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Rim brakes in mountainous regions
Currently I am plannign a number of bike packing trips to Sumatra and North Vietnam with my Giant TCR advanced. I will be riding through rather steep mountainous terrain, not always very good roads and the possibility of getting caught in the rain while descending is always there. My dilemma is wether the ultegra 6800 rim brakes would do the job or should I invest and go for disk brakes. Does anyone have experience in similar terrain with rim brakes? I would appreciate any advice regarding this matter.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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Hey, so I promised that I drop a message after I am done with my trip. I ended up not riding in Sumatra, but instead in South Korea as I had to travel there for work reasons. It made more sense to check in my bike and take a few days holiday after my meetings are done. Nevertheless I still rode through mountains on the way from Seoul to Busan. I bought new brake pads and rim brakes functioned well. There was only one rainy day, and during that day I did a few long and steep descents, but had no serious problem regarding stopping power (although I had only 6kg in my frame and rack packs, bike 8kg, me 68kg). The brake pad in the front had to be replaced though after the trip.
My 25mm Continental Grand Pix 4000 was torn after riding around 20km gravel when I left the cross country bike path to explore a bit. I also felt that a bike with at least 32mm tyres would be much more confortabe if I have to ride on gravel, and it seems that in most bikepacking trips I would encounter some gravel and off road. This made me decide to get rid of my commuting bike (an old specialized sirrus) and get a gravel bike for my overseas trips. One of the shops here in Singapore deal with Genesis bikes. I am deciding between two models: the Croix de Fer 20 and the Genesis Equilibrium 20. Now, which one would serve better my pruposes? I want a bike that still has a race bike feeling and is relatively fast but at the sane time is capabe to pass through gravel if necessary, and can take some abuse duing bikepacking in Southeast Asia. I would appreciate if you coud share your experiences and suggestions regarding these two bikes.
Comparing the cable-operated disc brakes I now use with the rim brakes I had previously used for many years I prefer the discs because
1) Spare pads are easier to pack away somewhere (they are smaller)
2) The wheel rims don't wear out
3) When it rains I don't have to wait a complete revolution of the wheel for the brakes to suddenly decide to work
4) If I do get a slight kink in the rim it doesn't affect my brakes
5) I find the disc brakes easier to set up and adjust with just one hand (no thrid hand tool or bits of card)
It's probably only helmet and lycra wearing poofs that feel the need to use brakes on mountain descents. On the rare occasions when I feel the need to slow down (generally only for sponsorship commitments or interactons with podium girrrrls) I just grab the rims with my fingers.
How's that?
Spot on and well in with the norm.
Rims with your fingers?
Pah, I pinch the chainring with my balls.
Finally, a worthy cycling equivalent to cricket's Dave Podmore!
www.bikerman.co.uk/entertainment/audio/bbc-comedy/podmore
Has the definition of the word private changed recently?
Good work, you two.
it's a private argument over some cretin calling me a liar, mind your own.
All you need is love, ba ba ba ba baaaa...
To be fair if you yell at people in public, you can’t be too surprised when bystanders chip in. Not sure what he (I’d lay money you’re both male), considers so unbelievable about your original post but you’re unlikely to make much progress with the old ‘I’m gonna punch your lights out’ comedy routine. Best to smile sweetly and go for a ride I’d suggest. Hugs! X
Helmets!???
One important note on changing rim brake pads - new ones always feel amazingly good compared to the old glazed-over ones. Before drawing any conclusions on brand I suggest either buying a set of each new to try Or taking some sandpaper to your old ones, getting them roughed up, then set them up correctly on your rim and bed in a little - then see how much difference there is to the new Swiss Stop ones.
My personal experience is that Swiss Stop pads are relatively better in damp weather providing a little more initial bite (thus my choice in the UK) but on long descents nothing beats the Shimano Ult/D-A pads which is why I always went back to them in Japan where the descents are much longer
28 mm tires should be fine for a bit of gravel. You will want to change your cornering technique a little on that surface - better to take the turn as upright as you can, and lean the bike over as little as possible.
