Hydraulic Disc Brakes

one of the main advantages of disc brakes over drum brakes is the way a squeezing action guarantees virtual zero loading of bearings.

but ordinary push bike brakes work like this already

plus with ordinary brakes the effective disc size is the size of the wheel rim. bigger is better alright.

Hydraulics sound great; but how much better than cables with 3 ball bearing races per set of callipers? (that's a race on the central pivot plus a race on each cable-attachment pivot.)

I follow the rule that if the boys in the Tour-de-France use it it might well be a worthwhile and reliable innovation.....

I find discs grabby, delivering less than their promise. Rigidity is everything ... just like machine tools. You can't get better than applying the braking force to the rim and avoiding the flexure of the spoking.

That'll be two cents please...

i have shimano saint disc brakes on my mountain bike w/ 8" rotors and i find them very sufficient for what kind of riding i do
the brakes modulate very well which was a problem with previous models i have used BUT i have had some problems too!
the bleeding of the rear brake is an extreme pain in the @$$ when first setting it up

and i have also broken the clamp part of my front brake handle most likely due to tightening and loosening it too many times(couldnt decide on handlebars)

on the other hand one of my other bikes has rim type brakes. shimano deore V-brakes to be exact
and when you squeeze down hard the wheels can lock up even on pavement

another thing you should consider is that the hard palstic/teflon lines that come with the brakes were never intended to handle any high speed vibrations. just something to consider. i have worn a hole in a front brake line before because the line was rubbing across the lower headset race when steering

p.s.

hose breakage= total brake failure
cable breakage = total brake failure