical ineptitude.  Noise is dumb.  Noise is how a lorry with drum brakes sounds.  Noise is the worst thing in the world, if I want my mutil thousand dollar high performance machine to sound like I purchased it from some big box store and had it assembled there, I might as well purchase one there.  I don't tolerate the brakes squealing in my car, why would I tolerate it on something I purchased for pure enjoyment.  I paid my money for my bike and it is MY requirement that my bike does not sound like some old piece of construction equipment, AND, the rim brakes I have been riding have been proven for multiple decades to be just fine.  So I lose a little wet perfomance.  Been cycling in the wet for 45 years, I think I know how to handle it, especiallly since I am not being paid to ride my bike.  Why is choice bad?  I want rim brakes, you want disc so what each to their own.

fixit wrote:

1:and?

2: correct setup and maintenance eliminates brake rub, period..

3: disk brakes are known to be aerodynamically efficient because frame builders can make frames aerodynamically efficient BECAUSE of the presence of disk brakes

4: choosing pads? Come on, it is not health insurance plan to choose! There is one type that fits your calipers, you know it, you buy every time, thats it.

5: yes you have to bed them in but that is not rocket science, a few brake pulls during ride will bring them to adequate shape, and after a couple of rides in full shape.

6: yes, you need some skills, as with everything on modern bicycles. You will gain some level of wisdom too..

7: they will squeal, maybe, (mines don't, I don't know about yours) but they will brake! Rain snow, you name it. Regular brakes? Oh noooo...

8: yes they will, thank God! Imagine that your rims wear! Oh wait...

Disk brakes decelarate better and linearly that rim brakes, pads wear out faster on hilly and mountainous areas than rim brakes, the do brake when wet, they are more prone to overheating, they are more expensive, they have cleaner cooler looks, they help wheel manufacturers build better and stronger wheels that look cool too, and at the end of the day, they help us move forward into the 21 century cycling.

How anyone can say they look better is staggering.  This design is just hideous.

Like most things in life, there are good and bad versions of everything.  My Giant Propel has fantastic rim brakes, easily enough power to stop me dead in the dry.  When I bought the bike, a disc braked version didn't exist, but it would have cost more and would have meant going without something else on the bike.  Probably 105 instead of Ultegra, and I am more than happy with the rim brakes it has and Ultegra.

timtak wrote:

I find that tyre to road traction is the limiting factor when braking -- I can make myself skid with my rim brakes -- especially in the wet, 

Rear wheel skid or front wheel lock up? I suspect the rear, because a front wheel skid normally results in a crash. I assume you are aware that weight shifts forward when braking, and this is even more significant when going downhill.

I have never accidentally locked up the front wheel on tarmac, I have frequently wished for better braking in the wet from bikes with rim brakes.

I think that is an important point.  Discs are great, but are not something you can upgrade to without buying a whole new bike.  I'd not buy a new bike without them, but I would not buy a new bike just to get them. 

For this reason, it seems a bit short-sighted for manufacturers (looking at you Shimano) to have thrown in the towel on rim brake wheels and groupsets.

I agree with noise and disc brakes. Who needs a bell? A touch of the brake levers and my MTB sounds like a 10 ton gravel truck making a panic stop. Pedestrians jump out of the way in panic.

Personally I think they are aesthetically nicer on and compliment the organic curves of composite framed bikes or those with large section profile tubing. Certainly anything with composite rims, it's a no brainer to go down the disc route.

Skinny, straight steel however? I'd probably stick with the old fashioned style of rim brakes and performance be damned.

That's a question of maintenance rather than kit. I've got rim brakes that squeal and discs that don't. My rim brakes need some attention.

Well change it then

Daniel Norton wrote:

At the end of the day, in dry weather (i.e. most rides that normal people participate in),

Talking from my own point of view (and as someone who has not - yet - got a bike with disc brakes) you've lost me there.  Certainly pre-pandemic, most of my cycling was my 14 mile e/w daily commute - so a lot of my cycling would be in wet weather, and I certainly couldn't pick and choose.  

There seem to me to be two big advantages to disc brakes for the average rider - better braking in the wet, and longer life for your wheels.  These seem pretty big advantages to me, and that's why I'm buying a bike with them.

I do, however, tend to agree that the advantages for the pros seem less clear.

I agree entirely. I have never had braking issues on my rim brake road bikes. They are so easy to maintain, too. I have discs on my gravel bike, which are great for off-road. But.... they are a pain to maintain by comparison and highly prone to damage in transport. Pro teams use them as much because their bike sponsors require them to as for better braking. Huge compatibility issues with neutral service and slower wheel changes. There is no need for the average roadie to have discs except to follow the fashion.