Those of you that commute everyday in all weathers (preferably proper “northern all weather”) what is your experience of disc brakes.

I have ridden a ss mountainbike with v brakes for years and was thinking of building a new commuter. I thought discs would be nice, no rim wear (the main reason my wheels need replacing) no adjustment once set up and powerful all weather brake performance.

But rim brakes are ok most of the time, much cheaper, don’t sieze up if left unwashed after riding on gritted roads. I normally strip and rebuild my bike in spring and once I’ve had to change the v brake calipers. for £15 that is not too bad but if it was a £50 BB7 less good.

Also there are many more rim brake frames available. I’d be looking at a ss cross style bike to allow me to take on some more interesting extended commutes as well as run proper full length mudguards.

So do you disc?

Always – usually BB7s, sometimes Shimano hydros.

I find that any disks get a bit of a squeel on after a bout of in-town commuting. This can be fixed by getting them really hot once in a while (steep hill, pedal like a loon, brake at the same time).

I used them all through the winter (cycling was often the only way of getting to work), salt roads and all. Just give them a wee hose down on occasion.

10 months commuting on BB7s on my CX bike with no problems.

I once was unable to stop at the bottom of a steep tarmac hill at a set of lights in heavy rain with V-brakes. I had to swerve around the car sat at the lights and pull alongside it to avoid running into the back of it.

99% of the time V-brakes will be fine, but if you have steep wet descents, a disc on the front might just be pretty useful.

You could also go disc front, V and canti rear to keep costs down? I guess you are looking at Pompinos, Day Ones etc, and there is no reason why you couldn’t bung on a cheap disc fork (Pompetamine fork on a Pompino for example)?

My roadrat has discs as I often need to do alot of sharp downhill stops on my commute and my old commuters V brakes were scary when wet. I had the seals go on 1 magura winter before last when it was below -10 on the way in (all DH), so put deore on as a replacement. Apart from that freak winter they have been faultless, never touch them.

if you only commute in dry weather then Vs are perfect, no problems.
but in the winter when its wet they can be a bit less predictable.
i have discs on all my bikes, simply so i know i still have brakes in the wet, never had any issues at all, have a set of deores on my wifes bike that are 5 years old only thing thats been done to them in that time is a few pad changes. (3 sets i think in total, they last flippin ages)

4 years 15,000+ miles on a set of juicy fives, still on original pads with zero maintenance and zero adjustment, IMO the modulation of disc brakes on road bikes is superb never locked up and skidded even in the wet. Would never consider buying a bike without discs now.

Discs all the way for me. especially for commuter. Depending on the make, they need very little fettling.

I’ve personally found that Shimanos are the most resilient in terms of not corroding on the pistons and being to be left for long periods and not seizing up. They do loose some of their power a bit when left for a while and the grime sets into the pads. Its almost like the pads go off and need heated up and bedded a bit to get the full power out of them , even still though, for a commute, there is enough power to stop without issue.

Its just peace of mind … the discs work in all the weathers. In the very wet conditions, a quick scrub of the brakes to clear water leads to quickly getting all the power out of the brakes … compare to V’s were in the very wet you can be left thinking “hope i stop”

Only other thing, I’ve found organic pads wore out fairly quickly in the grime and that sintered pads lasted much much longer.

10 yrs commute 5 on disks BB7’s all the way. Think i may be on the same pads 🙂

v’s in the wet are a nightmare.

Much easier when you’re by the side of the road fixing a puncture.

Do it i’d say.

Stopping is so handy
No rim wear is ace
No brake muck all over the wheels is ace

I’ve run old hydraulic and cable brakes and they are great. Hydro ones are a bit ott for a commuter.

I have a cannondale badboy that came with juicy 3’s, cant say i would of picked the brake by choice but they are perfect for the commuter. I have done around 3000 miles without having to touch them. plenty of pad left too.
No way i would want to go back to anything other than hydraulic disks.
Andy

I do a 12 mile round trip in London no matter what the weather’s doing, and I have Hope Tech X2s on a Cannondale Badboy. Overkill perhaps, but I’m very glad of them on occasion. I wouldn’t ever go back.

I think it was Tuesday when I saw one cyclist stop for a red light, and another a few yards behind him couldn’t stop in time and had to swerve around him and partway through the crossing. He didn’t stop particularly suddenly or anything either.

