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And disk breaks are almost impossible to maintain for 'regular' people. Having these integrated brakes, shifters adds too much complexity. Many people would n

by jmclnx 4y ago

And disk breaks are almost impossible to maintain for 'regular' people. Having these integrated brakes, shifters adds too much complexity. Many people would need to have the bicycle shop maintain the bicycle and a rather decent cost. Older bikes with separate sifters, breaks handles and brake pads can be maintained by almost anyone. When commuting, you are not in a race, but just poke along around 10mph (~16kph). Plus if you have issues on your commute, you can quickly fix (or jury rig) it yourself with only a minimal set of tools.

osigurdson 4y ago
>> And disk breaks are almost impossible to maintain for 'regular' people This may be true for hydraulic disc brakes but cable actuated are by far the easiest to maintain.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  I guess I grew up in a different time when people weren't completely helpless with mechanical stuff, but bleeding the disc brakes on a car is not a difficult job for a backyard mechanic, and people have been doing this for decades. The hydraulic brakes on newer bikes aren't much different, and aren't that hard to do with a $20 bleed kit from Amazon. They are a bit more finicky in my experience than car brakes, but it's not something you have to do very often; I just replaced the fluid on my road bike after 4 years and it still looks like new.
exabrial 4y ago
How exactly are they impossible to maintain? You literally remove one cotter pin, take old pads out, put new ones in and you’re done. They self align. They wear themselves in. Clincher brakes are nearly impossible to get aligned and to pull straight. They stretch over time and as the brakes wear they have to be adjusted to maintain what little power they have.
alanfranz 4y ago
Mountain bikes still use separate pieces. It’s the road bikes that are highly integrated (and more costly). If you can put mtb components on your bike you’ll save a lot of money. Spoiler: on my dropbar tourism bike I was lucky enough to have post mount brake connectors, so I bought mtb (deore) calipers, saving considerable money over almost identical road calipers.
ofalkaed 4y ago
Brifters are not anymore complex than separate brake/shifters and quite robust, you need no special tools or skills. These are not disc centric. Cable pull discs are no different than rim brakes when it comes the maintenance.
thefz 4y ago
It is incredibly easy to screw up cantilever brakes as well. Braking, yes. But doing it safely and efficiently? no.
jjav 4y ago
> And disk breaks are almost impossible to maintain for 'regular' people. Can you expand on what you perceive as difficult? Sure, some people don't want to maintain anything themselves (that's fine, that's why bike shops exist), but assuming one wants to do it, bike disk brakes are easy. Swapping pads is super easy and if the use case is "poke along around 10mph" they will last thousands of miles. If they are hydraulic you'll need to bleed them once every few years but again that's pretty easy.

by jmclnx 4y ago

osigurdson 4y ago

>> And disk breaks are almost impossible to maintain for 'regular' people This may be true for hydraulic disc brakes but cable actuated are by far the easiest to maintain.

midoridensha 4y ago
I guess I grew up in a different time when people weren't completely helpless with mechanical stuff, but bleeding the disc brakes on a car is not a difficult job for a backyard mechanic, and people have been doing this for decades. The hydraulic brakes on newer bikes aren't much different, and aren't that hard to do with a $20 bleed kit from Amazon. They are a bit more finicky in my experience than car brakes, but it's not something you have to do very often; I just replaced the fluid on my road bike after 4 years and it still looks like new.

exabrial 4y ago

How exactly are they impossible to maintain? You literally remove one cotter pin, take old pads out, put new ones in and you’re done. They self align. They wear themselves in. Clincher brakes are nearly impossible to get aligned and to pull straight. They stretch over time and as the brakes wear they have to be adjusted to maintain what little power they have.

alanfranz 4y ago

Mountain bikes still use separate pieces. It’s the road bikes that are highly integrated (and more costly). If you can put mtb components on your bike you’ll save a lot of money. Spoiler: on my dropbar tourism bike I was lucky enough to have post mount brake connectors, so I bought mtb (deore) calipers, saving considerable money over almost identical road calipers.

ofalkaed 4y ago

Brifters are not anymore complex than separate brake/shifters and quite robust, you need no special tools or skills. These are not disc centric. Cable pull discs are no different than rim brakes when it comes the maintenance.

thefz 4y ago

It is incredibly easy to screw up cantilever brakes as well. Braking, yes. But doing it safely and efficiently? no.

jjav 4y ago

> And disk breaks are almost impossible to maintain for 'regular' people. Can you expand on what you perceive as difficult? Sure, some people don't want to maintain anything themselves (that's fine, that's why bike shops exist), but assuming one wants to do it, bike disk brakes are easy. Swapping pads is super easy and if the use case is "poke along around 10mph" they will last thousands of miles. If they are hydraulic you'll need to bleed them once every few years but again that's pretty easy.