Campagnolo disc brakes - noisy or not? powerful enough?

[Alexandrumarian]

Let's gather some real-world reviews here. I've seen some people complaining about wet noise. Also a couple stating they are weak. Could it be poor bleeding? I've demoed sram 12s which were obviously poorly bled, having a long and weak lever throw - felt like average rim brakes at best. I've demoed Ultegra which felt excellent. My own XT mtb brakes are excellent, never heard squeals but I've never been in a downpour, just crossed mountain waters or been caked with mud.

[audiojan]

There's definitely something wrong in how they were installed... We have Campy disc brakes on two different brakes and they are easily the best disc brakes (and overall brakes), I have ever used. Outperform Shimano by a margin.

I bet they weren't bled fully.

[morrisond]

There's definitely something wrong in how they were installed... We have Campy disc brakes on two different brakes and they are easily the best disc brakes (and overall brakes), I have ever used. Outperform Shimano by a margin.

I bet they weren't bled fully.

I'll second this.

They are fantastic - i've had Shimano and SRAM as well.

All can make some noise to some degree - especially when cold - if you havent used them for a bit it's almost like they oxidize - or if rain or temp's get them really cold - but any noise will disappear after one or two applications.

No differnet than Rim brakes that can squeal when cold.

[romanmoser]

did test ride a bike ( sarto with campy disc )
loved it , would have a disc campy bike if I had enough monney

[Miller]

I've got two years with Campag disc. They're the best brakes I've ever used, powerful, great modulation, light action. They're very good for applying exact amounts of braking to get through a corner nicely.

Not always silent though. Two circumstances that can lead to shriekiness in my setup:
- being a bit wet, but if the ride continues wet, they get quiet again
- dry rides that are dusty.

People say 'contamination' about brake noise, I just think that's how disk brakes are.

[hkgmatt]

I've just received my first bike with Campagnolo Record disc, coming from Dura Ace and Ultegra disc builds. I agree that Campagnolo discs feel MUCH better than Shimano, much easier to modulate and hence smoother, quieter, and the rotor deforms less. As mentioned above they can get noisy as well, but less so than my Shimanos.

[c60rider]

Been using Campag disc brakes on my wet weather bike for a few months now. I have another thread on the issues I had building that up but in even damp conditions where any tiny amount of water gets on the discs then the noise is horrendous in my experience. Yes they've been bedded in numerous times but it's made no difference. Using Swissstop RS pads as recommended on my thread by another user dramatically reduced noise to minimal in damp roads with puddles but if it's wet, and I'm talking soaking and raining, then they were still quite screachy in those conditions but still better than the Campag pads. As Graeme F-K commented on my thread quiet disc brakes in the wet are the holy grail. The other issue I had with them in soaking wet conditions is that water is constantly being splashed up onto the discs and you get that almost continous gritty/scraping noise between the pad and disc because the gap is so tiny. A quick dab on the brake and it clears it for a few seconds then it's back. It's an almost constant presence in wet conditions and I really don't like that. Braking power is very little different between alloy rim brakes (and carbon rims in the dry) and I believe it's a perceived difference purely because of the lighter brake lever feel. You can generate more power with less hand effort on discs, so if that's important for you then that's great but it isn't for me, but overall stopping power there appears little difference in my experience of several months of use. There are no professionals that are complaining that crashes are being caused by disc brake riders being able to brake harder and faster than rim brake users.