Mates Debate: V Brakes vs Discs

Finecactus

Ok. So a work mate of mine just won't accept my view that V Brakes are old hat and not a patch on Hydraulic Disc.

He says V Brakes are easier to maintain and fix out on a ride and predictable.

I say they are predictable that they won't work in the wet and just for road bikes.

No matter what we say to each other we can't agree (all light hearted). So I thought for fun how many of you are out there who agree that V Brakes are Pants!

nicklouse

They have their place. But all my bikes that have 26" wheels have discs.

BigAl

Good quality, well set-up Vs can work very well - but only in dry conditions.

But given that good quality discs (e.g. Deore) can be had for peanuts, why bother with anything else?

cooldad

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^

rockmonkeysc

V brakes are easier to maintain but need ten times as much maintenance. They don't work in the wet either.
If I could replace the v brakes on my road bike with discs I definitely would.

Prowlus

Well Roadies are becoming disc equipped now . Just look at Fuji's sportif range . Bagging this baby tmr

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... e-ec055667

Probably by next year they go hydro

Finecactus

I've been running Deors for the last couple of years. Only had to have them bled once and pads are a doddle to swap over.

I think my work mate has Avids on his new bike but prefers his old bikes V's. Have seen people moaning about Avids before so wonder if he hasn't experienced quality disc brakes and asumes they are all the same.

kajjal

Especially for heavier riders and in the wet disc brakes are much better. Even in the dry for heavier or faster riders there is a very noticeable difference.

ilovedirt

Roadies don't have v-brakes, they have u-brakes, which are even worse.
V-brakes are crap, decent discs aren't, end of.

Initialised

Good V-Brakes are better than crap mechanical discs.

My road bike has TRP Parabox Hydro Brakes (Same caliper as Dash) 160mm rotors, upgraded from BB5.
My main MTB has Avid Juicy 3 180mm up front and Tektro Auriga Comp 160mm rear.
My secondary MTB has XTR V-Brakes.

I'm not keen on the Avid because bleeding is more of a faff compared to TRP.

In my experience the XTR-Vs are better than the BB5 in terms of durability and maintenance. Same can be said for stopping power on all but the wettest days and coldest days. I learnt this the hard way by narrowly avoiding hitting a moped then a bus on a downhill trying to stop from around 25mph in the wet. I'd been drafting the moped and the bus pulled over in front of us.

I did initially have doubts about how good the hydros on the MTB were until I bled them. Properly. With the Tektro and TRP you give it an extra squeeze on the syringe at the caliper end before closing the bleed port after sealing the cylinder end. Before I did it like this I couldn't get the rear wheel to lock up. I suspect your mate has only ridden hydros that need bleeding.

Stevo_666

Prowlus wrote:

Well Roadies are becoming disc equipped now . Just look at Fuji's sportif range . Bagging this baby tmr

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... e-ec055667

Probably by next year they go hydro

+1

Hydro is already here but needs to filter down from the top of the range roadie stuff. Here's one with hydro brakes that I quite like the look of:
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-xeon-dx-4400-2014/aid:671725

Not sure why road bikes are so far behind mountain bikes on brake tech - maybe it's the weight weenie mentality, maybe roadies are a bit blinkered on this. I've had hydraulic discs on my commuter hack (flat barred roadie) for nearly 5 years and wouldn't swap for anything with V brakes.

Initialised

Road bikes are behind because the UCI don't allow disc brakes and are (at have until recently been) stifling innovation in this area. There's also the modularity problem with integrated levers.

Next year's 105 equipped bikes should mean hydros at the £1200 to £1500 bracket

stubs

Last year I was without a bike for an evening ride borrowed a mates Cannondale with FatHead forks and V brakes took it for a ride round one of our regular routes about 14 miles nothing to bad just a couple of downhill tracks. Next day I could barely move my hands I had forgotten how hard you have to squeeze the crappy things to slow down. None of this one finger braking its four fingers and squeeze till your arms ache.

Stevo_666

Initialised wrote:

Road bikes are behind because the UCI don't allow disc brakes and are (at have until recently been) stifling innovation in this area. There's also the modularity problem with integrated levers.

I know the UCI don't allow them in races but not sure how they actively stifle innovation - if a bike manufacturer wants to put them on a bike, who's to stop them? Or do they indirectly stifle innovation by not allowing them on race bikes so making them less attractive to roadie punters?

Chunkers1980

I reckon that's about the size of it. Roadies are and odd bunch

declan1

I have no idea why roadies hate disks so much. I love the idea of disks on a road bike and they don't look 'incredibly ugly' like other roadies seem to think they do. They all seem stuck in the past.

ilovedirt

Stevo 666 wrote:

Initialised wrote:

Road bikes are behind because the UCI don't allow disc brakes and are (at have until recently been) stifling innovation in this area. There's also the modularity problem with integrated levers.

