Took me two years to admit hydraulic disc brakes are worth the hassle

I was dead set against hydraulic disc brakes on my touring bike for the longest time. I had a bad experience with a set that froze up on a cold morning ride outside Denver back in 2021, and I swore I'd stick with mechanical calipers. Then my buddy let me borrow his Surly with Shimano MT200s for a weekend trip through the foothills last spring. Coming down a steep gravel descent in the rain, I barely had to squeeze the levers and I stopped dead smooth without any chatter or cable stretch. That one ride, especially that wet descent, convinced me hydraulics actually give you way better modulation for loaded touring. I still hate bleeding them, but the stopping power when it matters is just not the same with mechanicals. Has anyone else been converted after swearing off a certain brake type for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivan5226d ago

Did you try switching to a different pad compound before giving up on mechanicals? I ran into the same freezing issue on my old bike but swapped to sintered pads and it helped a ton with cold weather performance. The modulation on hydraulics is definitely hard to beat once you get used to it though.

abbyl496d ago

Sintered pads still froze up on me every single morning commute below 20 degrees.