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Rim brakes in mountainous regions
Currently I am plannign a number of bike packing trips to Sumatra and North Vietnam with my Giant TCR advanced. I will be riding through rather steep mountainous terrain, not always very good roads and the possibility of getting caught in the rain while descending is always there. My dilemma is wether the ultegra 6800 rim brakes would do the job or should I invest and go for disk brakes. Does anyone have experience in similar terrain with rim brakes? I would appreciate any advice regarding this matter.
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I have cycle toured many thousands of kilometres fully laden (bike and panniers > 30kg) on road bikes (with somewhat less effective brakes than ultegra) and MTB with V brakes in Australasia, Africa and Europe Both held up fine. They stop you slower than will disc brakes, and in the wet your braking distance is massively increased (probably 6x standard) but they will work. For peace of mind, I'd go discs, but they are by no means esssential. As a minimalist tourer your overall weight is probably only increased by 7-8 kg, so the effect on braking will be minimal (probably less than 10% in dry conditions)
Do you have a good handle on the quality of roads you'll be riding on? I wonder if a full-on race bike is the best choice of machine. I may be displaying my ignorance here but I wouldn't be expecting continuous asphalt in those regions. I'd be looking at a gravel bike, myself.
I wouldn't worry about disk brake maintenance, once set up they're very reliable.
The places where I want to go are connected with asphalt. My experience with Indonesia is that roads can be often new and smooth, but also old and bumpy with potholes. I will put on 28mm tires. A gravel bike might be a better option, but I like fast, multi-day, minimalist road bike trips. Also, I am not sure if I want to buy a second bike, and I don't want to sell my TCR.
So why are you asking about disc brakes ?
Generations of cyclists rode successfully down mountains in the rain using rim brakes. What's changed? The rain or the mountains?
Generations of farmers successfully ploughed their fields using a horse rather than a tractor. What's changed? The field or the mud?
I've toured over most of the mountain ranges in Europe on rim brakes, only problem I had was melting a block on a long descent in the Tirol (it was a very hot day). As you aren't carrying too much weight the Ultegras should be fine, I don't think there will be any great performance advantage to discs unless you go to hydraulic - and discs are more prone to overheating. On a bikepacking trip you shouldn't be pushing to the limit, just ride sensibly, take note of the conditions, and you won't have a problem.
Is there a way I could iprove the performance in the rain in case I have no chance to wait till it stops? Perhpas some very good brake pads would help? To be honest when I was ridig a few times in rainy days through some hilly, but not mountainous areas the ultegra brakes were OK, although their performance somewhat decreased.
Yes. Brake early to clear the water off the rims. All brakes have poorer performance when wet - disc brakes are only better because they don't get wet so quickly.
Pads are a major influence on brake performance, but everyone has their own favorites. I find the top-end Shimano ones work pretty well, but I know that many people recommend SwissStop. Use a make you are confident of and have experience with: there's nothing worse than applying brakes and finding they don't work as you expect.
Thanks, this is a good suggestion. I'll try out the SwissStop. I rode with the current Shimano ones over 5000 km, they are pretty worn off, so time to replace.
Can't offer any experience of the terrain but what I would say is that based on my experience of cable discs vs. rim brakes, unless you're likely to be riding through lots of mud, I don't think you'll find much difference. My hydraulic discs are a different matter but I guess on a bike packing trip, you don't want the hassle of potential maintenance issues?
Thanks. No, won't ride through mud. I will try to stay all the time on the asphalt (maybe I need to get through a few km of gravel, but hope the 28mm tires will do the job) and will have only about 5-6kg luggage in an Apidura saddle pack. The maintenance issue is a good point. I can't imagine that they could repair a disc break in Indonesia outside of the big cities.
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