[Closed] Is it me or are disc braked road bikes a pain in the arse?

Why are the pads rubbing?
Bent discs? Sticky pistons?

Nope - it's not a wonky disc type rubbing, its a brake binding on type rubbing. They've always done it - a week of riding, maybe two and then I have to adjust to stop them rubbing again. That's about 300 miles of riding so not a huge amount.

This is what puts me off. One guy in the bike club has discs and they always rub. He doesn't seem to care much, but the OCD in me would drive me mad. I know how much fettling it takes on my MTB to keep mine running without rubbing (Avid brakes). I'd rather not add my road bike to that.

Just you.

I've got RS685s on my commuting bike (Giant TCX) and they work a treat. Got about 2k miles out of the last set of (shimano) pads.

Look, even Mike Hall is sick of them*

[url= http://road.cc/content/tech-news/219030-bike-check-mike-halls-kinesis-gf-ti-ready-5300km-india-pacific-wheel-race ]No discs for Mikey...[/url]

*Maybe there's another reason, like he couldn't get a 9100 Di2 hydro groupset...but I reckon it's because he's sick of disc brakes...

My experience is different.
A Rose DX with hydraulic Ultegra

3000 miles so far and the disks have never rubbed on the pads, the pads haven't need changed and I've not had to bleed them either. In fact, the only maintenance I've done is oil the chain and put air in the tyres. In fact, still on original chain and sprockets and not needing changed.

That's including commuting through winter and a mixture of road and mud path riding. I have always had full guards on it though.

yourguitarhero - do you mind if I ask what wheels you're running? I've got Ksyrium discs on one and hunt's on the other but out the saddle climbing makes the rubbing even worse. So I'm assuming it's not wheel stiffness?

To add, I've had them both set up by different shops and they stay rub-free for a while, then after a couple of weeks it comes back again.

I have been riding a Grade with TRP Hy/Rd brakes since June 2015 and they've needed very little attention.
I do know of another owner who has swapped his for mechanical Spyres though, as he had issues.

I've done over 900 miles on my Shimano disc braked Hybrid and the pads are showing minimal signs of wear. They have required zero maintenance and the wheels run freely.
I think that there must be something wrong with your system rather than disc brakes in general.

I am half toying with the concept of a road bike, and assumed I wanted disks, but realistically, if it will almost exclusively be used on dry days, is there any advantage in them over standard?

[quote=flange ]yourguitarhero - do you mind if I ask what wheels you're running? I've got Ksyrium discs on one and hunt's on the other but out the saddle climbing makes the rubbing even worse. So I'm assuming it's not wheel stiffness?
To add, I've had them both set up by different shops and they stay rub-free for a while, then after a couple of weeks it comes back again.

DT Swiss R23. Doubt wheel stiffness counts since the disk in the centre - not like rim brakes.
Maybe it is because they are thru-axles so there is never any slippage around the dropouts?

[i]One of my other bikes has Shimano RS685 which needs similar levels of maintenance to keep them running sweet and stop them rubbing[/i]

These have been fab on my Tripster for daily commuting. Only issue was the pistons siezed on the rear after 2 years (little maintenance!). Replaced calliper for £50.

DT Swiss R23. Doubt wheel stiffness counts since the disk in the centre - not like rim brakes.
Maybe it is because they are thru-axles so there is never any slippage around the dropouts?

Interesting.....neither of mine have bolt-thru axles, I wonder if that could be the issue?

realistically, if it will almost exclusively be used on dry days, is there any advantage in them over standard?

I agonised over the same thing but my winter bike is a gravel cross one with discs and I wanted to have interchangeability of wheels / wheelsets, and I've not regretted having discs even on the good weather bike.

TRP Spyres here since July 2015. One new set of pads and still running the original cables. No rubbing.

Well I've worn though a few sets of rims with rim brakes, changing them is a lot more hassle than switching pads. But fork strength/rigidity is the obvious issue with a front road disk, it puts far more stress on the tip of the fork than a rim brake does.

Personally I would say discs arent really worth it unless you live in a very hilly part of the world and you ride a lot in wet weather. If you are a fair weather roadie like me then they seem to be overkill and more complicated than they need to be. Di2 on the other hand is certainly worth the money, especially on the front. If I was buying again I would go Di2 with calipers.

