Good disc brakes vs bad

mclaren880 said:

I'm looking to get a new mountain bike in the near future, and i've been trying to research components. I've been able to get a feel for what makes a derailleur better or worse, but i really can't figure out the difference between good disc brakes and bad disc brakes. I'm looking to get a full suspension bike, so hydraulic seems to be my only option.

Could someone give me an idea as to what the differences would be (both maintenance and performance) with lower end vs. higher end hydraulic disc brakes? I'm also slightly curious about the same question in regards to mechanic disc brakes, but this won't affect me as much, so i'm more curious about the hydraulics.

Mechanical discs are compatible with a full sus bike.

All the present hydraulics are pretty good units. The are fairly easy to service, robust, work well. shimano, Hayes, Avids. When you go up in price, you generally go down a wee bit in weight, see more exotic materials, perhaps more pistons, a more expensive rotor.

check out the MTB subforum, there's one new thread about mtb brakes