It’s official, the bike industry has lost its way.

[Clancy]

I saw a 2020 Cannondale Quick today, a typical flat bar, upright, hybrid bike. Price tag of $1,000. It had flat mount hydraulic disc brakes and a front thur axle.

I saw a 2020 Electra Townie today, a typical ballon tire beach cruiser. It had hydraulic disc brakes. (With a Shimano Tourney derailleur)

I am struggling to find the right words to express the absurdity. No argument that hydraulic disc brakes offer better performance but these are two bike models that absolutely do not need discs and will only complicate the maintenance for the end user not to mention the added costs to the bike, added maintenance costs and although minimal, impact on the environment. To what end?

The engineering and development costs surely could have been put to better use by the companies involved.

I just don’t get it.

[Jaybee]

The end user can either watch a YouTube video and figure it out or they can bring it back to the place they bought it from, which is what 90% of hybrid/cruiser owners were going to do even if they had caliper brakes.

[the bottle ride]

Do you really think the person who is going to buy this bike will bleed his/her own brakes?

I don’t think so.

[tourmalet]

There's a good case to be made for disc brakes on commuters. I hate the initial ineffectiveness of rim brakes in wet weather, and I've had a few close calls because of it.

If you want discs, then the thru-axle is a no-brainer to guarantee disc-to-caliper alignment. Hydraulic vs. cable on the other hand is a luxury, but if you're willing to pay $1K for a commuter, it's a reasonable upgrade.

[charliedid]

I fail to see the problem.

[dpdan93]

Give it a rest already... These disc bashing threads are getting old

[Cornfed]

Disc brakes for wet weather. Thru axles to keep the rotors in line (probably easier for casual riders to set correctly, as well).

And complex components for casual bikes makes a ton of business sense to me. LBSs are a lot like auto dealerships these days - they make their money on service, not sales. The sooner the customer is back for a tune-up, the better.

[cinema]

regardless of your opinion on this, if you need more than a V brake in any kind of weather on a roadish/hybrid/townie, it's not the components that are the problem.

[zmalwo]

make sense on a commuter since you have to stop for lights and unexpected events quite often. A disc brake in rain can help with that.

[tsarpepe]

That's the same logic as buying a mammoth SUV because it will be safer in collision. The fact that disc brakes have some advantages in some situations in which the user may find herself some day doesn't mean that all bikes have to be designed with disc brakes.

[fa63]

I wish every bike I worked on had hydro discs with thru axles... Better braking, little maintenance, and once adjusted correctly, the thru axles keep everything in the same place consistently (try that with quick release skewers).

I can't imagine riding my commuter e-bike with V-brakes; I would have crashed several times already when I have had to grab a handful for emergency stops while commuting. And I am still on the same pads after two years (2,500 miles) and haven't had to touch the hydro discs.

[vincenz]

I couldn’t care less. They can pry rim brakes out of my cold dead hands.

[ergott]

The number of times I've seen bikes like those with the brake pads misaligned I'm sure mechanics are very happy to see discs. Other than squeezing lever with the wheel out of frame there's not really anything else the average user can screw up with hydro disc. They are typically ridden in nice weather so I'm sure that brake system will be maintenance free for the life of the bike.

[ergott]

Inexpensive rim brakes are notorious for having uneven spring tension resulting in one pad rubbing the rim. Compound that with rims that typically go out of true and you have a poor riding experience. Thru and disc eliminates most of those problems with little tradeoff

[prototoast]

These look like great bikes for the right person.