V Brakes vs Disc Brakes ?

G

Gawdzahh

New Member
I'm looking for the right mountain bike to buy for my first motor bicycle build, I originally wanted disc brakes because I always thought discs would be more powerful when stopping, but seeing that disc brake MTBs are less common than V brake MTBs I keep thinking maybe I could use V brakes and I just want some more information about V brakes...

I will be purchasing a SBP Shift Kit also so my bike will be reaching "higher" speeds.

auflg
 
V-brakes adjusted correctly with decent-quality pads should stop plenty quick on dry, alloy wheels. I've never had issues with V-brakes in over 30K miles.

In general, rim brakes don't work as well on chromed steel wheels, especially when wet. There are certain pads out there that help with this tho.

How to adjust V-brakes and more: http://sheldonbrown.com/canti-direct.html
 
V-brakes work quite well on my Pig. They also avoid the problems of mounting a sprocket and disc on the same rear hub. (Much cheaper!)
 
As long as you have a good disk brake up front you should be okay, you can have a coaster, v brake, or drum in the back

You get most of your stopping power from the front.
 
V brakes can be very good - especially the nicer dual pivot Shimano ones. Ive got some xtr ones and they rock. i recently got a disk in the front and the difference between that and the worn out n' sh&tty v brakes i stole off an abandoned bike that i had before is out of this world. much much quicker stopping - and they are crap disk brakes too (most basic heyes cable pull model) as soon as i have $$ for not motor related upgrades ill put on some juicy brand hydraulic calipers and it will stop in a quarter of a dime ;) overall disks are stronger for sure. I have to agree that while initially it is harder / more expensive to mount a sprocket on a disk hub in the long term you will have a perfectly true sprocket that will not destroy wheels like the rag joint will. Then again if you are using shift kit then none of this really matters....
 
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Moto said:
V brakes can be very good - especially the nicer dual pivot Shimano ones. Ive got some xtr ones and they rock. i recently got a disk in the front and the difference between that and the worn out n' sh&tty v brakes i stole off an abandoned bike that i had before is out of this world. much much quicker stopping - and they are crap disk brakes too (most basic heyes cable pull model) as soon as i have $$ for not motor related upgrades ill put on some juicy brand hydraulic calipers and it will stop in a quarter of a dime ;) overall disks are stronger for sure.
Click to expand...

Gonna love hydraulic disk calipers... Super responsive and requires so little effort when stopping

If you look on CL and with some patience you can find some good hydraulic calipers for cheap, i got a hydraulic F/R rotor and caliper set for 60
 
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I will just go with disc brakes. I may be in luck with a Trek 3700 disc MTB that I found on my local classifieds :)
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