Comedian wrote:Duck! wrote:Comedian wrote:
That's the guy who works for a bike shop that wants you to pay him to fix your brakes.
I've said plenty of times before, and will repeat again, 'cos you seem unable to comprehend,
rim brakes need MORE maintenance!!!
Comparison of brake service, which I do on a daily basis....
Rim brake bike:
Check pad wear. If low, replace pads. If OK, pick bits of grit out of pads. File pad surface to remove glazing & other finer gritty bits. Check cables for fraying, rusting, excessive friction. If frayed or corroded, replace cables. If OK, lubricate cables. Check caliper pivots for excess friction/binding. Disassemble, clean and lubricate pivots as necessary. Check rims for wear. If bad, advise customer that new rim + rebuild, or new wheel is required. Adjust pad toe-in. Adlust contact height on rim. Adjust cables for proper contact stroke. If new cables, stretch and adjust (section relating to cables equally valid for mechanical discs).
Disc brake (esp. hydro) bike:
Check pad wear. If low, replace pads and push pistons back to reset clearance. If OK, scuff on sandpaper to remove surface glazing. Refit pads. Check rotor wear. If too thin, replace rotors. If good, leave alone. Check caliper alignment over rotor. Check brake pressure, bleed if spongy or if fluid expansion has reduced stroke..
Three lines for disc brake service vs six lines for rim brake. And you tell me disc brakes need more maintenance.
Let's see how long the queue is when disc brake bikes make up more than a tiny fraction of the number of bikes out there.
And you left off the bit where a hydro seal leaks... and it all gets messy.. or you had to change the rear calliper on a bike with internally routed hoses... You left off what happened if the master cylinder needs replacing in the shifter...
All the issues that will start arising when the bikes are more than 12 months old..
Changing the hydro fluid for disc brakes is dead easy, no more difficult that re-cabling rim brakes.
A few things I will say that have frustrated me with disc brakes are:
1. the problems with getting dirty pads/dirty rotors resulting in squealing when you apply the brakes - I've cleaned the rotors with industrial disc cleaner, tried sanding/wire brushing the glaze off the pads, even tried burning them over a gas stove to remove all traces of dirt, but it always comes back which means that I've had to replace a few pads in the past few months, which leads me to...
2. the cost of replacement pads - significantly more than buying rim blocks, although you'd expect that price to drop as they become more common which will hopefully address...
3. the lack of a standard for brake pads - there are so many variations out there which probably contributes to problem 2
On the whole, I love my disc brakes, the performance increase is huge, particularly in the wet, and the ability to run carbon rims without fear of grinding them away every time I brake is a huge win. For those complaining about the aesthetics of traditional rim brakes, a lovely, clean, untarnished set of carbon rims is even better looking!