Hydraulic or mechanical disc brakes

azzurri78
azzurri78 Posts: 104
edited November 2014 in Cyclocross
Am in the market for a new bike and am debating whether to go with hydraulic or mechanical disc brakes. The bike will be my winter trainer and all year round commuter.

I'm looking at either the hydraulic Shimano RS685 or the mechanical Shimano CX77. Bearing in mind I live in a time poor society which would require less maintenance and cleaning?

Comments

  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    My limited experience suggests that hydraulic brakes will take more effort to set up, but (especially if you ride in muddy conditions a lot) will spare you the frequent cable replacements I suffered with cable discs. Although some are a lot better than others, there's no such thing as a fully sealed cable system; hydraulics are, by their nature, fully sealed.
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • ravey1981
    ravey1981 Posts: 1,111
    If you can afford hydraulic, get hydraulic.

    The technology, at the calliper end at least, is proven through many years of mtb development. Once set up, they are pretty much maintenance free. As an example the Hope brakes on my mtb have never needed anything other than pads changing in 8 years of constant use! Thats no bleeding, no adjustment, nothing. Now that discs have been allowed in CX by the UCI there is a market for them and the manufacturers are putting some serious cash into developing them. granted the hydro discs from sram and shimano are shall we say mark1 models but with vast experience from the mtb world I cant see any reason why these early models wouldn't be worth investing in.
  • Ber Nard
    Ber Nard Posts: 827
    Definitely hydro if you've got the option.

    If you're in the market for a complete bike, I'd say they're less hassle than cable discs. The trickiest job of shortening the hoses will have been done for you. Hydro calipers account for pad wear automatically so you won't need to adjust them as the pads wear. You'll probably need to bleed them at some point but bleeds are few and far between and surprisingly easy.

    I think cable discs are just an easy work around of the problem of getting hydro reservoirs and pistons in STI units. Now that's sorted I think they'll very soon be considered the low budget option.
  • mattrixdesign2
    mattrixdesign2 Posts: 644
    Hydro as in IMO it has less maintenance, cable pull gets contaminated with water, muck, rust, the inners/outers wear etc. Having said that Road Hydro levers are still early days, but should have overcome the issues?

    Personally I run XT Hydro on my MTB (perfect!) and just built up a CX with cable pull, using 105 levers, Sora calipers (dirt cheap) and Superstar rotors. I am more than impressed with the performance, the rear brake is lovely in feel, I used compressionless hosing and was careful to make the ends of the outers nice and square. The front is a bit spongier, didn't use compression less and used a different inner - not by design, just using what I had to hand.

    So don't discount cable pull, if your budget is limited.
  • aberdeenal
    aberdeenal Posts: 200
    Go for best of both worlds - TRP HyRd's are excellent :-)
  • mattrixdesign2
    mattrixdesign2 Posts: 644
    Not sure if this is the best of both or not? Certainly a route to go if you have existing cable pull levers, other than that no real advantage?
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    mattrixdesign2 wrote:
    Not sure if this is the best of both or not? Certainly a route to go if you have existing cable pull levers, other than that no real advantage?
    +1. Most of the disadvantages of cable brakes (cable contamination/degradation, cable stretch), and most of the disadvantages of hydraulics (added complexity, bleeding).

    If you're going to run cables down to the calipers anyway, TRP Spyres are cheaper, lighter and simpler (less to go wrong).

    I never quite understood what problem Hy/Rds were trying to solve (other than creating and filling a new market niche).
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • azzurri78
    azzurri78 Posts: 104
    Thanks for all comments and suggestions.

    It's for a new complete bike so I don't have to worry about adapting existing components or the initial tricky installation.

    Thinking I will probably pull the trigger on hydraulic especially as the price differential is within my budget.
  • How Far is too Far
    How Far is too Far Posts: 534
    I have recently bought a Cannondale SuperX CX1 with Sram Force Hydo disk brakes. They do what they should, no problems so far. I would guess most CX bikes and a lot of road bikes will be full Hydro disk in the near future. Just look at MTB,s

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