Cable or Hydraulic discs for bikepacking.

[Ray Young]

Just wondering what people run, I have both on mine, the hydraulic is on the front. The reason I ask is that I have had to bring the angle of my brake levers up from what I like because when I strapped my drybag under the bars the hydraulic hose was forced into an extreme angle at the point it exits the barrel of the brake which I just know would eventually snap. I still have the old cable front disc but it's an old style deore item with no feel to it whatsoever. I am getting used to the new lever position but it just does not feel so natural.

[Matt]

Cable

Only for the reason that the seem to be more field serviceable*


* I realise this is a dumb reason and that my other bike that's done 1000s of miles on hydraulics has never gone wrong.

[markenduro]

Cable on mine but only because I run drop bars, hydraulic STIs can not come soon enough....

[didnothingfatal]

Is the bike going to be a 100% dedicated bike packing machine? Dragged around the arse end of nowhere? Or a mountain bike you'll just ride and go on the occasional weekend?

Personally if it was a bike packing sole duty, cable and probably even V brake.

Anything else hydraulics.

[Ray Young]

It's been built with bikepacking in mind but gets used for everything except round town work as I wouldn't risk it getting nicked. When I ran the deore cable disc on the front it required constant adjustment, sometimes even half way round a ride. I don't have this problem with the deore on the rear as it doesn't get used as much as the front. Do BB7/BB5's require this amount of attention? The deore calipers are also on the heavy side.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Do BB7/BB5's require this amount of attention? The deore calipers are also on the heavy side.

I've found that once set up BB7s require pretty much no adjustment, they're also plenty powerfull enough. BB5s seem to need a little more work but only the initial set up.

[chris n]

And I'll disagree completely. :D I found that BB7s needed constant tweaking to keep the pads running at a decent distance from the discs, and that the rear was much, much worse then the front. The pads seemed to wear incredibly quickly (though this was in Cannock's winter grinding paste).

My current Deore M595 hydraulic brakes sre much better - cheap, easy to bleed and have needed no adjustment in a year.

[Bearbonesnorm]

My current Deore M595 hydraulic brakes sre much better - cheap, easy to bleed and have needed no adjustment in a year.

I have to say the Shimano hydraulic set up on my Inbred have been faultless ... I recall it was less than £30 per wheel minus disc, bought from Rose in Germany.

I can't actually think of a brake that has caused me problems but then again I spend my time trying to avoid using them :D

[didnothingfatal]

Thing that will prevent me ever having Shimano brakes is the lack of seals should it die! That really bugs me out.

[markenduro]

Thing that will prevent me ever having Shimano brakes is the lack of seals should it die! That really bugs me out.

They seem to last forever though, the xts I have are now 6years old and still going strong and even if they do die new callipers are cheap as chips on crc. I think the fact that seals are not available is down to the lack of sales they would have.
I have bad experiences with both hope money m4 and acids which was enough to put me off ever touching either brand of brakes ever again (except bb7 which are superb).
If you are in the middle of nowhere and the seals go on your avid/hope/Hayes you are still without a brake in the middle of nowhere, availability or not of seals will make no difference.

[didnothingfatal]

Had two sets of Shimano die, Hopes had crap original pistons, had to rebuild with new pistons and seals but it was doable!

Granted if it dies in middle of nowhere you are buggered.

[Ian]

Used to run BB7's, which were fine really. Did the job of stopping you and required little adjustment. However, just switched to some Hope Rave Evo 2's and they stop better and weigh half a pound less. As far as field maintenance is concerned, I've bleed Hope brakes at the side of the trail using a short piece of camelback hose and an energy bar wrapper.

[didnothingfatal]

....., I've bleed Hope brakes at the side of the trail using a short piece of camelback hose and an energy bar wrapper.

Be prepared taken to new levels, how much Dot 5.1 do you carry

[Ray Young]

"how much Dot 5.1 do you carry "

Have only tried bleeding motorcycle brakes without much success, evetually paid a mechanic. If all goes wrong I can put the back brake on the front. Might just bodge something to protect the hose where it exits the brake.

[Ian]

I didn't take any fluid, I just cycled the fluid that was in the system through until I'd removed the air bubbles. I'd collect the fluid from the caliper in the energy bar wrapper and pour it into the reservoir when the level was at the minimum. Done it twice by this method, once on the trail at Afan and once in the pits at a 24hr race in Spain.