What kind of brakes do you have

[MWS65]

I have Avid Tis on one bike and Hope minis on the other. Rilly like the hydraulic Disc.
Mike

 

[moparchris]

deove V's, at the moment i dont think theres any point in having disc for me, as long as ya have decent pads v's are fine

 

[MisterXTR]

Still running cantilevers on my old full-rigid Giant Butte. Don't get me wrong; I'm all for V-brakes because I have them on one of my commuter bikes and they really make a difference. In fact I picked up some XTR V-brakes used last year for the old Giant, but just haven't gotten around to putting them on. I will say that -- despite the "handicap" of cantilevers -- I was able to stop with and pace a friend in good singletrack this weekend while he was riding an Azonic hardtail w/discs. The trail kicked my tail, but it strengthened my resolve that the Giant doesn't need to be put on the stand for an upgrade quite yet.

 

[angotja]

Avid sd-5 v-brakes. Great stopping power and response. Easy & affordable to adjust/maintain.

 

[Tamryn]

I have V breaks on my bike, really nice.

 

[zaku]

hayes hydraulic on my main bike. avid v brake on my other bike. somewhat i feel that the v's are as powerful as disks

 

[snowboy]

I have Avid Mech. Discs on my bike. They work awesome. I am 220 pounds. Ive had many bikes with V brakes and I would never go back. Maintaining and adjusting is so much faster than V's. today I went riding in the rain and the trail was very wet and muddy and my brakes worked great the whole time. Disc's are harder on the spokes but using V's in muddy conditions tear up your rims. Alot of the technical down hills I encounter its nice being able to stop on a dime to figure out the best route to take.....blah blah blah

 

[Marx SS]

My Avanti Aggressor hardtail runs full Schim Deore LX/XT stuff - V brakes.

Previously ran hydraulic disks on my old Avanti MTB – Magura Julies - & wore those expencive pads (compare to V brake pads) out in less than a year. Sure the braking action is unbelievable with the hydraulic disks, but who needs to pull up that hard when you’re not downhilling ( for a XC or commute bike).

After trying medium range hydraulic disks I went back to (good) V brakes as a lighter, less complicated & price effective braking set up.

My 2cents.

 

[Mr_Kingkillaha]

Hmmmm, I think there used to be one called a U-Brake.....I think that is what is was called. It was the same concept as the V-Brake, but on the back wheel, instead of being mounted at the top of the seat stays, near the seat post, it was mounted to the chain stays down by the front derailer. It was weird, my dad's old, old, Mt. Bike has one. I don't think that they do that anymore cause' it collected so much mud. But other than that, I don't know of any other break types.

u-brakes (aka 990's) arent actually like v's at all. the pivot point is above the shoes, they dont lock up as easily as v's. they are still popular in bmx.
there are also the old style brakes, that mounted and pivoted on 1 point instead of 2, these are mosly found on wal-mart bikes now, because they have no braking power at all.
dont forget old cantilever brakes, which fit on the same mounts as v's, but with shorter arms, and 2 cables shaped like a "y" that pull the arms up instead of towards each other.
some kids bikes actually have coaster brakes still.

not that anyone cares but there are a lot of diferent kinds of brakes.

 

[will88]

Hayes Hydraulics front and rear.

 

[ruckusidrive]

Avid Juicy X hydraulic disc. Can't beat hydro disc breaks, even for xc they're pretty much the same weight as v's these days. Less maintenance, far more power, better for your rim and they look cool. You dont know the difference until you ride them! Old bike had hayes HFX-9 and they're beaten by the Avid's for power and ease of set up/use.

 

[sungchang]

Been riding Avid mechanical disc for the last two years. Love them, but my upgraded bike is came with XT v-brakes. I haven't tried them out yet, so not sure how to compare...at least yet...waiting for the weekend to find out.

