Question: Technical Tom told me the other day that I should get disc brakes for my bike. Should I and why? Answer: Disc brakes are arguably the biggest technical change in biking over the last 10 years. Basically, everything else has stayed the same for years. That said, our answer is: it depends.
Disc brakes were first implemented on mountain bikes, which definitely benefit from their superior braking power. Anyone who rides on our steep North Shore mountain trails in a downpour will totally appreciate what I am saying. They are better for mountain bikes for sure. That is, if you use your bike for mountain biking. We use our bikes for riding around to work, to yoga, to shop, to go sailing, etc. You get the picture.
If you ride an electric bike, disc brakes are almost imperative. The greater weight and speed of these bikes will chew through rim brakes like crazy, so most e-bikes come with disc brakes. However, that's another knock against disc brakes, as they're heavier than rim brakes. So how does a person decide? One huge advantage that disc brakes have over rim is that they don't wear out your rims. Coming into winter bike season, we cringe every time we ride down Chesterfield with rim brakes. The sound that emits from them when the rims are covered with mud is like listening to Metallica with no words (sorry metal heads). It makes our teeth hurt. We know we are just stripping a layer of metal away from our rims. We commute by bike and have to replace our rims every third year or so. Earlier, if we go on a tour as well. The cost of wheel replacements over time exceeds the price of (mid-level) disc brakes after the first replacement set. So, it would seem like disc brakes are the right way to go just based on price.
On the other hand, disc brakes do complicate things on the bike. For one, they make it next to impossible to use our favorite kickstand, since it attaches right where the brake housing is mounted. Also the front disc gets in the way of panniers. The other major hassle with disc brakes, for us anyway, is that they always seem to rub. The problem is that the pads need to be pretty close to the rotor, and yet the rotor seldom seems to be perfectly true. So, you get rubbing, which drives us crazy. But, then we sometimes get that terrible squealing sound with rim brakes too so maybe that's a draw.
People say that disc brake pads become useless if you get oil on them. Well, how often is that going to happen? I mean if you get oil on rim brake pads, they probably aren't that useful either. Though with disc brakes, the disc rotor is smaller than a rim, so they can heat up more quickly. On long descents, a hot rotor can heat up the hub, which can be bad for the bearings inside.
But, the biggest problem we have with disc brakes is they can become damaged. If we are in the middle of nowhere (which seems we often are) we can't really fix disc brakes ourselves.
We'll need a part that we don't have, a tool that we don't have and mechanical knowledge that we don't have. We can fix almost anything that might go wrong with our standard rim brakes. We have the tools and can carry the parts.
Sigh. Rim brakes are perfectly fine. We just wish we had the disc brakes like all the cool kids.
The Pedal Pushers are Dan Campbell, Antje Wahl, Anita Leonhard and Heather Drugge, four North Shore residents who use their bikes for transportation. [email protected]
