I miss rim brakes! There, I said it...

[Matt14]

After what can only be described as a faff, I wanted to regrease the headset on my fully integrated road bike, a Handsling A1R0 evo (a brilliant race machine) but in the process of trying to lift the stem off the steerer only to find the front disc brake caliper needs removing from the fork to get some sort of leeway to complete the headset service.

Not to mention having to be so careful to not kink the brake hose through the internal routing curves that just about work.

Now I'm fully competent servicing a bike, I've worked with bikes long enough both in shops and various parts of the industry to know what I'm doing.

So why is it that when I go to remount the disc brake caliper does it never go back on the way it was. Now with the irritating "ting" as the rotor brushes the pad. It didn't do it before I removed the caliper and the rotor was bent between the caliper being removed and reinstalled.

Do I get a performance benefit from disc brakes? No not really.
Are they more aerodynmic? Despite what the folks in marketing say, no.
Are they heavier? Yes
Are they more hassle than they're worth? Yes.

This just leaves me to say: I miss rim brakes and I want them back.

[openwheelracing]

Amen

[spdntrxi]

rim brake bikes are still available... purchase away.

[TobinHatesYou]

In the last thread I said a few weeks before another thread gets made. I was so wrong.

[GregR]

[GregR]

In the last thread I said a few weeks before another thread gets made. I was so wrong.

[openwheelracing]

Barely any to choose from. They get scooped up faster than anything out there. Plenty of disc brake bikes coming though.

[spdntrxi]

Barely any to choose from. They get scooped up faster than anything out there. Plenty of disc brake bikes coming though.

in cuba maybe..

[warthog101]

I am sure there are people who miss penny farthings too.
Thankfully the forum doesn't have a new thread on that subject every few days though.

[tomato]

In the last thread I said a few weeks before another thread gets made. I was so wrong.

Didn't even make it 72 hours ...

[tiz92]

I had rims, now I tried discs, I will go back to rims for the next bike again. Chinese frame and chinese wheels with ultegra di2. Spend less, be faster and nicer to work on.

[Dan112]

I ended up going to rim brakes I won't say going back as the rim TCR was my first ever rim brake road bike. Previously owning a disc TCR pictured and a cube attain disc.

I'm definitely not new to disc bikes 15 years on mtbs and trial disc bikes but on the road bike in my experience anyway far to overkill.

In the winter months I use a set of shamals with BXP pads and I've never had any issues thinking I need better brskes, in the summer months I have a set of boras and the braking is excellent.

I never suffered with rubbing brakes but did suffer an internal leak when the master cylinder, failed on a fast descent after that experience which almost killed me I fell out of love with the bike and sold it.

Going to rim brakes and it being my first rim brake road bike, I honestly don't see all this hype with discs. What I found really noticeable the 2 TCRs ride very different. The rim one feels more snappy and just wants to go. The disc one felt pretty rigid and just not as nice to ride.

Both bikes where set up off a professional fit with same saddle and bars, however 2 totally different bikes imo.

[theovcak]

I ride disc now, as there was no other option when I needed the bike (time pressure). I mean, neither discs or rim brakes will make a real world difference in your performance, they are just too small to the complete system of bike+rider.

But there are just more than few things, albeit marginal, that make me prefer rim brakes by far. They are cheaper, so either you save money or you can get for the equivalent costs better wheels or more aero jersey, which both will make for a faster ride. The carbon construction of the fork is different as it needs to transfer loads differently, I dare to consider rim brake ones superior in comfort, but that is my, very subjective and not empirically tested opinion. They are lighter. Won't pedal instead of you to the Ventoux, but it is few hundred grams, consider, how expensive is to save that weight elsewhere. Ease of maintenance. Modern rims also brake very well even in wet and use better heat resistant resins than years ago. Even small details like having fever spokes esp. on the front wheel help to reduce weight and air resistance. Also QR vs thru axles.

I would maybe go for discs had I lived in the Alps with really long descents, mostly to save expensive carbon rims from degradation, but for general rolling terrain or aero bikes, rim brakes for the win. For me, as in the reality, they lost years ago.

[ryanw]

Now I'm fully competent servicing a bike, I've worked with bikes long enough both in shops and various parts of the industry to know what I'm doing.

So why is it that when I go to remount the disc brake caliper does it never go back on the way it was. Now with the irritating "ting" as the rotor brushes the pad.

Competent mechanic who can't centre a calliper. Yep. Ok.

Assume you no longer work with bikes?

[Matt14]

Now I'm fully competent servicing a bike, I've worked with bikes long enough both in shops and various parts of the industry to know what I'm doing.

So why is it that when I go to remount the disc brake caliper does it never go back on the way it was. Now with the irritating "ting" as the rotor brushes the pad.

Competent mechanic who can't centre a calliper. Yep. Ok.

Assume you no longer work with bikes?

No need to be rude.

I'm trying to refer to the extra faff involved in wanting to do what used to be such a simple job.

All the integration and pushing hose round cables it barely wants to go round not to mention the fact that hoses go through the bearings so you need to disconnect your hoses and rebleed the system just to replace the bearings. And if you want to service them you need to remove the caliper and then attempt to align it back up without the rub on a set of mounts that probably needed refacing using park tools refacing tool because the bike industries QC may as well be non existent.

Yours truly,
An engineer.