I’m a total reteogrouch and loves me my classic rim brake bikes.
That said, here are a few factors in favor of disc brakes:
Superlative modulation, all-weather capability without resorting to highly abrasive pads (e.g. Kool Stop salmon), zero rim wear, no aluminum oxide dust getting everywhere (ridiculously destructive substance), reduced rotational mass, superlative fault tolerance, auto-adjusting for wear (in the case of hydraulics), able to use very different wheelsets without having to fiddle with brake adjustments, easier initial setup, dead simple pad replacement without any fiddling with pad toe-in.
I think Kool Stop is the best possible rim brake pad option for most contexts. It’s just super important to match the pad compound to the predominant conditions. The multi-compound pad always gives me warm fuzzies. If you need to swap pads often, consider getting cartridge pads (“holder” I’m Kool Stop parlance).
I’m a total reteogrouch and loves me my classic rim brake bikes.
That said, here are a few factors in favor of disc brakes: Superlative modulation, all-weather capability without resorting to highly abrasive pads (e.g. Kool Stop salmon), zero rim wear, no aluminum oxide dust getting everywhere (ridiculously destructive substance), reduced rotational mass, superlative fault tolerance, auto-adjusting for wear (in the case of hydraulics), able to use very different wheelsets without having to fiddle with brake adjustments, easier initial setup, dead simple pad replacement without any fiddling with pad toe-in.
Is there something better than Kool Stop? That’s what I run on both my v-brakes.
What I like about Kool Stop is that they have a compound for every situation. https://koolstop.com/pages/brake-pad-compound-description
I think Kool Stop is the best possible rim brake pad option for most contexts. It’s just super important to match the pad compound to the predominant conditions. The multi-compound pad always gives me warm fuzzies. If you need to swap pads often, consider getting cartridge pads (“holder” I’m Kool Stop parlance).
TIL: They have swappable pads, nice!