[Closed] Disc brakes on a commuter with 25x700c tyres. Good idea/bad idea?

Surely the increased modulation of a disc brake means your less likely to lock the brakes...I'd sooner have plenty in reserve than the white knuckle ride that is the old caliper brakes on my road bike in the wet.

The standard answer is that V-brakes are more than enough for skinny tyres because there isn't as much rubber on the road for discs to make any difference - ie you can lock up skinny tyres using vs no problem.

I, however, have discs on my commuter (Spesh Sirrus) and much prefer them to vs as they are more dependable in the wet and I am a fat barsteward so have more weight to slow down.

I've never had a problem with modulation, but:
a) I am a fat barsteward; and
b) [i]I have the hands of a lover not a fighter[/i] (© Druidh 2009)

HTH

I tried Vs on mine before switching to discs and haven't regretted it. Much more reliable braking and no problems with locking up. Go for it.

i'm not sure i'd agree with lack of grip, if you are running slicks on tarmac you'll have way more grip than knobbly tyres on loose dirt.

i'd say go for it.

Emphatically "do it".

You can lock the back end up easily for sure - as you can with rim brakes. I guess a gorilla could lock up the front (or a motorcycling god 😉 ) but I've never managed it. Braking is easier so you have more control.

Another benefit for me is reduced mess and no need to replace rims.

These threads tend to get alot of negative comments from folk who don't use discs on the road. I would ignore them personally, after a few years on discs, I'm not going back to rim brakes.

I think that's settled then 🙂

Riding to the capability of your brakes rather than to the road and traffic conditions is a recipe for disaster.

Vs set up correctly are plenty powerful enough.
Discs, if you can't bear the thought of your rims wearing.

discs fine with 25x700c here - had a bit too much initial power on wet roads where the rear would skid upon a fine touch of the lever (bb7s/sd levers) but otherwise do the job 🙂

I would say you can never have too much brakes. the limiting factor will be tyre grip but all that means is you need brakes with good modulation and to learn good technique ( if you don't already have it ) - ie squeeeeeeze not grab the brake lever

HTTP404 - Member

Vs set up correctly are plenty powerful enough.
Discs, if you can't bear the thought of your rims wearing.

Told you there'd be one! Do you ride discs on a road bike?

I use 25x700s with discs.

Following setups used:

Avid BB5s with 160 rotors, pair.
Hayes HFX9s with 160s pair.
Hope mini with 180 on rear / V brake on front.

All with no over-braking problems whatsoever. Your brakes only operate as powerfully as you pull the levers. In fact the only issue I had was with the V-brake in the wet, being generally rubbish and gouging the rim to death.

disc every time

all bikes will run discs one day, although roadies will resist of course.

I think it will be a long time before disc brakes are lighter than rim brakes on road bikes.

I use 23x700s on my rat with Hope Mono Minis. fantastic braking. Stop on a sixpence.

MM

I have a roadrat, running BB7's with 28c tyres. Tonnes of miles and never had a problem.

Everyone already said it, but I'll add my voice. I've got a front disc on my surly crosscheck and it's way better than the canti that was there before or the caliper on another bike. In the dry they're all fairly similar and the limit of braking is how close I want to come to feeling like I'll go over the bars, but in the wet the disc is loads better and it's also generally less effort to brake hard when necessary.

Told you there'd be one! Do you ride discs on a road bike?

erm. I've used both. So I'm OK with either.

to add, my XTR V's pads used to wear out every couple of months and more in winter. The Mini pads (Superstar shocker)have lasted all year.

23c's on a road fixed. one dura-ace brake 8000+ miles no problems stopping and more than enough power to lock the wheel if needed (don't ever do though as it usually means lifting the rear wheel).
still on the original pads too.

get disks if you think they will help you stop better, do disks work with drop levers? can't see how you can be going that fast if you are sat up like a nodder commuter with flat/risers

well I wupp past all the fashion victim fixie riders

The one regret I have about buying my commuter was not spending a little bit more for discs. Fair enough it's a CX bike and not a road bike, but my route is largely tarmac.

