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@infmz covered it well but:
- Adjusting for pad wear is a pain
- Initial setup is a lot more fiddly than hydro brakes
- Modulation is generally poorer
- Truly good mechanical discs cost considerably more than excellent cheap hydros
FWIW, I rode with BB7s for 1,000's and 1,000's of KMs on several bikes. They were fine, and the additional maintenance they required was hardly onerous, but hydros are just so much better that I wouldn't consider mechanical brakes outside of very niche applications.
If you're after brakes that look a little different to Shimano, my colleague really rated these. They look quite nice in the flesh: https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/components/brakes/disc-brake-systems/clarks-crs-4-brakes
- Adjusting for pad wear is a pain
JacqueLucque-
Thanks @infmz and @JacqueLucque, appreciate your intel. Those Clarks do look great.
Browndonneur
I’m partial to a hydro, had 105s on my old 2019(?) Enigma Escape and they were frankly unrivalled in terms of modulation and bite. I buy the minimal to zero advantages over hydro (field-serviceability is overstated IMO), but what makes cable discs fussier? Cable stretch, wear etc.?
Other than installing a headset and building a wheel (which I have zero appetite for when there are so many competent bike shops and wheelbuilders out there), installing and bleeding a hydro disc is pretty much the only other bike thing I haven’t tried. So I’ll get them, but probably next winter when I tinker more and ride less.