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Chat with a courier changed my mind about disc brakes on touring bikes
Was sorting mail the other day with this older guy who rides a vintage Raleigh with cantilevers. He said he's done 8 cross-country trips on that thing and never once wished for disc brakes. I've been building touring bikes with discs for the last 3 years and always thought they were the only way to go. But hearing him talk about how easy it was to fix a bent rim on the side of the road in Montana made me rethink everything. Any of you long distance riders still sticking with rim brakes on purpose?
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susanm569h ago
Got any experience with cantis in really bad mud? I had an old touring bike with v-brakes and kool stop pads for years, rode it through a nasty rainy gravel ride in the ozarks once and the rims got so caked with mud I was basically coasting downhill with zero stopping power. Had to stop three times to scrape it all off with a stick. Switched to discs after that and never looked back. But I get the simplicity thing, especially if you're doing desert tours where mud isn't an issue at all.
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sethhernandez9h ago
Rim brakes make a lot of sense for touring once you've actually fixed a wheel on the side of the road. Those old cantilevers are simple to adjust with just a hex key, and a bent rim can be trued with a spoke wrench and a free afternoon. Discs are great for stopping power in the wet but they add complexity you don't need when you're 50 miles from any bike shop. A good set of parallel-pull cantis or V-brakes with Kool Stop pads will stop you just fine loaded down.
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gavin6929h ago
Yeah but that mud scenario is real though. I've been stuck in that exact situation with v-brakes on a gravel grinder and it was terrifying just coasting with no brakes. The desert touring argument makes sense but most of us ride where it rains. Discs are more work to fix on the road but at least they work when it counts. Cantis stop fine dry but wet gritty rims are a nightmare.
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