I forgot how messy rim brakes are and how much maintenance/tinkering they seem to need compared to discs to keep them working properly. Plus eventually my rim walls are going to wear out = added expense.

Shame I don't have disc mounts on my fork or frame otherwise I'd upgrade.

And another!

Do people really find themselves braking so hard they fear they will go over the bars? Even sharp braking can mostly be avoided by anticipating what's ahead.

Geoffj has already made my point I think 😀

My "fast" roadie has rim brakes. The mileage I do on that tends to be away from traffic, out on the open roads. The number of times I need the brakes are minimal, and it's mostly for scrubbing off speed before road junctions - i.e. all pre-planned.

The Sutra - tourer/commuter - has disks. They're useful in respect of the extra (loaded) weight, and for the fact that one occasionally has to brake when negotiating streets and traffic. I've never had a brake lock-up on the Sutra.

well I wupp past all the fashion victim fixie riders

me too. i actually ride mine a lot further than between brick lane and hoxton

do we both get a medal for being so hard?

do we both get a medal for being so hard?

Bronze for you

*s****s*

You might want to bear in mind that when fitting full mudguards (which I consider essential on a commuter) with discs, it can be difficult to find an elegant solution.

OP, what are your 'various reasons'?

as for discs and drop levers, i dont see why not for cables but ive not seen a hydro set.
but i guess people just set the levers on the tops?

Soobalias

Various reasons = stopping faster in traffic - London requires you to keep your wits about you I find, and I have some spare sitting around that I'd like to find a use for. The roadrat is also a fast bike and more fun the faster you ride it too!

I'm running a flat bar btw, not drops

bb7s with conti gp 4 season 25s (great tyres btw)

good:
reliable!!
excellent when wet / grimy
allow you to get away with rims that are out of true

bad:
heavy
almost impossible to setup without a tiny bit of rubbing (ting-ting-ting etc)

Discs and drop bars? BB-7's and Cane Creek 'V-Specific' levers.

Mudguards and discs? My Inbred has mudguard, pannier rack and (140mm) disc without any issue / fitting faff. Front was a ball ache though. I'm assuming the OP has Roadhog forks on their Roadrat already. The mudguard eyelets are in the 'normal' position. Fitting the calliper was a faff. need to turn the mount upside down and shim th ecalliper in and out to get the alignment right. Also turn the rotor round so it rotates in the right direction and then flip the hub. If your tyres are directional you need to swap it round too.

You can also get drop-specific BB7s

I Have 160/140 Avids on 23C. Excellent. Rims for life unless I stack.

Front was a ball ache though. I'm assuming the OP has Roadhog forks on their Roadrat already. The mudguard eyelets are in the 'normal' position. Fitting the calliper was a faff. need to turn the mount upside down and shim th ecalliper in and out to get the alignment right. Also turn the rotor round so it rotates in the right direction and then flip the hub. If your tyres are directional you need to swap it round too.

Regarding the Roadhog fork, with my last discs I fitted the mount upside down like you say, but the pads ended up not properly contacting the rotor resulting in a lip worn in them at the top, which caused rubbing after a while. I also didn't realise I'd worn the pads almost completely out as they looked fine through the viewing hole 😀

When I fitted the BB5s I didn't want this to happen again (the pads really should contact the rotor correctly) so I fitted the mount the right way up. I just had to spend a couple of minutes with the file to remove a tiny bit of material from the top corner of it so it didn't foul the fork leg. It's very soft alloy and it's the tiniest bit of material that needs to go.

Now everything aligns properly 🙂

I've just been through the same process deciding what to put on my Roadrat. LX V-brakes which came on it were ok but I did get through a frightening amount of brake block on my commutes in when the weather was wet. So far I've gone for an intermediate solution of a BB7 on the front and left the LX V-brake on the back. Will probably stick a BB7 on the back in the fullness of time but will have to have a good look at how it will fit around my mudguards.

Wish we'd had this thread when I was doing mine. Scratched my head a bit with the Avid mount before turning it upside down - can't understand how you managed to fit the caliper and have it touch the disk at all with the mount right way up? Don't understand why you needed to shim out the caliper? Didn't need to shim the BB7 - just used the regular tri-align and the slack in the ISO mount adapter