Rim Brakes for the Win: 3 Things I Can't Stand About Disc Brakes 

Couldn't agree more. I'm still running Dura Ace calipers with a good set of alloy rims. I've never needed anything else. Simple, practical, efficient, cheap and hassle free. I'm not a disc brake hater. The way I ride, I just don't need them. In my case they would provide no benefits, but rather a good deal of problems I don't have now.

@@joseluisrodriguezvazquez6082 Rim brakes should still be the standard on entry-level road bikes IMO. I understand why you'd want to use disc with carbon wheelsets, but I don't understand the benefit (unless pricing people out of the hobby is considered a benefit).

...and the amount of maintenance is a big thing - and expensive. In my experience rim brakes can maintenance free for long stretches, but if they require a tune up - you can do it yourself.

​@Hugh23132 unless you are completely incompetetent disc brakes are easy to maintain

@@Pellagrah Even on Carbon Wheels, if you have a good brake track it's not a problem.

hahaha - I thought you knew by now. I'll take anything

sold out - i feel like a child again hearing this 'sold out' statement every time a hiphop guy finally monetize his work. Build your own yt channel, bare looks from your wife who would prefer you chasing children than trying to build out your dream...and then let's talk about selling out.

@kamilk6807 Um... new to the channel? Clearly you didn't understand the joke. Maybe, instead of being angry at everything, stop & ask the question. When the channel owner jumps on & gets it, maybe being offended on his behalf isn't the best option?

@@adamjd7645 angry? i stated my perspective and said 'let's talk then'. Did I attack you? I haven't. I hope you didn't see it this way.

@kamilk6807 Fair enough. Sounded angry though. 👍

On the bright side, they are cheaper when found. I'm looking for new wheels and temporarily got really excited by some greatly reduced in price only to discover they are rim brake.

I have 3 sets of wheels 1 Fulcrum, 1 Alex and some 3T's, the latter I bought @ Xmas, they can be found and manufacturers know a lot of bikes are out there still on rim brakes

Just buy winspace wheels, so damn good

winspace and elite wheels are very good, no reason to pay silly figures for same tech like other brands

As a rim brake fan, I must admit disc's are just objectively better! But as an engineer I can also tell you, most people and even most mechanic's in the cycling industry just don't know what they are doing

Disc brakes perhaps may be objectively better when they are working properly but seems like a lot of messing about to keep them tuned. One greasy rain ride and you’re possibly replacing pads and rotors or at the very least spending quite a lot of time fiddling with them to get them working again. I was almost a disc brake convert until this video…

@@tenspeedtearsThey aren’t that sensitive. I rode for three years before I had to replace the rotors

@@tenspeedtears I live in one of the most hilly places. I bleed my brakes once per year (literally 10 minute job if you know what you're doing). I haven't needed to swap my pads yet. I ride around 7000 miles / year or 12-14 hours / week. I'd call that very low maintenance. I've also heard my discs squeak only once, which was about 4-5 times less than my rim brake carbon wheels under heavy braking in a summer day.

Yes I'm still on RB's...I luv (not love but luv 🤪) the idea of discs BUT the simplicity of rim brakes is just a no-brainer...it's a crime against humanity that discs have been forced onto a road bike imo

Yup this is better since the "coat them in brake cleaner and set them on fire" method won't really get them hot enough to evaporate the contaminating lubricant (since the brake cleaner is evaporating super fast). You don't need a blowtorch either if you happen to have a gas stove then even easier: just fetch some tongs and off you go.

make no mistake disc brakes cannot take much abuse in the rain either, and you can wear the pads or warp rotors especially if overweight very easily. Just google "cycling in rain disc brake warped, noise" and see the people just suffering because they met some rain.. peak road bikes anyway were around 2018-2019, most aero, lightweight possible and proper rim brakes (with right pads., eg blue pads from swiss stop on alu rims is just the bomb in bad weather conditions).

It's called modulation. And decent rim brakes will still lock up your wheels. And you don't have to adjust hydraulic. Once they are set up, they do their thing. Just like in your car or motorcycle.