Is it me or are disc braked road bikes a pain in the arse?

The bikes are Ok, its the people that bang on about them that are annoying.

BB7s for 10 years, 105s for 2, no rub, pads last 5,000 miles+ commuting.

Whilst i agree that disc brakes in general are equal measures of awesome and a pita, this particular case sounds like a case of poor or under tightened QR's

Fine here - HY/RD on a Tripster, with spokesman.co.uk build of Archetypes on Novatech hubs. Same reason as a few above - it's road / cross / tour / all rounder for holidays, disks just make sense for the small weight penalty and have been less hassle than calipers.

I even have an ovalised rear disk ... really puzzled my bike shop owning friend till he figured out what was bugging him about it (I had no idea - it works fine, but I'll swap it when I remember).

I've had similar experiences commuting on the road with a disc braked MTB.

The worst thing is the squeeling, as the discs never really warm up, if it's a wet day or there's just a lot of puddles about the water seems to just sit on the disc until I try to brake, cue hellish squeeling and startled pedestrians/frightened livestock.

Also mine rub on and off depending on what mood they're in. I've got a Hayes alignment gauge for calliper alignment and have also made a couple of efforts to bend the rotors straight again, but it always returns.

These experiences are not limited to one brand of discs either, BB7s did much the same although at least I could back the pads off to reduce the rubbing.

It must be something to do with riding/braking style, weight or simple OCD like the OP, as I'm frankly amazed at the number of people who claim no issues and no problems with squeel or noise.

My dad also got a disc braked roady and he also hates the thing because of the discs, although it sounds like he got some dodgy leaky Shimanos, rather than a wet weather braking issue.

Would love to borrow a bike from a disc brake believer and see if it's just me or if there really is such a thing as a perfect road bike disc brake set up.

For now I'm sticking to long drop callipers or cantilevers 8)

I'm coming round to the thinking that TRP spyres don't wear well. The return spring isn't strong and the internal bearing can get gritty in short order, especially if you run them all year round.

You then end up with a wobbly brake lever and having to adjust the brake tension to take up more cable.

MTB's with QR axles suffered the same problem IME so it's worth getting a thru axle setup if you do go discs. The QR seems to never settle the axle in the exact same place after removing the wheel.

The worst thing is the squeeling, as the discs never really warm up, if it's a wet day or there's just a lot of puddles about the water seems to just sit on the disc until I try to brake, cue hellish squeeling and startled pedestrians/frightened livestock.

Same here with my commuting route. Only really brake gently for traffic lights as there's only 40 ft of elevation change in 4 miles! When my hybrid with Deore discs was written off in a RTC I replaced it with a v-braked utility-style bike and I've only had to replace all the pads once in 1500 miles with no squeal or juddering once in all that time. I've since bought a gravel/adventure bike with cable discs as was going to move that onto commuting duties later this year but I tried using it for a week and the brake squeal from glazing was horrific, works fine on road/cyclepath routes though as the brakes get up to temp.

I've got Hy/Rds on my winter bike and have done about 3000km with them, mostly in Scottish winter conditions and haven't had the problems you describe. Likewise my wife's shimano hydro setup.

A couple of things spring to mind that could be causing your issues:
- If the cable tension on the brakes is set too tight the pads don't return properly. The actuating arm on the caliper has a lock-knob - if that can't screw in your cable might be too tight.

- I had a similar persistent disc-rubbing problem on my old hardtail and it turned out that the caliper was moving on the frame due to knackered bolts. New caliper bolts fixed that.

Apologies if you've checked those tings already but both are easy fixes.

RS685s on my Giant Defy advanced (quick release not through axle)

No rubbing, less wear, no need to adjust them as they wear and better feel, no squealing (my MTB discs do from time to time).

The caliper pads on my old Defy used to wear out monthly in the winter where as the disc pads on the new Defy lasted best part of a year before needing replacing.

On the new bike the shimano disc brakes were easily the most noticeable benefit of going from a sub £1000 road bike to a ~£2500 road bike. I would nnot buy a road bike again without them.

The bikes are Ok, its the people that bang on about them that are annoying.

Pretty much assured that a thread asking about them is going to contain people "banging on" about them!

mduncombe, do you know what pads your brakes are running?

What is your riding style? i.e. would you do a lot of miles in the cold and wet with minimal braking or is it more country miles with occasional big descents where the brake might get a chance to warm up?

