When choosing a bike, isn’t the question of “disc brakes or rim brakes?” an important one? We often get questions in the shop about which is better.
Take a look at the racing world, and you’ll see that over the past few years, disc brakes have rapidly replaced rim brakes in everything from mountain biking and cyclocross to road racing—with the exception of hill climbs, where the utmost lightness is essential.
When I searched Google for “road bike disc brake benefits,”
the two main advantages that came up were:
1. Consistent, powerful braking in any weather, with less effort at the lever
2. The rim’s outer edge can be made thinner and lighter, making it easier to get moving
Those seem to be the two main benefits.
Of course, I agree. But even if the braking surface doesn’t wear down, metal fatigue can cause cracks around the spoke holes, so you’ll still need to replace the rim eventually, even with disc brakes. And unless you’re riding on a closed course, I wouldn’t recommend riding so aggressively that you need to brake hard in the first place.
So when it comes to whether a hobby rider like me needs that much performance, my answer is always that rim brakes are plenty. It depends on the brake standard of the bike you’re installing them on, of course, but it also comes down to things like the cool factor of cantilever brake components, such as those made by Paul.
So, which one do I recommend?
I’ve spent all this time saying that disc brakes and rim brakes are both fine, but which one do I actually recommend? Setting aside personal preferences for parts and style, I can say without hesitation that I recommend disc brakes.
The two benefits I mentioned above are certainly advantages, but they’re not the biggest ones. In my view, the greatest advantage is that unlike rim brakes, the position of a disc brake caliper depends on the rotor diameter. As long as the rotor diameter stays the same, the caliper position won’t change, whether you’re using 20-inch or 29-inch wheels. In other words, you can freely swap between 650b and 700c wheels.
The option of owning two wheelsets
These two bikes are both my SKLAR Super Something. As I mentioned above, I have 650b/2.2-inch and 700c/45c wheelsets for them. I use the 650b setup for a monster-cross-style ride on trails and rough singletrack, and the 700c setup for flat dirt paths along the river or touring with gear.
When considering a bike, think about the kind of roads you want to ride—in other words, what kind of tires you want to run. This is a very important factor in choosing a bike, and I think it’s something you should consider before choosing a frame. Tires are the bike’s only point of contact with the ground, and they’re crucial components that can make a big difference in how you ride—not just in terms of width, but also tread pattern and whether they have knobs.
With two different wheelsets, you can enjoy two completely different riding styles. In my case, my SYCIP road bike (700/30c) and this SKLAR (27.5/2.2 and 700/45c) cover pretty much every kind of riding I do, except for places where I need a mountain bike.
“I’d love to have different types of bikes, but I don’t have room for them. And my wife would get mad.”
This is something I heard often in Nagoya, and with Tokyo’s housing situation, it’s an even more serious issue—but this setup can help solve it, too. And as we get older, our fitness changes, and so does the way we ride. Disc brakes can accommodate those changing needs as well.
Gorilla Spun
At Circles, both our Nagoya and Tokyo locations offer Gorilla Spun, a service where our experienced staff build custom wheelsets. You can choose components such as hubs, rims, spokes, and nipples to suit your riding style and color preferences.
With hand-built wheels, spoke tension can also be adjusted to fine-tune ride quality and stiffness. Since everyone rides differently, we custom-build wheels tailored to each customer.
“A new wheelset instead of a new bike.”
We look forward to hearing from you!