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Rourke disc or rim brakes?
Now I know the old 'which flavour brakes' debate is a much over done one, however I'm booked in to get my 853 steel frame built at Brian rourke in a weeks time and although I have both disc and rim brakes on my other bikes I can't decide on the most suitable option for what really will be a life bike.
I'm planning to have mudguard and probably pannier fixings as I want to do longer distances/light touring, so if I did have disc brakes it would be trp spyres for ease of maintenance/repair.
Disc brakes would allow for wider tyres and enable me to use it for dirty reiver style rides, but rim brakes would make the frame £200 cheaper and possibly lighter/more maintainable for longer rides.
Feel very lucky and excited to get the frame built either way but any experiences or thoughts that may help my decision would be much appreciated. I should add it will also be used as my winter road bike. Thanks
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Just don't turn up at road races expecting to ride it.
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5 comments
Thanks for the advice all. After reading the thread on discs vs rims i was convinced rims was the way to go, now in two minds again as the comments you have made are spot on. Maybe im trying to cover too many bases with one bike. I have an emonda for hilly club rides and a genesis vagabond for more gravel based rides, i suppose i am after a more comfortable long distance road bike (and everyday cruising) so rim brakes would tick the box, but i also suppose getting disc brakes makes it more versatile. Grrŕrrr
I would suggest if you want discs, wait until the technology has standardised. Right now there's too many competing standards. You could end up with a frame that only takes outdated brakes. A bike built for you is for life, get it right.
A new tactic to prevent discs. the safety argument has been proven false again. Now insist on waiting for for the bicycle industry can manage to standardise, like casette spacings or freehub bodies or mech cable pull.
Based on potential use, I think discs are probably a better bet here.
As you are having mudguard fittings and proposing some light touring, for rim brakes you will need either long reach calipers or cantis. I have yet to find a long reach caliper that does the job adequately on a laden bike. So cantis it would have to be. These work well, within reason you can put what tyre you like on, but they are fiddly to set up initially and with the advent of discs are becoming very niche. I suspect they will become non-existent at some point in the future.
So, if only for future-proofing, I would go with disces. Having said that , discs aren't perfect (see other threads for the rim versus disc debate and all the issues with discs), but I think they would be the better option here.
If it's a bike for life and you're allowing for large tyre clearances on the frame design then I would say discs for definite, purely for the versatility factor. I made a similar decision a year ago and now have an Enigma Ecroix that's a 'keeper' - I am doing the Dirty Reiver this year and have tried both 35c's and also 1.9" tyres on a 650b wheelset, couldn't have done that with the rim brakes. As for stopping power, I have to say that my Spyes are no better than a set of Campy rim brakes that I had on my old bike, even in the wet. But obvs you could upgrade to hydraulic in the future... I'm certainly no bike guru but just my humble thoughts