I run hope e4 on my drop bar tripster. Very nice, never a problem with 28mm gator skinz. Just experimenting with pad compound at the moment though. Red Kevlar are great off road but don’t seem to work as well with the smaller rotors and higher speeds on the road.

After a bit of a downpour this morning my v-brakes were pretty awful, I’d much prefer to have discs on my next commuter bike.

did lots of years on rim brakes (before discs were affordable/reliable) the sound of the paste and the rims/pads wearing was heartbreaking and stopping in the wet an experience that had to be planned well in advance, discs reverse all this, almost fit and forget and very very reliable, they also actually work in all conditions too, now commute on a disc equipped CX bike

6 years, would not go back.

Where are all the usual suspects to tell us that discs on the road are pointless, despite never having ridden them?

I was a proper road disc sceptic, but 2 years ago I went road disc on my commuter, after another winter grappling with worn rims, countless pairs of brake blocks and high wear meaning I could never keep them adjusted properly, not to mention the black gunge that accumulates over everything, road salt eating all fixings and pretty inconsistent performance.

My BB7s are good. Road salt still eats everything (I’m a quick rinse and leave it kinda guy 😉 ), and you still get grit in cables etc in much the same way. They do, however, require much less looking after, and provide consistent performance in all weathers. The banshee wail in the wet can also work to you advantage 🙂 Disc pads also last a LOT lot longer.

I went with BB7s becuase I wanted to be able to adjust the ‘blind’ piston, as I knew any rubbing or noise would drive me mad. My experience is that the in-line cable adjusters are not of much use, that the blind piston adjuster can seize up, becoming stiff and even using a T25 Torx key to move it isn’t immune to failure, as the blind piston is made of soft ally, and can chew, even using the correct tool. Caliper spares are expensive. The stock rotors are not great either, both mine warped, and I’ve never warped a rotor in 10 years of mtb hydros.

You also have to wash the calipers out (with a toothbrush), as accumulated gunk can stop the pads retracting properly, even if the piston is moving OK. Caliper/pad alignment isn’t as foolproof as with hydros.

The Avid pad retention system is also a world of WTF? compared to my Hope and Formula hydros.

I find them considerably better than rim brake systems, but I’ll still go road hydro as soon as a decent commercial system is available.

12 months using shimano cable discs here (Manchester) no issues whatsoever with them. Much of my commute is along a muddy bridle way and I know I made the right choice. I just wish I’d got a single speed or alfine but that’s another issue altogether. I do have a kona single speed with v brakes which are “interesting” in thick mud. I need a combination of the two 😕

Lying dead – under a bus?

I’ve toyed on and off for a while with the idea of buying a pompetamine frame/fork, some BB7s and a more robust set of disc compatable road/29er wheels, canibalising my current road bike for groupset and other parts to build a more durable, comfortable, better braked road commuter/weekend group ride bike, not really considering weight to be an issue and not too hung up on having a carbon fork, clearance for 28mm tires might be nice too…

A Salsa Vaya is what I’d really like, but the price of the frameset would be ~ 3-4 times that of the Pompetamine…

Anyone else done this yet?

Have been using a disc equipped Roadrat for several years now. It was a replacement for a Pompino primarily for the ability to run discs.

Wifey has just bought a pompetamine as she’s fed up with wet weather performance on her Trek roadbike commuter. Having said that, if the weather is dry I have a lighter bike to use with rim brakes.

I found hydro discs a bit much with skinny rubber but BB5’s spot on.

V’s are fine till its wet…especially when the panniers are loaded with laptop and clothes.
Riding a focus TR3 at the mo with avid hydrolics. It’s awesome in the wet.

Jon – you’d be welcome to meet up and try my Peregrine some time. Alfine-geared, BB7 braked all-weather commuter. I do Gosforth – Stocksfield on it roughly 3 or 4 days a week whatever the weather and it’s painless. Routine maintenance is chain lube, wipe & tension if it needs it. Occasionally clean the rest of it and adjust the pads. I once took the calipers apart and gave them a cleand and grease, but that was after 2 years of the nasty northern winters of ice and salt.

Before that I had a Croix de Fer and the shimano discs on that were also freat.

Next step for maint. free is belt-drive 😀