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Swings around roundabouts init. They make sense for punters. Punters want confidence and consistency. Not a whole lot of sense for pros - pros don't perform by slowing and stopping better and they stop fine - in most cases - because they have access to top quality brake calipers, pads and a limitless supply of rims and the mad-skills from riding bikes all day every day.
It's only where a rim brake is genuinely a bit scary - i.e. wet long mountain descent on carbon rims - that there's a clear case to the pro. It's good that they have access to them though if only for the limited cases where the disc is a clear winner.
Howard-
I think what makes a lot of people skeptical of their true worth is that in the peloton they seem to be imposed from above by manufacturers as opposed to genuinely seen as a desirable improvement from the riders. This and comedy stories of people wearing out three sets of pads at CX races has left me with a lasting 'pinch of salt' feeling when it comes to them-as much as setting up cantis can be a spiky stick to the scrotum sometimes.
Punter-wise I guess they're seen as an improvement just because apart from the industrial stopping action they're new and flashy and they're less likely to actually tinker with them or replace pads/rotors themselves. I guess the 'rims last foreva' aspect also ties in, though I suspect most folk buy a new bike before that ever happens anyway.
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amey
I tried riding on some mechanical discs on a CX bike and was quite disappointed tbh-really hard to modulate, and quite abrubt when they did actually stop. A well set up rim brake is, in my opinion, better than shit discs. Yet I do recognise hydraulic is supposed to be much better, so I'll reserve final judgement but till then, quite happy with rim brakes.
If it aint breakin' don't fix it kind of thing.