You dont own a bike with the latest 12spd di2 dura ace do you? Absolute FAFF CITY with the brakes. They STILL didnt get it right. @@DaveCM

@@DaveCM I know how to modulate my brakes, and no, hydraulic brakes are not set and forget. In theory they should be, but if they really were we wouldn't have so many RU-vid tutorials on how to fiddle with them. My brakes are set up such that it's almost impossible to lock the front wheel with my weight on the bike, and the rear will lock only if I'm hard on the front as well. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to brake hard enough to accomplish that. It's called riding within one's ability to stop. Do you want your brakes to be able to lock your wheels? I don't. Aircraft have had anti-lock brakes for many decades, and pretty much all new cars and trucks have them. Many motorcycles as well. Why do you think that's the case? In an emergency maneuver, a thing that will manifest itself for us all at some point, the last thing you want is locked wheels. With brakes that cannot lock the wheels, that part of the survival equation is solved. Maximal braking power at full application, and no lockup.

@@DaveCM With hydraulic disc brakes you have to replace pads, rotors and do that bloody bleeding and dispose of the oil/DOT filth. With rim brakes it's only pads. As a reward for the additional PITA hydraulic disc brakes cost considerably more. That's one step forward, three backwards.

good rule❤

Giant still offering rim brakes thank god

I know your solution, but dare I say it out loud?

@@TheRimBrakeGuy Sure go ahead ^^

Good thing you can just rotate them and avoid the lip

@@janeblogs324 A small lip still forms on the outside of most rotors (as pads are often optimised for maximum braking surface, and the edge is often wavy) which would throw your measurement using verniers. An outside micrometer is the correct tool but of course vernier's are better than nothing. When the difference between a new and worn rotor is 0.30mm then a small (say, one half of a tenth of a mm) is significant.

@@lenolenoleno you rotate the calipers to avoid the lip. This isn't rocket science man

​@@janeblogs324 Except you can't avoid the lip on the majority of rotors, especially ones not on DH bikes. I'm sorry basic engineering/doing things the right way scared you into thinking a $10 tool for a usefully more accurate measurement is "rocket science".

judo chop?

​@@CamNicholls Kinda. The spanner is adjusted to the thickness of the roto and used to gently bring it back to true. BTW, I went through the second scenario last year after my bike was nicked and recovered. Don't waste any time trying to restore the pads if they've been oil soaked (this includes pavement treatments). Saved hours when the rear brake went out by heading to the LBS for replacement pads. One last thing: If your brakes get "squishy" bleed them immediately. Just like you would do for a soft pedal on your car. I had a loose bleed screw and my brakes failed on the front. Wasn't a fun ride, but ten minutes at the shop and all was well.

Yes I think the main change introduced by disc brakes is not the braking but the bigger tires. Funnily enough, there's absolutely no reason that manufacturers can't make rim brakes for larger tires. That has always been a thing for commuter bikes, there just wasn't a demand for it on road bikes.

You can have wide tyre clearance with rim brakes if you have the right calipers. My new steel retro road bike has clearance for 37mm tyres. But the push for light and aero carbon wheels and aero integrated cables warrant R&D budgets to go into discs and hydraulics. I had a road/gravel bike with hydro discs but I went back to rim brakes for weight and simplicity. I just hope manufacturers will continue to leave options open for people who prefer rim brakes.

28mm on TCR rim brake

in my case, every 18 months or so. This is with regularly digging crap out of the pads etc. It depends how much it rains where you are i think. Discs were a godsend for me.

I'd say it's probably dependant on terrain and braking behaviour. QLD in very lumpy with a lot of rain so perhaps people are chewing into them more. Jay is also secretly in bed with the disc brake mainstream and wants to sell more pads. haha.

@@CamNicholls Robbie said if you are using the brakes you are doing it wrong.

I have 36.000 km on my rim brakes and is good for another12 000 km. I do 12 000 km a year

Wrong. It's a solution to a problem we introduced (carbon brake tracks)

if you want carbon rims then you want disc brakes.

@@8rk World tour riders were decending mountains at twice the speed of us mortals on carbon wheels with carbon brake tracks for 15 years with no problem... It was never a problem, its just marketing and guilible people.

@@uhohDavinci Yeah on closed roads.

