What

[zeepee]

Question!  If I want to buy a MTB for primarily commuting to work when it is raining' date=' what brakes would be best to have on?  V-brakes, mechanical disk brakes or hydraulic disk brakes?[/quote']

 

so what you gonna ride when the sun shines?

[TNT1]

Ok, ok, I understand how water affects the brakes. Same as on a road bike, the pads need to "wipe" the water off the rim before the start actually braking, but surely that's a skill/experience issue? Road riders go a lot faster in the rain than mtb riders (ok, maybe a generalisation, but true to an extent)

[TNT1]

I still don't agree with this discs have more braking power thing.... Someone got any science to back it up? Bicycle science that is.... Not motorbikes or cars, it's really not the same.

[Johan Bornman]

JB' date=' which to use then? On merit? [/quote']

 

My bike is 10 years old and was supplied with Vs and that's what I have. If I buy a new bike, it'll probably come with disks and that's what I'll use. I haven't/wont choose any on merit because it is economic factors that dictate my purchases.

 

However, both brakes are powerful enough to lob you over the handlebars. Therefore, more stopping force is useless because you won't use it simply because of the pain. In other words, enough is enough.

 

Secondly, rim brakes with good pads and well maintained cables (their achilles heel) are a pleasure to use. They modulate well, stop well in wet and dry and cost nothing to maintain. Good pads last many tens of thousands of kilometers. I've replaced one front rim due to wear in ten years. A rim is cheaper than a disc to replace.

 

Disk brakes have other advantages and disadvantages. In short, I think they're expensive, make the wheel difficult to clean, always squeak and rub. Yet, the hydraulic line offers the smoothest modulation of the two. Then again, i'm comparing hydraulic discs to cable V's, not a fair comparison.

 

Discs are good, Vs are good. I think more discs than Vs are sold nowadays purely because of user perceptions. Disc brakes are what cars and motorbikes use, therefore they're better etc etc etc.

 

Discs have a role to play in tandem cycling I think, especially as a third brake and on the back wheel.

 

I think disc pads are too expensive and don't last long enough. It is easy to use up a set of pads in one rainy day. The same cannot be said for brake blocks.

 

Both brakes work equally well in dust - in fact both are impervious to dust. Vs fitted with Koolstop pads don't even feel the wet. I haven't ridden discs in wet, I assume rainwater is not an issue to them. Riding under water shouldn't be done for the sake of your bearings in anyway, so that's not a mode of riding to be discussed.

 

It isn't as simple as "stopping power".

 

 

 

 

[dirtrider]

Yip true but when I go 60kph down a muddy hill I wanna know that I will be able to slow down for the corner . Grabbing a hand full of brakes and hoping it dry out in time does not appeal to me .

[TNT1]

Ok, perception, thought as much... Ta JB, agree with that response. Thanks.

[dirtrider]

THT if you want white coat science then I am sorry , you on your own . I can only comment from experience ! The fact that we can throw figures at this is to me meaningless .

[Johan Bornman]

How does water affect rim brakes ? Maybe you should go and ask the few blokes that went over the edge on day one on the Hell 2 back when the rain came and they had to go down the hill !!!

 

Exactly like water affects disc brakes. Water forms a boundary layer on rims or discs that require several passes of the pad to clear. It helps if the surface is heated. To do one revolution on a disk is the same road distance as one revolution on a B-brake affected bike. So to clear the discs or rims takes the same distance.

 

Aluminium is actually a better friction surface than steel so that the two perform reasonably similarly in the wet. Under pouring conditions where both are perpetually lubricated by water, they perform the same, given that you use non-shimano brake blocks on your Vs or Calliper brakes.

 

Those guys that went down the hill didn't compensate for the extra distance needed in the rain or had crappy pads on their brakes. It is only recently that Koolstop pads have become available in ZA and it is still the best kept secret in the industry.

 

 

[TNT1]

 

Yip true but when I go 60kph down a muddy hill I wanna know that I will be able to slow down for the corner . Grabbing a hand full of brakes and hoping it dry out in time does not appeal to me .

 

Surely grabbing a hand full of brakes is not the correct technique in any case?

 

[dirtrider]

It is not a technique , it happens out of panic cause the brakes does not want to work !!! Johann as I said that book stuff is a load of sheeet .

[Bateleur1]

Question!  If I want to buy a MTB for primarily commuting to work when it is raining' date=' what brakes would be best to have on?  V-brakes, mechanical disk brakes or hydraulic disk brakes?[/quote']

 

so what you gonna ride when the sun shines?

 

My road bike. As I have been doing for the past 7 odd years.

[TNT1]

 

It is not a technique ' date=' it happens out of panic cause the brakes does not want to work !!! Johann as I said that book stuff is a load of sheeet . [/quote']

 

panic most certainly does emanate from a sense of insecurity and lack of experience...

 

Your thoughts?

 

[Bateleur1]

Ok, I am a bit confused here, but it seems that I am set for disappointment buying a MTB to commute in rainy weather.  I was under the impression I would be better of in traffic on a MTB with disk brakes than on the road bike in the rain with cars around me.

[dirtrider]

True , that is why the ones with experience would not even think of racing with V's on their bikes !

[TNT1]

Bateleur, if you thought it was that simple sorry.... Your road bike will stop just as quick if not better because you are more used to the setup, than the mtb... get a cheap mtb to commute in the rain to stop the road bike getting gunged up, ok...

[Johan Bornman]

disk breaks are more responsive in wet muddy conditions' date=' they got more breaking power, but yes they are slightly heavier.[/quote']

 

Wheelz, if you've been here long enough you'll know that "responsive" is a no-no word here on the Tech forum....unless of course you can define it. To date, no-one has done so. Stick to facts and known physical units and measurements.

 

Also, stick to "stopping force". Breaking power is literally "work done to break something.....like an arm or an expensive vase."