I've had Juin (cable operated hyd) discs for just under a year and the only rub I get is when I shift between wheelsets. But you can adjust bite....no problem with wear!

RS685s on my Giant Defy advanced (quick release not through axle)
No rubbing, less wear, no need to adjust them as they wear and better feel, no squealing (my MTB discs do from time to time).

Likewise. Only 4 months of use and not big mileage but they've been trouble free so far.

I'm still fairly neutral about them. I don't do massive road mileage and avoid riding in filthy weather - I'm was still on the original pads and cables on my old bike after 8 years. I suspect the disc brakes will need more maintenance than that. There's definitely loads of power and the modulation isn't bad but I don't remember it lacking on the rim brakes.

no trouble with 785's on my Defy Advanced Pro either-work perfectly, look great, no rim wear.

If the cable tension on the brakes is set too tight the pads don't return properly. The actuating arm on the caliper has a lock-knob - if that can't screw in your cable might be too tight.

Another good call and something worth checking. I know I do run the cable quite 'tight' otherwise the levers pull back to the bars without doing much in the way of stopping. When I set them up (prior to dropping it to a bike shop) I did have to move the arm up the cable a bit to take up the slack. Maybe this is causing the issue, although if I don't do that, I don't have any brakes. The RS685's are a mystery though, and squeal like a banshee. Maybe I'm just really hard on kit, but I try to keep it clean and running well so who knows!

The noise is annoying but no rubbing issues on my Grade (has the 105 level hydros, forget what model exactly) with around 140km a week back Lane commute with some weekend off road.

I had always assumed the squealing was oil splashing up off the road, as it never really happens off road.

I've had BB7s on my Amazon for 7 years and had them on a Kona Sutra before that. Yes, they can squeal a little if the disk gets contaminated (this seemed to be a feature of town commuting) but getting them properly hot every couple of weeks would sort that out. Other than that, never a problem. If I ever change my road bike, it'll have disks - no question.

I only owned my RS685s for around a year but in that time they didn't rub and didn't wear out the pads. Think I covered around 2000 miles. It does sound like something is wrong with your setup.

I had always assumed the squealing was oil splashing up off the road, as it never really happens off road.

I could believe that, however in my experience contaminated pads make a racket come rain or shine, the problems I and others appear to be experiencing are just when discs are wet.

My BB5's certainly seem to need more fiddling around with than calipers. I hate the fact you can't easily alter the rubbing on the fly either. However, so far my Shimano hydros have been a lot better. To some extent I guess you get what you pay for.

They all rub in my experience (QR's), worst thing about discs IMO.

No rubbing on mine (11spd 105, don't know the proper code for them off the top of my head).

As shall henceforce be known as the "Xmas pudding brandy method" - I sprayed disk brake cleaner on my disks and set fire to it - this got rid of the honking. (For which I thank the LBS man in Solent Cycles for the tip)

Katie and I have commuted round London on disc brake equipped bikes for years. Road oil is definitely a problem over time that's going to affect road bikes discs. We were usually riding Hope and the problem was usually a gradual loss of power - they still work but lose their sharpness.

Some brakes squeal when dry, some when wet.

Never had any ongoing issues, once it was a pain in the butt to re-align but a keen eye and few tweaks, it sorted it, no different to to odd niggle with the mtb if I’ve messed with the wheel.
Can be a bit annoying when their noisy but I guess if your into MTBing, you’re going to be used to the odd ‘pig squeal’ now and again, due to the constant washing down, if you get it caked up and use it off road that is, but it does have it’s advantages, walkers can hear you coming so they soon shift!
I ride mostly on my own (not in roadie chain gangs) so having keener brakes is not going to effect anyone else, plus I use it in winter and for commuting, so having keener brakes does benefit me in comparison to the traditional roadie brakes and gives me more confidence coming down hills.

I did 2 years commuting just under 40 miles a day across London on a disc equipped road bike. I found it fine in the dry, but because there was nowhere that I needed to brake for any sustained period they gradually lost power, and then in the wet would take some time to stop. The only time the brakes properly inspired confidence was after doing the Gravel Dash 50:50 with a couple of long downhills which clearly put some heat into pads and discs and improved braking significantly.
I have a Fargo with SRAM HRD brakes which I find great - but I use it off road a lot, and don't solely use it on road.
I'm of 2 minds - I do get frustrated at wearing through rims on my road and CX bikes, and sometimes with poor wet weather braking using rim brakes, but I also use discs on other bikes, and don't really have a problem with them apart from that above.

