bike - brakes
The old reliable rim brakes edge out disc brakes for travelling in remote regions.
Why? Rack attachment. Read on.
Standard cantilever brakes will pull you up when you spot those deep ruts or corrugations at the bottom of a dip. If you spot them.
For long rides through the mountains with a full touring load, rim brakes can become an issue. With continual braking on extended downhills, cantilever brakes cause the soft aluminium rim walls to wear out more rapidly.
Also, if the brakes are used constantly, rims can massively heat up with the rim tape, then wandering around with the possible consequence of multiple punctures caused by the sharp edges of the spoke holes. Not good to have a flat front tyre as you career wildly down a steep slope at pace.
Disk brakes avoid that problem. And they look great.
But outside the Great Dividing Range (along the east coast), and a few other bumpy locations, Tasmania and south west Western Australia, the Australian landscape is undulating rather than hilly.
Stopping power, then, may not be the overriding issue for brakes.
Disc brakes have some negatives, though.
On a wheel with disc brakes, the disc rotor must be mounted somewhere along the axle. The spokes are shifted over, and this dishing weakens the wheel a little. A front wheel with disc brakes becomes asymmetrical to accommodate the rotor. Unlike rim brakes, where the brake applies equal force to each side of the large diameter rim, with disc brakes, the force is applied to only one side of a much smaller disc rotor. This applies a strong torsional force to the wheel.
Then again, discs require specialised rack fixings which can be much weaker than the type used with rim brakes. The bottom attachment points on the racks are the weak point. Why? The racks need to clear the disks and have a different and weaker attachment system. These type of racks can break more readily when the weight of the panniers is jumping up and down on many kilometres of rough roads.
Hydraulic brakes? Make sure you know how to service them yourself and have all the spares you may need. You can guarantee no one else will.
Remember to grab a few spare brake pads of whatever persuasion you require before you head off. You won’t find them outside the main town bike shops.
Do strength and reliability matter in travel to remote areas?
You betcha.