Disc Brakes — Hydraulic vs. Mechanical?

[bentbike33]

@huskerdont 160689 wrote:

I had a bit of a brain freeze and confused two of my bikes. The CX bike still has the lousy Promax brakes, so when I upgrade that one, I probably will do either hyros or the Hy/Rd you suggest. (It’s my rain bike that I upgraded to Spyres. They actually work well enough that I won’t re-upgrade them. It’s just that if I don’t keep them adjusted, sometimes I need to augment the rear brake with the front, especially when wet. Not really a problem, but a touch disappointing compared to the BB7s on the MTB.)

I put Spyres on an older bike I converted from road calipers, but the brake levers were Sram MTB levers whose pull length I never officially looked up. I thought the Spyres worked really well. So, when I built up my new bike, I also put on Spyres, but this time I used some old MTB cantilever brake levers I had around, because they were free and light. These levers are definitely short pull as they (barely) predate V-brakes. The Spyres felt mushy on the new bike and needed to be dialed in about weekly (200 miles or so) to avoid bottoming the levers. So I switched the levers to these which can be coverted between long and short pull. In the long-pull setting, the Spyres feel much more solid like on the old bike, so that’s where I left the new levers. I guess this means I have to squeeze the levers harder to get the same level of stopping power as with the short-pull levers, but not so much that I can say I notice it. But then, I don’t tend to ride the brakes on long descents much.

[EasyRider]

@dkel 160706 wrote:

My mechanical discs are not noticeably more efficient for braking than rim brakes I use. Most importantly for me, though, discs are way nicer for commuting because they require far less attention during and after riding in crappy weather: they function more consistently, last longer, and make far less mess in the wet and muck.

Can you recommend pads for the BB7, if that’s what you have? I’ve found that most rim brake pads suck, only Kool-Stops work, and work well they do. Is the same with discs, that all the stock pads mostly suck and everyone buys a replacement that doesn’t?

[bentbike33]

@EasyRider 160708 wrote:

Can you recommend pads for the BB7, if that’s what you have? I’ve found that most rim brake pads suck, only Kool-Stops work, and work well they do. Is the same with discs, that all the stock pads mostly suck and everyone buys a replacement that doesn’t?

I have some Aztec pads for BB7s I can give you as I don’t have the bike with BB7s any more. Send PM if interested.

[hozn]

Stock Avid pads are great. As are Jagwire, Koolstop, etc. The main difference is metallic vs organic (the latter wear faster but are quieter and may offer better feel). I haven’t found much of a difference between pads of the same general type. Main benefit to Aztec etc. is cost.

Rotors make a significant difference. E.g. I think TRPs rotors (at least the older models) are terrible. Avid HS/HSX I like a lot.

[dkel]

@hozn 160715 wrote:

Rotors make a significant difference. E.g. I think TRPs rotors (at least the older models) are terrible. Avid HS/HSX I like a lot.

On one bike I have a set of Spyres with stock TRP rotors and on another bike I have a set of Spyres with Avid HS rotors. I rode those HS rotors with BB7s for thousands of miles, and they were fine, but very noisy; I have only a couple hundred miles with those same old HS rotors paired with Spyres, but so far they are super quiet and work very well. On the bike with the stock TRP rotors, after 1500 miles now I think I have finally lost my patience: there may be an issue with my pads or caliper alignment, but in the last two weeks my front brake has become all but useless. It shudders and is constantly squishy, and won’t stop the bike even on a slight descent; I have to rely on my rear brake on that bike, which still seems to work well for some reason. I’ll investigate pad wear on the front end, but ultimately I may just swap out the TRP rotors for Avid HS anyway, because they work so well on the other bike.

[hozn]

@dkel 160722 wrote:

On one bike I have a set of Spyres with stock TRP rotors and on another bike I have a set of Spyres with Avid HS rotors. I rode those HS rotors with BB7s for thousands of miles, and they were fine, but very noisy; I have only a couple hundred miles with those same old HS rotors paired with Spyres, but so far they are super quiet and work very well. On the bike with the stock TRP rotors, after 1500 miles now I think I have finally lost my patience: there may be an issue with my pads or caliper alignment, but in the last two weeks my front brake has become all but useless. It shudders and is constantly squishy, and won’t stop the bike even on a slight descent; I have to rely on my rear brake on that bike, which still seems to work well for some reason. I’ll investigate pad wear on the front end, but ultimately I may just swap out the TRP rotors for Avid HS anyway, because they work so well on the other bike.

