I am a satisfied rim braker. I've never seriously considered riding discs but I can see the attraction in avoiding compromised braking in the wet and annoying mud on rim grinding noises when off road.
One big factor that Grant has missed is the wear effect of rim brakes. Sooner or later the rim will need replacing. That means a wheel rebuild which may well lead to getting a new hub at the same time. That's a whole new wheel just because your brakes are worn - quite a waste if you have decent, handbuilt wheels that otherwise would have lasted a long time. On a disc system, you just replace the disc. The related thing is that wear on the rim is hard to detect. You either play it safe or you take it to the limit - which you only reach when your rim is so compromised it blows. Discs are far more transparent. As Mark says above, on this basis Grant's preference for rim brakes goes against the usual argument for steel over carbon. On the issue of servicing, I've never worked on disc brakes but surely if you avoid hydraulics and stick with cable operated then servicing/repair is easy. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
