The Winter of 2007-2008 was the first time I ever used disc brakes on a bike of my own.
I was a rim brake hold out, convinced they were as good as discs...you just needed to jump through some hoops, like dragging your brakes after every time your wheels get wet to squeegee them dry so you don't get ice build up and your brake work to some degree.
After a particularly atrocious Winter ride I gave up, broke down and bought discs.
Fortunately my rear wheel was already disc compatible so I only needed to build a front wheel (not having any disc brake wheels handy probably kept me on the fence so long).
I put them on, rode them for the Winter, and as soon as Spring had Sprung, took them off. I was never really happy with how the performed, but that might just have been because they were Juicy 5s.
Flash forward, and my Swift can't even run rim brakes. But even if it could this is the time of year where disc really are superior. Yesterday was actually a pretty dry ride, but every drop of moisture that came in contact with my bike froze to it. Air temp was in the high twenties (Fahrenheit), the ground was solid, but the standing water hadn't froze yet. Rim brake would have worked, but in retrospect would have been a pain in the ass.
5 comments:
I adopted disks brakes in 1999 and never looked back. All Hayes hydraulics except on the Dean 'cross bike I built up. To date, I don't think anybody has come out with a hydraulic road STI lever. Never had a failure. Very infrequent maintenance needed, maybe a bleed every few years. Salty road riding can gum up the works though. Usually I have to take the calipers apart in December to clean out corrosion before starting another winter season of riding. Mechanicals might be better in this regard.
I just put Hayes Stroker Grams on my bike this year and love them. So much easier to set up than Avids. Pads seem to wear a little better too.
I have Stroker's on my dualie and GF 29er. Single finger operation is all that is needed even on the steepest descents.
Did you happen to notice if the water folk were out giving parking tickets at Nass? I hear thats been an issue lately.
We parked at Sessions Woods, but CB1 says they are not ticketing anymore. I don't see what the big deal is about parking at Sessions though,
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