Can aluminium rim brakes ever be as good as disc brakes in the wet?

I guess many factors need to

I guess many factors need to be considered in a balanced way….. personally you choose which you prefer and whether you are in need of the “next big thing” in cycling.

From my perspective from the workshop floor….

How about the additional cost replacing freewheel bearings. thru axles reduce the space available for the bearing, hence bearings sometimes only last 1000 miles maximium.

Cost of organic pads that work best in the dry but disintigrate at the first sign of rain. 

Extra hassle cleaning the bike…. which is subjective to how OCD you are

If rim brakes get splashed with chain lube their performance will not be affected provided the oil is washed off, do the same with disc brakes and another set of pads is required or they don’t work.

Discs require constant heavy use to remove any contaminant, the amount of pads which will be replaced… kerrrchiing….

Dread to think how dangerous disc brakes would be on a road bike in heavy rain.

And finally…. tyres.. can they take the extra loads on heavy braking…. wide MTB tyres spread the load..a set of 23/25’s I have my doubts over

My perspective from in the saddle….  I’m sticking with rim brakes and decent pads personally…

Whatever, you pays yer money and takes your choice

Also to consider……..

Also to consider……..

What sort of terain does your cycling generally take you through? Discs probably hold a bigger advantage over rims if you live in the Lake District than if you live in East Anglia. I live in the latter & spend most of my time trolling along flattish roads, straightish roads with little by the way of hedges and as such (stupid as it may sound) breaking doesnt have a high priority and my rim breaks more than meet my requirements. When I took my self of touring (with a camping load) through bits of the country that had nothing but hills and the roads upon which I traveled where narrow, twisting and bound by high hedges I appreciated the extra ‘modulation’ that my disc breaks provided [That said…… The first time I used disks & encontered that famous ‘modulation’ I was strongly reminded of how a well set up pair of centre pull brakes would feel – one of these days I’ll find a frame on which I can mount my old Mafac’s & test that memory out]

And – your brakes place in your world extends beyond retardation…. Maintainence is much easier with rim brakes & from what I’ve read just swapping wheels can be a bit of a pain with disks due to subtlety different disk alignments. If you only need one wheel set than that’s <obviously!> no problem but as soon as you want to have different sets for different occasions it’ll start to niggle every sodding time you fancy swapping them over.

I guess these debates have

I guess these debates have been going on in some form or another since the Safety or Rover bicycle first appeared in the 1880s much to the disgust of the pro cyclists, racers and established cycling community of the time who looked down on the “dwarf machines” from atop their “ordinarys”.

I think it would be fair to say that every cyclist currently using disc brakes has experience of rim brakes. Generally they find discs better for any number of reasons.

It would appear that the die hard disc haters have little / no experience of actually using a technology that they are passionate about despising.

In my experience both rim and disc brakes do the job, but personally I definitely prefer the disc.

Danger Dicko wrote:

This thread has turned in to a mong off.

Cycling has turned into a mong off.

I sort of get where

I sort of get where SuperPython is coming from, and I have a rim-braked road bike that I am not likely to be getting rid of any time soon. But that said, when you pull the lever in the wet with discs, you’re braking, not setting the scene for some braking a bit later on.  That is just better, and TBH I don’t really see why anyone who’s ridden discs would argue that it isn’t. That alone is a big plus to me for urban riding in particular, and that’s before you get into rim wear.