Cube cross race with or without disc brakes?

tencole

I’m in the market for a Cube cross race bike, but I cannot decide which variant.
I like the looks of the mech disc brake version, but I read that the quality of the mechanical BR-R517 brakes is questionable and require a lot of tinkering. It would however also open up a future upgrade path to hydr. brakes...
The cross race pro (hydraulic brakes) is a bit out of my budget, as it adds ~500eu.

Will I be better off with the rim brakes model instead?

roger_merriman

tencole wrote:

I’m in the market for a Cube cross race bike, but I cannot decide which variant.
I like the looks of the mech disc brake version, but I read that the quality of the mechanical BR-R517 brakes is questionable and require a lot of tinkering. It would however also open up a future upgrade path to hydr. brakes...
The cross race pro (hydraulic brakes) is a bit out of my budget, as it adds ~500eu.

Will I be better off with the rim brakes model instead?

rather depends on what your planning on doing with the bike?

if it's a race bike then folks advice seems to be that for racing Disks advantages are less.

if though its for bridleways/commuting etc then the difference between disks and cants is massive.

tencole

Half of the time, the bike will be used for commuting on regular roads (~60km/week). The other half I will use it for sports on combined paved roads and bridleways.

Why are disks better than cants for commuting? Also the mechanically operated BR-R517 brakes on this bike?
If the braking power and maintenance is at least equal to the cants, I'd be ok.

roger_merriman

tencole wrote:

Half of the time, the bike will be used for commuting on regular roads (~60km/week). The other half I will use it for sports on combined paved roads and bridleways.

Why are disks better than cants for commuting? Also the mechanically operated BR-R517 brakes on this bike?
If the braking power and maintenance is at least equal to the cants, I'd be ok.

Cants in my experience and is often reported on CX how weak they are compared to normal road bike brakes ie dual pivots

Disks are not effected by wet muddy roads, for the commuter they make much more sense than the Sunday racer.

tgotb

roger merriman wrote:

tencole wrote:

Half of the time, the bike will be used for commuting on regular roads (~60km/week). The other half I will use it for sports on combined paved roads and bridleways.

Why are disks better than cants for commuting? Also the mechanically operated BR-R517 brakes on this bike?
If the braking power and maintenance is at least equal to the cants, I'd be ok.

Cants in my experience and is often reported on CX how weak they are compared to normal road bike brakes ie dual pivots

Disks are not effected by wet muddy roads, for the commuter they make much more sense than the Sunday racer.

+1. For racing, there's a case for cantis because they're slightly lighter, and the reduced performance isn't generally an issue. There's also a certain amount of inertia, because many racers will already own multiple sets of wheels for rim brakes. For commuting and recreational riding, I think disks win. Better braking performance (though disks do have their own issues) and no need to replace your rims every 5,000-10,000 miles.

Can't comment on the specific brakes you're looking at, but there are plenty of upgrade paths you can take in the future (for instance you can probably find a set of the very good TRP Spyres for £100 or so).

matt@theforce

I have a Cube Cross race disc I love it, although I did change the brake calipers for TRP Spyres, I didn't change because the Shimano calipers weren't any good, I changed them because I had the TRP's laying around & liked them on my Dirty Disco.

My bike gets used for commuting and a lot of off road peak district riding.

backo

bought a disc cx bike last autumn and found it a much better commuter in the wet/winter months...disc brakes are much better in these conditions but in the dry I cant saay the differences are that much..hence I ride normal brakes on my summer bikes. Did race the bike last cx season as well and found no issues with the brakes. I would recomend the disc version especially if you are using it during winter

ai_1

I don't think I'd buy a general purpose bike without disks.
In fact if I suspect I won't buy another road bike without disks either.
My Tricross has cantis and they are the one major downfall of the bike. However, I think it's a particularly poor example of cantis on a cyclocross(ish) bike. Lots of people had issues with fork chatter and poor brake power.

tencole

Thanks to all of your replies, I've made up my mind and I'll be shopping for the disc version very soon.
thanks!