clackers wrote:And the hydros on my commuter and MTB are even easier. No cable stretch or fraying. No turning dials or barrel adjusters as the pads wear. I've been waiting for when they need bleeding, but it's never happened.
Same, with the hydros on my MTB...
...EXCEPT...
...for the one time they did need bleeding, and I was out in the bush with a disabled bike and absolutely no way to fix it.
That was a frustrating ride. Drove 20km, rode slowly about 4km waiting for the front brake to come good, admitted it wasn't going to, rode slowly 4km back to the car, drove 20km home to my previously unused bleed kit.
Granted, they've been absolutely flawless since then. They just had a bubble in them from the factory, which is apparently not uncommon with Elixirs. But it highlighted to me just how helpless you are if you have issues in the field with hydraulic brakes. They're great when they work, they're extremely reliable so it's unlikely that you'll ever have a problem... but if you do...
I even made it back to the car without rubbing despite a massive wheel buckle courtesy of a big hit on my CX during a dirt descent in the Strzeleckis.
Same. Although it gets a bit interesting riding technical cross-slopes on a wheel that steps out by an inch every rev
Why would I ever go back to rim brakes?
...and that's why, when I bit the bullet and decided to built a custom road bike frame, it was never going to have rim brakes.
tim