Take care and enjoy your trip.
Be sure to take plenty of puncture repair stuff and you'll be fine and have a great time. Maybe pop a note back here afterwards to tell everyone how you got on.
Thanks! I just bought a few inner tubes and new CO2 cannisters. Definitely, once back from the ride I will write a note here.
Folks, thanks very much for the suggestions and advices. I could not find the Kool Stop brake pads in Singapore, but will get the Swiss Stop, which is available. I'll head to Sumatra in two weeks. Let's see how the pads and the TCR function.
@behindbikesheds
Well you did more than twice my elevation gains on your trip and no worn pads under continuous rain? I am surprised! On that particular descent I didn't finish my brake pads but I am quite sure I consumed 1-2 mm of brake pad, as my rear nearly ended making me using only the front for the rest of the trip to avoid fully ending the rear and therefore damaging the rim.
Kool Stop Salmon brake pads, plus new cables before you go and cleaning your rims regularly. You may also want to take a file or decent quality sandpaper to clean any glaze off the pads, though I find Kool Stop are much better than other brands in that respect.
Once during touring, I descended a 1000m of steep downhill under heavy rain with rim brakes. When I reached the flats my brifters were stopping at my drop bars as there was excessive brake pad wear. I would definitely feel safer with disks but should you stick to rim brakes, don't forget to take enough replacement brake pads!
In August I serviced/supported my friends who did the RAID Alpine, this involved climbing over 58,000ft in 6 days and even more descending, a lot of it high speed with loads of chicanes, off the col de L'iseran it was snowing on the way up and over the top, sleeted then rain for the rest of the way. 3000ft down, they all had rim brakes and only one of them fubar'd their brakes (on another day) but wasn't due to burning all the way through them.
Let's file this under the "never happened" stories section.
You're so full of shit, so you're saying I'm lying and that my friends are lying and either didn't do the raid alpine or you're saying they went through loads of brake pads and I didn't notice once whilst packing their bikes, wheeling them into various conference rooms, out-houses and whilst helping to make sure they were up to spec each day. I'd even suggested in our pre-tour discussions to bring spare pads in case they were needed.
But yeah, you must have being there too so that you can assure us of your fantasy that it "never happened"
The pic below on the 12th August also never happened.
Do one twat!
DSCF8293.JPG
In all fairness, you're so obsessed with your own blinkered & narrow minded view of the world that it's highly likely that you missed the worn out brake blocks. You fucking fifth rate troll.
Someone's not been out for a ride....
To me it sound perfectly feasible that people have got through the Alps without needing to change their blocks. I've spent long weekends over there and never used up all my blocks or even had to replace them shortly after. You do know different types of block wear differently ? And laden down bikes would be harsher than ligheer road bikes ? And braking techniques help too.
Someone's not been out for a ride....
To me it sound perfectly feasible that people have got through the Alps without needing to change their blocks. I've spent long weekends over there and never used up all my blocks or even had to replace them shortly after. You do know different types of block wear differently ? And laden down bikes would be harsher than ligheer road bikes ? And braking techniques help too.
Hahaha, it was YOU who called me out as a liar you fucking slimey pile of shit, and then I slammed the door shut on you.
But c'mon big man, if you want to get it on sowe can discuss the niceites of you calling me a liar, i'll fucking crush you like a grape loud mothed twat!
I'm on the CUK forum, you can message me there and let's get this sorted, any time, any place. But you won't because you're loud mothed cowardly cunt troll who accuses people of lying without a scrap of evidence then gets all keyboard warrior when outed as talking shite.
I'll be waiting for you twat!
Like shooting fish in a barrel. Sweet Jesus, you're an idiot. I hope that you don't have kids or any access to them if you do. "loud mothed twat", just as an FYI: moths are generally near silent.
As an aside, you do strike me as the kind of individual who would derive great pleasure from shooting *actual* fish in an *actual* barrel (probably laughing the whole while at how clever and hilarious you are).
It's not really my kind thing but don't let me stop you having fun doing it.
100% comedy gold.
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