[Lwerewolf]

-Rim brakes means ever so slightly bent rim = SOL.

-There are some decent internal cable routing setups. The newest fad (through-headset), though...

-Comfort has a ton of variables, of which tyre volume/pressure/type/details(inserts/etc) are a major part of, but not the be-all-end-all. Grips, handlebars, saddles, pedals, crank length, etc, etc, etc, etc...

[kjkjadksj]

Rim breaks are fine for most people. your wheel has to be very very visually out of true to cause problems and thats only a $20 fix at the local bike shop. A little cathunk in the hands during braking never hurt anyone. Source: rode $40 bikes through college. Most of the comfort stuff is not applicable unless you are spending hours and hours in the saddle. You aren’t going to notice the crank arms are too short or your reach is too long commuting 30 mins to work.

[downut]

Truing a wheel is something that for 100 years avid cyclists (riding multiple times per week) could do with nothing but a single $3 truing wrench. If you were very poor like me in college you did it by pushing the rim brakes to one side or another and then truing against the rim hitting the pad. We used to do this on the trail, ride mates amiably sitting by why the whacked wheel gets put into "enough" true.

Nowadays of course I have the whole kit, the Park truing stand, various truing wrenchs... and that's it. Oh right I use painter's tape to mark problematical spokes. I've built three sets of fabulous wheels that take a lot of abuse but let me still set personal records at (say) TdT.

Now we get to the flame wars. I've been endurance cycling 50 years, since I was 14 or so. I completely understand the arguments for disc brakes for tandems and touring setups. What the disc brake people are not telling you is that the hand fatigue problem was solved by $40 Avid Single Digit rim brakes 25 years ago. I have a set on my mt bike that are truly single digit sufficient for most rough descents up to say 3000' and maybe an hour. Probably you need to do some exercises if you're doing those and having fatigue. I have been at Moab doing an insane gonzo abusive descent and noticing that hmm might be having safety issues soon with my forearms, and hmm, I need to get this descent done... but that was before the Avid brakes. My 20 yo Specialized frame FrankenBike with Avid SD brakes is not being replaced in I guess forever because it is gonzo abusive ready and it just works.

Edit: Oh if anyone has a nice set of used Avid SD brakes I'd really like to replace the way too sensitive Paul sidepull brakes on my gravel bike. I put the dumbest pads possible on them and they're still too sensitive. I'd happily trade if I could fully refurb the functionality of the Avid brakeset.