I know the UCI don't allow them in races but not sure how they actively stifle innovation - if a bike manufacturer wants to put them on a bike, who's to stop them? Or do they indirectly stifle innovation by not allowing them on race bikes so making them less attractive to roadie punters?

If they're not going to be winning races on them, why would anyone bother making them? I think that's the issue.

Herdwick29.

don't know to much about bicycles, but think this as the same debate as when the first disc brakes came up on motorcycles, to battle the dumb brakes err drum brakes

No point to argue.... who sell bikes with dumb brakes now days anyway... :shock:

Prowlus

declan1 wrote:

I have no idea why roadies hate disks so much. I love the idea of disks on a road bike and they don't look 'incredibly ugly' like other roadies seem to think they do. They all seem stuck in the past.

Those guys probably think discs on a roadie are Hybrid commuters and not true lycra stallions :twisted: as a person who has both a disc equipped mtb and now a disc equipped road bike , I say bring on the innovation

supersonic

All depends on the usage, the model, cost. Both can work well, both can be crap - both have pros and cons. One thing for sure is that discs have got much better in the last few years and a whole lot cheaper.

russyh

Part of the problem with discs on roadies is that he cable calliper offerings are a bit of a pin to setup and maintain, for not much improvement in braking performance. Hydraulic offerings currently are a compromise and not particularly light. This couple with the UCI not allowing it (and joe blogs wanting the same bike as froome) means that it's slow progress. I have had a disc roadie and personally I prefer my standard road callipers on my summer roadie, but that doesn't go out in the wet where standard Calipers are bloody scary! I predict we will see more disc braked frames come through when shimano start releasing hydro brakes in 105 range until then it won't be common place

Mike Deere

The only time I can ever think of that I've preferred a v-brake is for doing stoppies. I could stoppie forever when I ran a v-brake up front and Magura on the back. Since going disc I just can't do them any more.

And of course, ridiculous old-skool tricks are the most important factor when considering brakes

tootsie323

My last three hardtails have all had hydraulic discs and I would not consider a return to vees...

Long_Time_Lurker

The UCi want an 'all or nothing' approach to discs. Riders will need time adjusting to the new brakes if they are going to use them in a pelaton.
Can't have someone slamming on their new disc brakes in the middle of a 40 man group, the results would be carnage. (but fun to watch)

rockmonkeysc

At least it would liven up road racing. It's more dull than snooker.

Thewaylander

But really wierdly popular :S

njee20

Can't have someone slamming on their new disc brakes in the middle of a 40 man group, the results would be carnage. (but fun to watch)

Would be no different to currently, slam on any brakes in a bunch and a load of guys are going down. There's a good cause for making everyone go disc at the same time, but it's not really about safety in bunch riding - more of an issue if you've got two guys riding down a mountain in the wet like loons, one on rim brakes and carbon rims, one on discs.

Initialised

Long Time Lurker wrote:

The UCi want an 'all or nothing' approach to discs. Riders will need time adjusting to the new brakes if they are going to use them in a peloton.
Can't have someone slamming on their new disc brakes in the middle of a 40 man group, the results would be carnage. (but fun to watch)

The way to do this is to introduce them on a per stage or per event basis, there's not much point having discs on a TT or flat stage, but when it comes to mountain stages it's a trade-off of speed penalty on the way up due to extra weight and speed advantage on the way down. Having said that the minimum weight limit means they can use a bit less ballast when running disc brakes.

njee20

They can't use ballast at all any more, bikes have to be at the weight limit using functional parts, chucking some lead weights in the seat tube defeats the whole point of the weight limit. Hence steel BB spindles, 105 cassettes etc being more prolific than they were.

You're not going to have two entirely separate rakes of bikes for different stages though. They could do something different for TTs (brakes on TT bikes are generally significantly worse anyway), but they're never going to get buy in to have certain road stages for rim brakes and certain ones for discs (or even complete races).

stubs

Whats the weight difference between a top roadbike rim brake and a top road hydro discbrake.

Boromedic

Bit late but thought I'd pile in, discs on mountain bikes are one of the best improvements ever along with suspension forks. Far more efficient and reliable than V's and relatively trouble free once set up, also the control issue regarding finger tip braking is very true.

With regards road biking, it's not my field so can't pass comment, however with all the issues mentioned above I read another more important fact in the recent bike radar article on road discs about safety. If there's a large crash in a peloton, then hot, exposed sharp metal discs could be lethal as they will cut flesh like a hot knife through butter, any sort of guard will add more weight which could be another issue. So that's something else they need to think about!