Rim vs Disc Brakes for Street Trials?

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Rim vs Disc Brakes for Street Trials?
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flag torilovesweed
Posted: Mar 30, 2017 at 6:19 Quote
I'm looking to get a street trials bike, either a 20" or 24", and was wondering if disc brakes will make a big difference over rim brakes. I am very used to hydraulic disc brakes from my mountain bike (SRAM Guides) and was wondering if the performance of basic trials rim brakes would be worse compared to disc brakes.

Any thoughts would be great, thanks.
flag cwtrials
Posted: Apr 5, 2017 at 7:26 Quote
torilovesweed wrote:
I'm looking to get a street trials bike, either a 20" or 24", and was wondering if disc brakes will make a big difference over rim brakes. I am very used to hydraulic disc brakes from my mountain bike (SRAM Guides) and was wondering if the performance of basic trials rim brakes would be worse compared to disc brakes.

Any thoughts would be great, thanks.

So most pure trials riders use rim brakes in the rear, setup properly you can get more power with some crazy bite and hold. Most MTB guys have the knee jerk response "hydraulic disc are best", but in reality they are well suited for the majority of MTB riding. With a rim brake you can get that crazy instant stoppage for trials that you would want rear wheel gapping narrow things. A number of street trials riders still use a rim brake in the rear.

Street trials riders use disc brakes because you are able to get similar power AND smooth braking / modulation. So for manuals, g-turns, and the works you want to be able to feather the brakes. Some of the cable discs such as the Avid BB7 can be setup to have incredible power, but hydraulic brakes are able to get better modulation.

That all being said, the rim brakes that come on the budget trials bikes are not setup great. You may need to get better pads and or / booster to get them to work super well. However, as a beginner your need for crazy braking power is going to be fairly limited by your skill level.

If you're on a super budget, buy what you can and upgrade later.

 


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