Yeah, shuddering was definitely one of the features of the TRP rotors. They also just didn’t stop as well for me. Check eBay for HS rotors; I found a pair for $12 recently.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@hozn 160726 wrote:

Yeah, shuddering was definitely one of the features of the TRP rotors. They also just didn’t stop as well for me. Check eBay for HS rotors; I found a pair for $12 recently.

Any difference between rotors listed as MTB rotors and road rotors?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@ShawnoftheDread 160737 wrote:

Any difference between rotors listed as MTB rotors and road rotors?

FWIW I bought rotors for my MTB, sold the MTB, then just put the rotors on a new CX wheelset.

[Birru]

@ShawnoftheDread 160737 wrote:

Any difference between rotors listed as MTB rotors and road rotors?

Road disc is relatively new and at least with Shimano the road and MTB rotors are the same (Dura Ace excepted). The biggest difference will be rotor size. Road rotors are usually some mix of 140-160mm whereas going all the way up to 200mm or so might be necessary for say MTB downhill.

[Judd]

@Dan K 160651 wrote:

Greetings All –

Stepping up from my 5 year-old Jamis Coda Sport this Fall. Staying with the Coda (love the steel), upgrading to either the Comp (which has mechanical discs), or the Elite (which has hydraulic discs).

In terms of hydraulics vs. mechanicals, looking for opinions regarding both performance and upkeep (frequency and cost).

Thanks in advance!

Whichever one you go with, don’t pull a Judd and wait 5,200 miles to change your brake pads. Just changed mine tonight.

[Birru]

@Judd 160745 wrote:

Whichever one you go with, don’t pull a Judd and wait 5,200 miles to change your brake pads. Just changed mine tonight.

Damn, dude. If your rotors made it out unscathed color me impressed.

[mstone]

@Birru 160740 wrote:

Road disc is relatively new and at least with Shimano the road and MTB rotors are the same (Dura Ace excepted). The biggest difference will be rotor size. Road rotors are usually some mix of 140-160mm whereas going all the way up to 200mm or so might be necessary for say MTB downhill.

Which, for me, is where road disc goes off the rails–the rotors on road bikes aren’t smaller because physics, they’re smaller because the frames aren’t designed to accommodate larger rotors and because roadies want tiny decorative light rotors. But physics suggests that a road bike running down a steep grade at 30+ MPH needs a lot of brake capacity.

[Birru]

@mstone 160747 wrote:

Which, for me, is where road disc goes off the rails–the rotors on road bikes aren’t smaller because physics, they’re smaller because the frames aren’t designed to accommodate larger rotors and because roadies want tiny decorative light rotors. But physics suggests that a road bike running down a steep grade at 30+ MPH needs a lot of brake capacity.

I don’t know about that. I think weight wheenieness plays a certain role, and beefier frames that can handle higher braking forces are going to be heavier. Like anything I’m sure there are compromises to meet the design goals. My gravel bike is 160mm/160mm and I’ve got more than enough braking power. I know Niner’s post-mount gravel fork can accommodate up to a 180mm rotor, which should be enough braking power for anyone who isn’t sponsored by Red Bull and making jaw-dropping YouTube videos.

[hozn]

Yeah, I do think that 160/160 is prudent, but road descents are also a lot less steep than MTB descents — especially the ones where people fit 200+mm rotors. On the road one can brake hard and release to cool the rotors, but good luck doing that sliding down a mountain on dirt.

Anyway, I have 160/160 on my road and CX bikes and it is plenty of stopping power, even with one hand. But I also rented a bike with Shimano ice tech 140/140 rotors in Switzerland and I did not have the same over-abundance of stopping power that I have on my SRAM bikes. It was sufficient, but if it were my bike — and I lived there — I would have put 160s on there.

Incidentally, until this past season I also ran 160/160 on the MTB which was fine for anything I’d ridden, even with mechanical brakes. I figured I’d upgrade the front to 180, since it’s what the cool kids do. That was probably useful for SM100.

[dkel]

@dkel 160722 wrote:

On the bike with the stock TRP rotors, after 1500 miles now I think I have finally lost my patience: there may be an issue with my pads or caliper alignment, but in the last two weeks my front brake has become all but useless. It shudders and is constantly squishy, and won’t stop the bike even on a slight descent; I have to rely on my rear brake on that bike, which still seems to work well for some reason. I’ll investigate pad wear on the front end, but ultimately I may just swap out the TRP rotors for Avid HS anyway, because they work so well on the other bike.

I worked on this today, and I clearly need new pads on the front end. I’ll do that before I replace the rotors, and see if it fixes my problem. Those HS rotors are tempting, though…

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