Does anyone have a bicycle with disk brakes?

[YeOldeTrout]

I find it a nightmare to fiddle with caliper brakes after I have fixed a puncture. Is there same problem the same with disk brakes? Do you have to fiddle about with springs & screws & adjusting things just so to get the darn brake to not rub rim when you put wheel back on?

-Ta in advance.

No, you flip the lever thing to take it off and you flip it back again to put it back. No adjusting of anything.

What Bestseller said, but they are a PITA to service.

I have cable disc on one bike, hydraulic on the other. No problem changing wheels, but it does need the bike shop to adjust them. But the stopping is amazing compared to rim brakes

hmmm... there's a thread on bikeradar where they talk about rubbing after putting the (disc brake) wheel back. I guess I'll have to keep asking in shops & see what the sellers there say, just make sure is consistent story.

Not having to faff with sodding brakes every time there's a puncture sounds very nice(!)

Sounds like your brakes need servicing or adjusting, possibly a new cable required? That shouldn’t happen at all, you should just be able to lift the lever to open them to get the wheel out and close it for them to return perfectly. I’ve never had that problem and have calliper brakes on all my road bikes. It is worth giving the spring/pivot thing inside (front and back brake) a squirt with GT85 or WD40 and squeezing and releasing the lever (on the bars) a few times after each time you clean the bike or ride it in the rain. This will stop the brakes seizing and not releasing properly... careful not to get anything on the rim though.

The issue is that if you are lazy about getting your bike serviced there can be problems. Mine failed going down a massive hill in the lake district. Not fun, broken arm!

I have what they call a hub brake on my pashley sit up and beg. It's very good, better than the pads on the rim I've always had before. I think it's like a disc brake?

It just occurred to me that your wheel could be out of true as well? That’d only be if they just rub in one place as you spin the wheel slowly. Worst case scenario buying a new brakeset (105 or rival), having the wheels re-trued and labour would be significantly less than the cost of a new bike (to upgrade to disc).

You should have absolutely no rub if everything is set up correctly.
You can take the wheel in and out and it won't affect the brakes at all, if you pull the lever while the wheel is out it will push the pads in or if you man handle the wheel in and knock the pads about you will get some rub. This should sort itself out after a few pulls of the lever.
Your wheel being out of true (buckled) has no bearing on the disc(rotor) you can however bend a disc and this would cause rub.
I've been using discs on my mtb since 2003, all our bikes including our road bikes now have discs. I wouldn't go back.

Unless you have mega bucks to spend you’ll likely end up with a heavier bike too. Not much fun if you live somewhere other than Norfolk.

Oh and disc brakes on a road bike just look wrong

ha! I live in Norfolk. My regular ride are very hilly. CAMBS is the flat fens place, from what I can tell. Must have GR < 1.0 on next bike.
LBS said that sometimes hydraulic discs need light pumping to reset , but otherwise don't rub after replacement, thank goodness. LBS implied cable discs might not be so simple.

With caliper (v-brake/cantilever) brakes, I find wheel removal means a spring slips out of place & I don't remember how to put it back*. Screws need redoing, because quick release design doesn't put wheel back to exact same place. Sometimes about this point I notice a pad is wonky which is quite possible due to bike getting knocked & falling over & I can't decide which problem to fix in what order. Truing wheels is one thing I'm good at, no issues there.

*Took me 30 minutes of hassle including help from other people to fix spring at a triathlon, once. F'ing springs.

The reason cable discs aren't quite as good is that generally (not always) you have a moving pad and a fixed or semi fixed pad. One pad pushes through onto the disc whilst the other is either moved along with the calliper body or the disc is pushed into it by the other pad. Also you can get contaminated cables like you can with cable brakes.
They are also cheap so you find the rest of the components aren't that great as it's on a cheap bike. Most mtbs or Hybrids above about £350-£400 will be hydraulic now.
Road bikes are different, you will get very few fitted with cable discs. You get hybrid systems which are cable levers running into either a hydraulic calliper (trp) or a system like Giant use where they have a master cylinder on the stem which runs a hydraulic hose and calliper. Then you move to full hydraulic systems.
Wheels should always (99%) go into the same place as they came out. The dropouts and axle don't change, most callipers have a small lever by the cable clamp that you can flip to open the calliper to avoid knocking it when the wheel comes in and out.
V-brakes open up and unless they are very cheap the springs should never pop out, once back together a quick pull of the lever should centre the brakes.

This thread reminds me of (a lot of MN threads actually, but especially) the battles I have trying to persuade mechanics of the low Gear Ratio I want.

"WHAT?! Do you cycle up a 12% grade every day?"
"No No no, nobody needs a GR below 1.2"
"You'll be fine. You don't need what you say you need."
"Only long distance tourers going in the Himalayas need that low GR."

"Well THAT's strange."

So my lived experience can't be right. I'll tell this to the guys trying to help me next time the spring has gone or when DH quickly adjusts the rim brakes by fiddling with springs-screws-pads-etc. "MN says these things should never happen so we must be hallucinating."

I never said your lived experiences aren't true, I stated how brakes and wheels work.
I've seen many brakes, gears, wheels, forks, shocks etc not working as they should.
But what I can say is that when adjusted and set up properly these things should happen very infrequently if at all.
I have never met any mechanic ever who would try and dissuade a rider from the gearing they want. In fact day to day I'd be hard pushed to find one who even knew what a 1:2 gear ratio was.
I have however met more people than I can remember who have just adjusted this screw or that cable, or whose partner is an engineer or a space shuttle pilot so therefore they can adjust "a bike". My OH is a doctor and I wouldn't dream of diagnosing an illness, my father is an arborist and I wouldn't have the first clue how to properly cut a tree down.

If you make sure your wheels are absolutely seated in the dropouts before adjusting them before you go out riding you won’t have any differences when you take the wheels out again. This problem occurs because people offer up wheels to bikes that are on stands before adjusting the brakes which are then not properly seated in the dropouts. When you put the wheels in take the bike off the stand and do it with the weight of the bike pushing the dropouts fully down on the ground.

So true Alex3101. I’m an accountant and therefore a competent cycle mechanic, probably the best in my club he humbly said. All the people with engineering degrees or who work on satellites have terribly unreliable machines.