Mechanical disc vs Cantilever Brakes for mountain riding

[Limbatus]

I've got a cross bike that I ride a lot in the mountains in Santa Barbara both trails and distressed roads. I'm looking to upgrade to a carbon frame. My current bike, is a cannondale caad 8. I has a carbon fork, Maddox rims and tektro cantilever brakes. It's is SCARY coming down hills on this thing. Wheel starts to wobble brakes begin to chatter the whole thing feels like its gonna fall apart on me. I wanted to upgrade to a ridley xfire disc, but when I ordered the frame, the cantilever model got shipped to me. Now im learning Xfire discs are unavailable until 2014 model releases, or at least that's what I've heard from dealers and distributors. I want a setup that feels rock solid dropping 3,500 feet at 40-50mph. Will mechanical discs (bb7, Hayes cx5, shimano c75) be superior to a high end set of cantilevers (FSA Slk, ciamillo or similar)? I like the geometry of the ridley frame a lot and its feather light. Just curious if I should hold out for discs, or build the cantilever frame that got shipped to me.

 

[vspa]

in extreme conditions disc brakes are hard to beat, i have the BB7's on a mountain bike, on my touring bike i have cantilevers, i haven't rode that bike all that much but i prefer the standard road brake calipers, anyway the bike you want is available: "Ridley X-Fire Bike Ultegra Disc" from excelsports

 

[Limbatus]

I should have mentioned earlier, that this is the red and white frame. If its a choice between brakes or color, I choose color. And everyone knows red bikes go faster.

 

[alfeng]

Originally Posted by Limbatus .

I've got a cross bike that I ride a lot in the mountains in Santa Barbara both trails and distressed roads. I'm looking to upgrade to a carbon frame. My current bike, is a cannondale caad 8. I has a carbon fork, Maddox rims and tektro cantilever brakes. It's is SCARY coming down hills on this thing. [COLOR= #ff0000]Wheel starts to wobble brakes begin to chatter the whole thing feels like its gonna fall apart on me.[/COLOR]

FWIW. Regardless of the brakes, you possibly want a wheel which is [COLOR= #0000ff]laterally stiffer [/COLOR]...

One way to achieve a laterally stiffer wheel is to have MORE spokes -- [COLOR= #0000ff]36[/COLOR] is a good number ...

'I' prefer[COLOR= #0000ff] straight, 14g spokes [/COLOR]... others will undoubtedly suggest [COLOR= #ff0000]double-butted spokes[/COLOR].

 

[Limbatus]

Got any recommendations for a nice strong set? Do you think my brakes would be adequate if I changed to 36 spoke?

 

[vspa]

buy red rims, red rims are faster