Hydraulic vs Cable Disc Brakes

Kozak

Hi - I'm a novice contemplating buying a 'starter' mountain bike, and came upon this forum while searching the web. I'd like to get a bike with disc brakes. The modern higher spec bikes come with hydraulic brakes, but is there much more hassle with maintenance/adjustment as opposed to the simplicity of DIY cable that will just need cleaning/lubing/adjusting at times?

Also those in the know, how reliable are these new hydraulic brakes?

shem of pennal

Hydraulic is very reliable and involves less maintenance than cable. After all a cable will stretch and need adjustment, fluid will not. I do find that a lot of dirty and cold winter riding will sometimes affect the oil levels a bit, but usually the worst case scenario is bleeding your brakes once a year. Its not a hard job to do, but for the sake of £20 on average at your local shop its easier to get some one else to do it for you.

The difference in performance is massive. Go hydraulic

Having said all that, if u cant afford hydraulic, u can always upgrade at a later date if youve got cable discs anyway.

cooldad

Can't add to that.

singlespeedexplosif

The difference in performance is massive. Go hydraulic Smile

I'd have to argue with that one. Well set up cables can outperform certain hydros. I replaced my mono minis with Avid BB7s and the difference was phenomenal. And I know several people who have found the same with various combos. I think a lot of people haven't actually tried cable, and just assume hydro > cable. There's a *small* improvement in my Juicys over my BB7s, but not massive.

Yes, you need to give them a little more TLC than hydros. A wee twist of the brake lever barrel adjuster now and again and a spray of GT85 once in a while. It's not exactly difficult stuff.

cooldad

You are just confusing matters. Hydraulic is fluid operated. What on earth is hydro?
The debate is between hydraulic and cable.

singlespeedexplosif

What on earth is hydro

a recognised abbreviation for 'hydraulic'. As you were.

Kozak

Thanks for the replies. Just need to make my mind up which bike to buy now - will post another thread

shem of pennal

Im shocked that u think that re cable. Ive got a set of mono minis on a second bike and set up properly I think theyre a awesome break, which masses of feel and control. Ive tried a few cable set ups on friends bikes and always find them a let down. However, it may be that the style or areas that you ride determine what break you prefer? possibly? I live in wild west wales, where 3 mile technical descents are common, so I need a break which will withstand long distance and not burn out.
Ive never had my own cable set up, well not since V's, so cant really comment on a well tweaked set up set though.

singlespeedexplosif

Not doubting that some people prefer hydraulics - just don't automatically rule out cables, because they can be superb. Likewise I have some friends who love their hydraulics and wouldn't swap.
I thought the same - hydraulic MUST be better than cable-actuated. Hence my buying various sets of hydros..but I've not found many to match the BB7s.

Oh- live and ride in the Peak District, FWIW.

Holyzeus

Interesting thread

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/t ... hydraulics

jairaj

never had cable disk brakes but from what I've read, a good cable disk brake will be better than a poor hydraulic brake. So depends on what models you're looking at.

As for which is more reliable / less maintenance, there seems to be just as many questions in the workshop section of the forum from both brakes.

But the theory is: a well set up and reliable hydraulic brake should be better. They self adjust as the pads wear out, don't really require any servicing apart from the odd fluid bleed (I've never needed to bleed my brakes but do it once a year anyway) and should be fit and forget.

surreyxc

go hydraulic, the difference in performance is like night and day.

They should not need servicing more than once a year if that. It seems tricky but actually flushing and change fluid is pretty easy if a little messy.

cooldad

singlespeedexplosif wrote:

What on earth is hydro

a recognised abbreviation for 'hydraulic'. As you were.

It makes more sense now you have edited it to include cable instead of comparing hydraulics with hydros. Well done..

warpcow

Much as I love my own BB7s, I'd probably advise you to get something with hydraulics. I'm assuming it's a 'beginner' bike you're looking for, none of which actually come with a decent cable-operated disc brake. Most budget hydraulic brakes are consistently better than budget cable brakes IMO, and maintenance is arguably easier, or at least not required quite as often.

bails87

I've used crap cable brakes, and 'crap' hydros, as well as good hydros.

BB7s might be good, but you can get a half decent set of hydraulics for not much more money. And if it's a factor in bike choice then it's probably a choice between entry level hydros and entry level cables.

In that situation I'd take the hydros every single time. IME, they're more powerful, more reliable, need less maintenance and are more modulated. My cheapo cable brakes are bad to the point of being dangerous. When they're being rattled around, the pad adjust winds itself back in, so when you try to brake nothing happens, it almost gets to the point where you need both hands squeezing the lever for anything significant to happen. Whereas cheap hydros(Tektro Auriga and the like) lack the adjustment and maybe modulation of their more expensive cousins, but they still have a decent amount of power and are, on the whole, reliable.

Of course, when hydros go wrong it's usually more of a faff to fix. But if it's cheap cables vs cheap hydros, I'd pick the hydros. Bad brakes (like the ones I've used) make things dangerous, uncontrollable and suck all of the fun out of a ride.

Edit:warpcow beat me to it!

blister pus

I've had good Hayes cable brakes and I've had Avid Juicy 3 and now got Avid Elixir R.

I'd take cable every time for fuss free and easy maintenance, set up correctly they are every bit as good as hydraulics with fantastic modulation - because you're the one doing the modulating. If however you're a bit limp wristed with weak girls fingers then hydros are probably the better option.

