Among those who've responded to the current conversation about brakes, there's a lot of fabrication experience, individually and collectively, and not just when it involves brakes and motorized bicycles. It doesn't surprise me that there's not a single comment made that I take issue with. Each of you have built bikes that are truly amazing yet still quite different. It's this diversity which holds my interest in this hobby. The eye wants what it wants and the mind finds reasons to fulfill our visual requirements accordingly. The same goes for feel as tactile input too varies rider to rider, and we each build accordingly and sense just when we've hit the sweet spot. When it comes to brakes or speed; metrics don't always win out, if they did we'd most likely all be riding the latest super bike from Ducati or name your favorite.
I'll leave auditory input out of braking requirements because none of us likes brake squeal or grind regardless of brake type.
In summation the bikes I put the most miles on all have disc brakes both front and rear. I have others with disc and coaster and drum with coaster combinations. My favorite look is board track style with no brakes. My least favorite, appearance wise, are discs front and rear. So metrics in braking seem to have carried the day with me, but I still don't disagree with any of your divergent preferences...as I have my own.
All the input given has value in our attempts to build better looking and better performing brake setups on our bikes and thanks for that!
Rick C.