On the advice of the Singletrack sages, I fitted some DTSwiss RWS skewers on my QR disc set-up. Much stiffer, and it immediately solved the rubbing disc issues on my Juin Tech (cable actuated hydro) brakes. Worth a try OP?

Nope not for me.

Over 3000miles on my RS685s and somehow got plenty of pad life left on the originals, I only checked them as I thought it must be time by now (wet\dry\road\gravel). Only road bike disc brake orientated issue I've generally found is glazing of pads when not used in wet\gritty conditions occasionally, light once over with sandpaper fixes that.

Had very minor rubbing on rear when sprinting which was fixed by upgrading to 10mm through axle (DT RWS as above). TBH I would've preferred through axles front and rear from the start anyway so wasn't a surprise.

Strange question but do you run mudguards?. I've found it makes a massive difference to any bikes wear and tear if used in all weathers (especially winter when roads are salted). Any type of brakes or gears seem to suffer, anything with pivots or seals. Makes it a lot easier to keep it clean too, which makes a big difference. Just replaced my 3000+mile old chain on the same bike with mudguards, could've run it for longer but didnt want to risk snapping or wearing chainrings (longest mileage I've had on a chain).

A per previous post earlier in thread the TRP HyRds you have are good if setup correctly but set up poorly are a pain. The screw in check is important. I too over tightened the cables to stop the levers going to the bar - kind of the lazy fix. A bleed and re-setup with a bit more care and they are sharp to the feel with a short enough lever throw and the actuator lever properly positioned (so the locking nut can go straight in). Some lever don't work well with them though, older shimano levers with different cable pull ratios particularly. It pays to read the instructions with these rather than just wing it because you've done enough fettling you think you know it all (this was me).

Whilst mine are fine I would never buy them now. When I got mine fully hydro road levers were only just arriving and super spendy. With them appearing in the mid range groupsets now HyRDs make no sense now as a new purchase. A weird mutant idea that came and went in a blink an eye... they are to road biking what the under stay U brake (remember them) was to mountain biking.

No rubbing on mine (11spd 105, don't know the proper code for them off the top of my head).

This, with through axles too.

My ht/rd only make problems on the grade when I take a wheel out, few minutes faff with qr tensions and I get them not rubbing

I ran BB7s on my commuting bike for 9 or 10 years. They were OK, but I had problems with corrosion and found they needed regular fiddling to stop rubbing and maintain performance.

I switched to Hy-Rds a few years ago, and the hydraulic action and self centering have been a big improvement. I did have a problem with one of the front pistons not retracting fully, and the discs slightly rubbing when I got out of the saddle. Bleeding and cleaning didn't seem to make any difference. I contacted TRP (brakes well out of warranty by now) just to ask for advice, and they immediately sent me a new set. The pistons appear to have changed on the newer model, and they've behaved pretty well, but the slight disc rub still occurs sometimes on the front brake.

I wasn't happy with the lever travel on the Hy-Rds. As someone else mentioned above, there's far too much travel, and I had to pull the levers right in to actuate the brake. I got a great tip to fix this from an internet blog. If you remove the cable clamp plate and refit on the underside of the caliper arm, you can clamp the cable on the inside of the clamp bolt instead of the outside. This changes the actuation so you get full braking with "normal" lever movement. A colleague of mine actually tried this out yesterday after I mentioned it to him, and was effusive about the improvement in the brake feel.

At some point I'll upgrade from 9 speed groupset and I'll be looking at full hydros as the end game, but for now I find the Hy-Rds a good solution, and much better than calipers on the work bike.

I haven't read the whole thread through but if the grade has QR wheels then I'd check that first, I bought some aksium disc wheels for my commuter and the QRs couldn't hold the back wheel straight in the frame with my massive power. Had to nick the shimano skewers off my old bike and that sorted it.

18 months on discs for me, bit of a faff, but for all weather commuting I wouldn't go back to rim brakes. For a leisure bike that would be ridden when the weather was nice and roads were quiet I'd not be too bothered either way

My BB5 has been much better since I changed to sintered pads and replaced the rear cable/outer, that does go offroad in all weathers so isn't really a road bike, still rubs now and then but hasn't required as much adjustment...

