MarcFJ60
Adventurer
My mtn bike is over 10 years old, but was pretty high end at the time (XTR drive train, hardtail with Manitou shock). It still serves my 40+ year old, slightly pudgy, *** fine. Probably the last thing I would change about it are the brakes. With a finger or two, I can modulate the V-brakes just fine and lock them up if needed. Even in the wet and mud, which I do try to avoid, they work fine. Most of my friends with newer bikes have disc brakes. While I won't say those brakes seem problematic, they do seem to have more issues than my brakes (essentially zero).
Maybe there's some advantage to disc brakes (certainly if your wheel gets out of true), but WHY do manufacturers go to disc brakes so quickly in the lower end of the model line? I was bike shopping with a buddy for lower end mtn bikes. It seemed silly to me that as you go up the model line, they jump to disc brakes before they upgrade the drivetrain or put on an improved shock. Personally upgrading to disc brakes, especially low end ones, would be the last upgrade I'd pick.
I'm sure in the case of low end bikes it is more about marketing than performance. But what a waste! I'll admit I've always been a late adopter with new bike technology, mostly because new technology was highly priced and not yet perfected (i.e. early rear suspensions: heavy, expensive, performed poorly). Rant over.
Maybe there's some advantage to disc brakes (certainly if your wheel gets out of true), but WHY do manufacturers go to disc brakes so quickly in the lower end of the model line? I was bike shopping with a buddy for lower end mtn bikes. It seemed silly to me that as you go up the model line, they jump to disc brakes before they upgrade the drivetrain or put on an improved shock. Personally upgrading to disc brakes, especially low end ones, would be the last upgrade I'd pick.
I'm sure in the case of low end bikes it is more about marketing than performance. But what a waste! I'll admit I've always been a late adopter with new bike technology, mostly because new technology was highly priced and not yet perfected (i.e. early rear suspensions: heavy, expensive, performed poorly). Rant over.