Situation:
I know my way around bikes usually. I can fix a lot myself, I know how to build a wheel. I have tools to repair almost everything on any bike I own. All bikes me and my partner own however, are simple. Mechanical rims brakes, all derailleur and chain setups, no geared hubs, no belt drive, no proprietary parts, etc.
Thus, I do NOT have any first hand experience with disc brakes, not mechanical ones, not hydraulic or even hybrid ones.
Question / Issue:
I am currently looking into purchasing all the parts needed to build a Brother Kepler. I got to a point I just do not know what I can expect.
So can somebody who does travel a lot for longer periods (say half a year non-stop) give me an idea what to expect with both of these types of disc brakes?
Being a person who is stuck with gear that has been reliable for decades now I struggle with the concept of reliability of things I do not know.
An issue that often comes to mind is a failing hydraulic system for whatever reason in a remote area (think North African desert or Kyrgyzstan). In this example, nothing can be easily fixed on the go.
In contrast a mechanical brake such as a cantilever one, can easily be fixed within a couple of minutes with no special tools and with very few parts. That is – in my opinion – a huge plus.
How do people deal with failing hydraulics in areas like these?
Does a mechanical disc brake solve all these issues?
*pic related, that's how I feel right now
by stasigoreng
15 Comments
Following !
I would not do a long tour with hydraulic brakes.
I had mechanical TRP Spyre brakes on a bike for years and never had a single issue with them of any kind except pad wear, which is normal.
If you are afraid of failure, take good mechanical brakes like TRP Spyre. I toured a lot with them and I don’t see much difference to mid class hydraulic brakes for loaded bicycles.
PS. I don’t recommend BB7 due to the requirement of frequent adjustments
I love rim brakes
hydraulic disc all the way. yes you need “spetial” tools to repair them but they just do not brake. if a disk wears out its 6 allen keys pads pliers and a flatblade. i never touched any hydraulic fluid in many thousand km.
mecahnical disks have way more issues. its not that they can be fixed but they have to be fixed all the time.
I dont know.
I understand your concern. But I never had any issue with hydraulics and the better performance in all circumstances is nice to have. The real issue here used to be that mechanical disc brakes used to be complete shit. Nowadays, there are pretty decent ones out there so I think going that route is your best bet. Take a few extra brakepads and a disc true-er(no clue how you call it in english) with you and you’ll be set.
Is that Bilbo Baggins?
I’ve done several long tours (~3 months each) with both. Originally with rim brakes and for the last few years with hydraulic disc brakes. I’d never go back to rim brakes. It’s the only “luxury” I insist on in bikes.
The thing with hydraulic brakes is, they seem complicated at first, however they basically just work. You can do thousands of kilometres without ever having to do any servicing or adjustments. They are super reliable and so much easier to travel with than cable brakes. The only thing you might need to do during long tours is swapping the brake pads out, but that’s quick and easy to do.
The other great thing is, unless something goes catastrophically wrong, the chance of which is near zero, hydraulic brakes keep working for a long time when you first start them going off. E.g. if your brake fluid is dirty or low, the brakes just work slightly less well. You can still go for weeks, maybe months, before you really need to get them fixed. In that time you’ll have come across lots of repair shops where you can quickly get them to bleed the brakes.
I can’t help with hydro brake experience either, but i just set up a canti brake to very much the same performance.
I didn’t think it was possible, but over the years i have gained a lot of experience with cantilever brakes to know exactly what the geometry of handlebar levers, yoke angle, brake arms etc do to the mechanical advantage. While out of the box v-brakes are often stronger, the magic of cantis is that they can be set up to be more powerful than v-brakes when optimizing for maximum MA.
I now know it is absolutely possible to set up rim brakes with extremely high MA to get the same single finger over the handlebar action as a hydro disc brake.
The downside is that the pad to rim distance is very low and requires very true rims and the dead travel on the handlebar lever is quite a bit before it hits. Also the yoke height is low, so it might interfere with fenders. You can modulate just fine but it almost squeezes the lever to the bar. But other than that, it is very usable. If you are interested to know how exactly the brakes have to be set up to allow disc like stopping power, i can elaborate with details and pictures.
I crossed Canada on cantilever brakes and I sure wish I had had mechanical disc brakes. They are just more powerful.
I now have both mechanical and hydrolic disc brakes. Much better when fully loaded.
I think for long trips mechanical disc is the best call. Adjustments and field repair is just much simpler.
Maybe carry a spare cable in case (i snapped a shifter cable and had trouble sourcing one out in the middle of the prairies).
I’ve been Mtn biking and with hydraulic brakes for about 20 years, and I’ve watched my bike cartwheel into the bushes more times than I can count. I’ve broken wheels, shift levers, handlebars, crank arms, shocks, derailleurs, and just about everything else… except hydraulic brakes.
Bleed them once every couple years and you’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about.
Edit to add I have Avid mechanical disk brakes on my commuter and hydraulic disk brakes on my touring bike. The hydraulic brakes are so, so much better I would never consider buying mechanical disk brakes again.
Are you planning to travel in remote areas for long periods, far from towns and bike shops? If yes then go mechanical, it will honestly save you headaches in the event of any issues. I travel for a few months in South America with some Avid BB7 mechanical brakes and I was very happy with them. Yes they are fiddly to adjust but they work well.
Yes hydraulic is more powerful etc, but I for one would not want to be messing around with mineral oil or dot fluid trying to bleed my brakes at the top of a huge descent.
Define long, but if it’s a really long trip, 1000s kms and in the wilderness then cable is very reliable and easy to fix, but I’m not going to do those trips so I stick to hydraulic brakes, which are way nicer.
I have done multi-month tours with rim brakes, mechanical and hydraulic disks. Cantilevers suck, I replaced my 1990 cantis with nice V-brakes (Avid something) plus good pads and they are good. Worse in the rain, but if you know its fine. On my new bike, I wanted mechanical disk (TRP Spyke) and they are good too, but require more adjustment than I would like. Before my longest trip, Europe to India via Pamir and Karakorum, I replaced them with hydraulics (Shimano SLX) and they brake better and need no adjustment. I have never had any series issues with any brake, whether in eastern european mud, the washboard “roads” of the Pamirs or on the roof of Pakistani minibuses.
My money would be on hydraulics (Shimano midrange, nothing fancy).
If the question is about field repairs in a remote area, I’d say forget about it with hydraulics. It’s not that bleeding is hard, it’s that doing it without shop facilities and having to lug the bleed kit and extra fluid around isn’t practical. And while yes, plenty of people don’t have problems with hydros, when you do have a problem it’s usually a seal and you’re going to be largely unable to field repair that.
This isn’t about performance, it’s about the fact that on a long African or Caucasian tour you will have to bring all service parts yourself and are faced with the possibility of a mechanical (even if they’re rare they aren’t impossible) being of a non-serviceable part. Mechanical discs require cables, pads, and maybe the right hex wrench to adjust those pads.
TL;DR: If you’re actually doing remote touring it’s not even a question, mechanical discs.