@@uhohDavinci On closed roads and pros who know how to descend. Most people on carbon rim brake wheels descend like well... roadies. Dragging the brakes the whole way down. Whoever things pads scraping on resin and carbon is better than pad on a metal rotor is delusional. It also means you don't need "race day" wheels, you can ride your nice carbons wheels year round without issue.

28 easily on rim.

28mm easy on rim, and you can still get Shimano 12sp on rim just FYI... (e.g. R8150 12s Di2)

Most people wouldn't wear out rim in a lifetime.

pray you dont have to adjust them!!

10 grit? Is that a typo?

It is on pads. What difference does the grit make? It is a light sanding to get grime off the pads.

Had carbon rims and rim brakes for years and years with loads of miles done . Never got anywhere remotely near to wearing through a braking surface, and it feels like the scale of this rim brake drawback’ is blown out of proportion .

@@888julianman depends on where you live I'm in Ireland so it's pretty wet most of the time lol

R7000 rim is your best solution

Easy fix if they do

@@steveco1800yes, about as easy as disc brakes, but that wasn't the point of the statement.

@@kpizzle1985 I was agreeing it is possible they rub, but was pointing out it’s less trouble to fix. It is less frequent if you have them setup well and wheels trued properly, and if something happens out on the ride usually just a few turns of the barrel adjuster (and easy to fix properly when home). Discs can start rubbing after heat buildup warping the rotor out of true, or one of the pistons becomes less active. My 2015 SRAM Rival brakes had this issue quite often and you’re not easily fixing a sticky piston on the road. GRX has been much better, but still needs careful adjustment occasionally. The pad clearance on road discs is less than MTB, and many times less than rim brakes, so they’re more sensitive to issues. I have had much less trouble with MTB discs, even my first in 2007 (Formula Oro K24).

You aren’t and it takes seconds to fix. It’s just content at this point. I have a rim brake bike that I still enjoy riding but I won’t ride it in group rides to avoid other rim brake weirdos trying to make it their identity

Rim brake weirdos 😮

Shimano disc brakes have servo-wave actuation, they pull further away from the rotor when you release the lever. It's a godsend on MTB brakes if you do a lot of DH and/or enduro riding, since you're generally getting your rotors hot enough to cook on when going down some downhills.

I do have brand new Ultegra Di2 and I had bend rotor within first 500km... Luckily It is not a real issue though as the gap between pad and rotor is wide enough to accommodate a bit of a bend.

I don't either. I've had a road bike with the original 11 speed Red Etap for years now. I have had disc brakes on my gravel bikes for years now, and have three bikes with disc brakes. I've never had the amount of issues that people make it out to be. There was a bit if of a learning curve, but it had been a non-issue.

How on earth does a road bike eat rotors and pads that fast? I have an enduro MTB with gigantic 203mm rotors and 4 piston brakes on both ends and I usually only need to replace rear pads about every 6 months, front pads once a year and I can usually get 18months to 2 years out of a set of rotors. And I ride a fair bit of park which is hard on brakes.

What disc brake bikes have you ridden. I don't feel there is an imbalance.

But on the flip side, I wouldn't have forked out for carbon rims if I still had rim brakes, but I've got them on the new disc brake bike and my goodness they feel nice to me.

@@DaveCMsupersix himod with ultegra, 2023 version

Yes, well played!

Terrible luck

You’re the special one

lol, ok.

More Chance of being struck by lightning but ok

How does asymmetrical brakes make frames compensate differently from asymmetrical transmissions? If the unsymmetrical nature of parts effects the frame build what makes brakes different from drivetrain?

@@SurvivalistMedia your adding another area that needs restructuring. Drivetrains are already integral to the design. Brakes is a matter of choice as to which is better. The intent is to make bikes lighter, clean and more aerodynamic.

No need, they aren't that expensive, once they've gotten a little too warped or bent they're probably worn out anyway. I can get 203mm Shimano ice techs for under $40USD a rotor all day every day, and I usually only need to replace rotors maybe once every 2 years.

There is an attachment for park tool wheel truing stands that shows rotor runout/warp. Been around for ten years or so

correct 3 pounds year!!😂 versus 250 pounds price