I just fitted a cheap tektro MTB cable caliper on the front of my commuter, along with long pull levers and that seems to perform much better than I expected, time will tell of course.

I had always assumed the squealing was oil splashing up off the road, as it never really happens off road.

The plot thickens. Took the bike off the car this morning ready to ride in, checked the back QR was tight and realigned the caliper in the car park before setting off. Got to work and the back wheel was dragging again. Checked the QR and it had loosened off again, despite being 'bastard' tight 20 miles previously. Which leads me to 2 potential conclusions 1) My mega wattage is pulling the back wheel out the dropout or 2) The QR is goosed/not up to the job. As much as I'd like to believe its 1), I'm pretty certain it's probably more likely to be 2) and therefore I'm looking at those DT skewers this morning.

Good tip on changing the way the cable tightens against the arm, will give that a try tonight too. For reference I'm running them with compression-less cables and 5800 levers so in theory they should work OK.

Sram Rival hydros here which although not as bad as Avids I have owned , are still not as good as the Ultegras a couple of my mates are running. Mine seem to decide to drag or squeal at random points in a ride while the Shimano gang appear to have no such problem.
However I still find the predictability of discs preferable to the "will they, won't they" of rim brakes in the wet.

KCR, any pics of what you mean about bolting the cable up differently?
My TRP cables have been a pain, reducing lever throw and taking up slack means nobrakes so set them back up as stock and they work much better, winding the pads in seems a better option. I don't get much rub but pads are nearly gone in 2 wet weeks use, admittedly alot of brake dragging on fireroads.

Whilst mine are fine I would never buy them now. When I got mine fully hydro road levers were only just arriving and super spendy. With them appearing in the mid range groupsets now HyRDs make no sense now as a new purchase.

I'd second that - I got the Hy/Rds for the same reasons, would get 105 hydro now for sure.

It's been mentioned but I always use soft/organic pads - just don't get the wear on that bike that the mtb has to put up with.

105 level Hydros here (the ones with the ugly/uncomfortable hoods) on my Arkose 3.

They are very temperamental, and prone to squealing/fading if they are contaminated in any way.
I swapped the sintered pads which came with them for cheapo Shimano resin versions which have been better.
I also swapped the rear disc for a new Shimano which has also helped.

Observations I've made -
They are very fussy about contamination - one stray speck of chain lube and they scream like a banshee. I've now taken to spraying them with brake cleaner after a dirty road ride.

I don't seam to get enough braking power from the hoods to really bed the pads in. There is a very steep decent near me which I use for 'conditioning' my brakes - if I brake from the hoods I don't get enough force to kill off any squeals - brake from the drops and it sorts it.

They seam to work better if they regularly get hot.

If/when the planets align, and everything works well they are awesome, especially in wet weather.

I'd not buy another bike with these brakes. However I understand the next level up 'Ultegra' brakes are a different design, so would be interested to try them.

As a comparison, my MTB often doesn't get ridden for one month to the next - the 3 year old Deore brakes sometime give the odd chirp early in a ride, then stop me like race-car brakes.

[i]Checked the QR and it had loosened off again[/i]

I was gonna ask, are they DT? Then you said you're looking at getting DT?! DT are the only skewers I've ever had come loose! Shimano or Mavic, you need.

Mavic are also shoot IME. Shimano or nothing for me.

Nothing didn't work very well though.

DezB - current ones are Mavic! Shimano next up then!

These

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/252618520831?lpid=122&chn=ps&adgroupid=40208335658&rlsatarget=pla-276891040027&adtype=pla&poi=&googleloc=9045542&device=c&campaignid=738217568&crdt=0

Thanking you! Will buy some now!

OP, it seems that you are not the only person with problems related to tight cable adjustment causing rubbing and rapid pad wear.
Check this [url= http://https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/trp-hyrd-brakes.207125/ ]other cycling forum[/url]

12 months and probably 1500 miles of really gritty crap all over mine and no issues.

I hard to realign the caliper after i was hit by a minibus but I don't think i can blame the brakes for that.

FWIW I've got through 3 or 4 pairs of pads in 12 months and 9000 miles.

Generally use standard shimano resin pads.