Disc Brakes? Mechanical or Hydro?

[Toyote]

+1 on the Avid BB7 mechanicals. I have them on both of my mountain bikes, both 29ers; one full-sus, the other rigid. They are dead simple to set up and maintain.

Even if I had the time to tinker with hydros, the real world performance is not significantly better- especially not for how much you're likely to ride. And either way, you will never go back to rim brakes on a mtb. Never.

 

[ntsqd]

I've been riding for 42 years (oh gawd, am I that old?) and I tend to ride more like a trials rider than like a typical DHer though I do 'let er rip' on occasion. (Bidwell Park's "B" trail anyone?) I do own a set of Hayes discs, but I've only ever ridden cable discs (Hayes are for a stalled build). Even when I had the time to ride regularly I never felt that cable discs were a hindrance, nor have they ever "gone to ****" on me. I've ridden Hope, Pro-Stop, and Avid cable discs and until I start riding much, much more aggressively I don't see a need to change. I also will only tolerate rim brakes on my road bike.

 

[bigeee]

I just recently bought a Giant XTC1. the bike was a 2008 model that my local bike shop still had in stock. They sold it to me for $699 which is and incredible deal considering the good quality components. It has a Hayes stroker hydraulic braking system which I love. Marzocchi bomber front fork good SRAM deraileurs and a lot more. The moral of my story is that you can go into a bike shop and get a good quality bike with hydro brakes and and decent components for not a lot of dough. And this bike has survived a couple moab slickrock trips with no damage. If I were you I'd stop in at a few of your local shops and see what they have laying around that they might be able to give you a good deal on to get it off their sales floor.