 

[BungedUP]

I put Avid Mechanical Disc brakes F/R on my hardtail. I have run coasters, sidepulls, canti's, V's, and now discs, and I find that there are positives and negatives to each. Regarding the benefits of V brakes, I like the simplicity and the potential for lightness (like Avid Ultimates). I have noticed with V's one might be able to stop just as quickly with as with a disc, but braking is not used merely to stop a bicycle. On many trails that I have ridden with V's and discs, I notice that the amount of control I have (traction, modulating speed, braking effort) is much improved with the discs. Going into a skid on a steep downhill section with rocks and switchbacks and then having to just let the brakes loose to regain traction causes me to loose smooth control. With discs, riding the same sections became easily manageable because of the increased braking control. I also like not having to fiddle with the cable release on the V brakes when removing wheel (although that is a small thing really). I'd love to have another bike with just a good coaster brake though too.

 

[sungchang]

On many trails that I have ridden with V's and discs, I notice that the amount of control I have (traction, modulating speed, braking effort) is much improved with the discs. Going into a skid on a steep downhill section with rocks and switchbacks and then having to just let the brakes loose to regain traction causes me to loose smooth control. With discs, riding the same sections became easily manageable because of the increased braking control. I also like not having to fiddle with the cable release on the V brakes when removing wheel (although that is a small thing really).

I agree wholeheartedly with your statement. Now that I have had some chances to test out the V brakes (rode about 100 miles in the past week), I really miss the disc brakes. Disc just seem to produce better control over V brakes. I guess I will need to start saving up for Dave's Speed Dream Wheels and AVID mechanical disc as I'm partial to mechanical over hydraulics.

 

[ArmOnFire]

If you ride in muddy conditions, you only have to ride in mud above the tire bead to affect your braking surface with rim brakes.

If your wheel goes out of true on the trail with rim brakes, you are being slowed.

Discs are the way to go.
Own a pair of Avid Mech's and Hayes HFX-9's on my steed's.

 

[guppie]

If you ride in muddy conditions, you only have to ride in mud above the tire bead to affect your braking surface with rim brakes.

If your wheel goes out of true on the trail with rim brakes, you are being slowed.

Discs are the way to go.
Own a pair of Avid Mech's and Hayes HFX-9's on my steed's.

The out ot true is the only thing that concerns me.

I ride AVID SD7 which I just put on over my Shimano's. Huge difference even thougth they are both rim brakes.

It will be a long time before I ever switch to disc only because my rim brakes have never failed me.

 

[AndyAndy]

I used to ride Avid Ti V-brakes. Thought it couldn't get any better. Then I built up a new bike with Avid Mechanical Discs. I can't explain it.. Braking just feels better, like you now have some control that you didn't know you were missing...

 

[jaz]

Up untill 6 months ago I had V-brakes on my bike & they were all I'd ever used but when I bought my new bike I specced it with Hope Mini Mono disk brakes & after using them for a few months I will never go back to V's.
Disks are so much better, theres such a great range of modulation with them I never experianced with V's.
The ability to just put an absolute minimum of brake on has helped me suss out manuals & the sheer power lets you do cool things like front wheel stoppy's with zero effort.
Its also a weird thing to get used to when its pouring with rain & your flying down a hill flat out & when you need the brakes they work exactlly the same as when its dry, my V's were a bit scary in the wet.
They look & feel great & are the best bike part I've upgraded to in ages.

 

[guppie]

I don't think there is any doubt disc brakes work better. But I don't think they are worth scratching a completly good set of Vbrakes for or worse yet, buying a whole new bike just for D brakes.

I would love to have disc on my back wheel, but until I trash my V's or they put me in harms way (when wet) then I'm not upgrading. Luckly my bike has D brake mounts so I don't need a new bike...

Now the one problem I'm having is my back hub is trashed and I have OEM mavic rims, which kinda blow (heavy). Obviously to upgrade my rims I need to make a brake selection because not to many rims are compatiable with both V and D. I

 

[sungchang]

But I don't think they are worth scratching a completly good set of Vbrakes.

With ebay, this becomes financial more doable. I have been upgrading/changing out components at fairly reasonable prices.