On balance I wouldn't be bothered if I had to go back to decent cables.

bails87

blister pus wrote:

with fantastic modulation - because you're the one doing the modulating.

I don't understand this.

And the problem is that the OP probably won't be getting decent cable brakes.

blister pus

you're the one squeezing the lever to apply the type of braking required for whatever situation you're in, it's down to you pulling on a wire. As opposed to hydraulics where you're using what the manufacturer has designed into the brake, which is usually fine in high end hydraulics but less so with budget kit (like juicy 3). Plus if you don't get a bleed right hydraulics suck, cable couldn't be easier to get right first time with minor 5 second adjustments to tweak things every now and again.

But I would take budget hydraulics over nasty cables.

tsenior

only cable actuated disc brakes i've used are avid BB5s: no problems with the stopping power at all, maybe if you are a bit of a unit you might want more.

yes they do take a bit more regular adjustment than hydros

yes they are very simple to set up adjust

and IME less daunting for a novice /beginner

singlespeedexplosif

It makes more sense now you have edited it to include cable instead of comparing hydraulics with hydros. Well done..

Thanks, but no praise necessary, it was really quite easy. Above your post you'll see a wee 'edit' button...click, edit, done.

TBH it would take a real spacktard to think that I was honestly comparing hydraulic with hydraulic and trying to argue that hydraulic was better than hydraulic. I guess you were just being picky.

supersonic

Some good points, and I agree that they both have good and bad points.

Hydros are getting cheaper and more reliable and pricing wise are entering the domain where you could only get cable operated. I don't think this means you should automatically get them. While some hydros may be easier to maintain, they are certainly not easier to service, and when they do go wrong, they usually do so in a more spectacular way.

And as blister pus alludes, the adjustability of some cable operated brakes are great, especially if you get a Speed Dial lever.

cooldad

singlespeedexplosif wrote:

It makes more sense now you have edited it to include cable instead of comparing hydraulics with hydros. Well done..

Thanks, but no praise necessary, it was really quite easy. Above your post you'll see a wee 'edit' button...click, edit, done.

TBH it would take a real spacktard to think that I was honestly comparing hydraulic with hydraulic and trying to argue that hydraulic was better than hydraulic. I guess you were just being picky.

Er yeah, I know how to use the edit button, I was congratulating you on correcting your post, not your awesome use of buttons.
But who is the spacktard who spent a whole post arguing that hydraulic bakes were as good as hydro brakes.
How was I to know you were not stupid, just careless?

Kozak

I'll go with the flow and pick hydraulic brakes - my 1st ever motorbike as a learner was a 1979 Honda CB100N single that had a cable operated single dric brake up-front, and after that my CB250RS Honda had a proper hydraulic brake which was so much better.

singlespeedexplosif

I was congratulating you on correcting your post
even though you know how easy it is to do? Wow. You *are* a generous chap.
As you know how to use the edit button, you should probably change the full stop on this sentence 'But who is the spacktard who spent a whole post arguing that hydraulic bakes were as good as hydro brakes. ' to a question mark. Otherwise it makes no sense. HTH.
*How was I to know you were not stupid, just careless?*
oh, the irony.

TuckerUK

Sod the cable vs hydro debate (been done to death, cables are crap EXCEPT BB7s, and they can be better than some (and poorly set up) hydraulics. But good hydraulics are best), let see who'll get the last word in instead!

cooldad

Excellent work there Sherlock.

singlespeedexplosif wrote:

I was congratulating you on correcting your post
even though you know how easy it is to do? Wow. You *are* a generous chap.
As you know how to use the edit button, you should probably change the full stop on this sentence 'But who is the spacktard who spent a whole post arguing that hydraulic bakes were as good as hydro brakes. ' to a question mark. Otherwise it makes no sense. HTH.
*How was I to know you were not stupid, just careless?*
oh, the irony.

Oops.

unixnerd

There are two very different types of cable brake. The old / cheap ones only move one side of the caliper, when the pads wear it pulls the disc very slightly to one side when you brake. This eventually causes the pads to wear at a slight angle. Unless you keep manually adjusting non-moving side your pads won't wear evenly. If you adjust the caliper once the pads have a good angle of wear you'll find you have much less braking power as only the tip of each pad is contacting the disc. My old Tektro brakes were like this, fine when new and awful once they'd worn a bit.

You can now get mechanical brakes which, just like their hydraulic brothers, move both sides of the caliper. A much better idea and with no need to bleed hydraulics.

bails87

cooldad
singlespeedexplosif
STFU!

cooldad

bails87 wrote:

cooldad
singlespeedexplosif
STFU!

Yeah, cantis rule anyway.

popstar

No, but mechanical BB5 are the nastiest bits of work. They are on my wife's bike which I recently rode and caused so many crashes, my head now is in tatters. And my wife wasn't impressed with the salvage presented.

Unixnerd gave a very good inside of those nasty bits, rezpekt bro!

Hydraulic brakes = FTW !

diy

The question was really about maintenance. Hydraulic brakes are no more maintenance than cable brakes. A lot of cable brakes only pull on one side, so as you wear the pads out you have to keep adjusting them. Most hydraulic brakes push on both sides, and few new brakes will need any maintenance in the 1st year. I think most manufacturers put their effort in to developing hydraulic brakes.