With how 100% unnecessary I consider disc brakes, if a bike does come with them, I'm way more inclined to choose a bike with mechanical versus hydraulic. Hydraulic is just so much more of a PITA to deal with when you have to deal with it.

Yes, l follow, and agree.

But why did QR do this? Do they also think that hydro disc brakes are a PITA ?

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
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Mechanical disc brakes cost less.

So you think it was a 100% cost-based decision?

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
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Also a factor traveling with mechanical brakes is easier than with hydraulic brakes.

Most likely.

So I saw this as well and I actually just ordered an XPR that comes with the mechanical disc. I asked them this question and they told me it's mostly due to a spec issue and that they're unable to get the ultegra hydraulic TT breaks. Shimano was only shipping out the dura ace ones for a while and they allocated those to the VPR. Seems like a fairly legit reason because many other TT bikes that are available are that are coming with di2 in an ultegra build seem to have mechanical disc or dura ace hydraulic. So that's the reason why but now let's take a closer look at the what.

Personally I love my hydraulic disc brakes on my road bike. I ride a lot of hills with big descents and they give me tons of confidence and the breaking power is insane. However on my TT bike I'm actually excited to run the mechanical disc. The bad is you do lose a little bit of stopping power but still way better than rimbrake. Now let's focus on the positive. I'm pretty sure they're lighter and they're definitely easier to work on. The biggest selling point for me is there easier to work on. The fact that I can take this thing apart with a small handful of tools and put it back together is a huge selling point especially when it comes to traveling to races.

In my opinion this was a better choice when it comes to making a bike for the masses. Yes hydraulic disc brakes are really cool and stop better but mechanical discs are so much more practical for the rest of us in this type of application.

Besides I'm not trying to stop the fastest LOL

Thanks, that is some good info.

I personally like the TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes a lot (I run them on my gravel bike) and find them overall superior to the hydro brakes (when I consider the install and maintenance hassles of hydro). But I was wondering what QR's logic was.

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
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Yep, 100 percent this. For clarity, as the previous poster said, the V-PR (and PRsix2) get the hydraulic disc treatment. And the new X-PR (which shares the same frame and fork design as the V-PR) uses the TRP Spyre mech brakes, yes, partly because of availability. But really, even if Ultegra hydraulic brakes were available, the price would have to come up a bit to account for that cost switch. So the mechanical disc stoppers really allow us to really get the price into a range that makes the X-PR super attractive. And they're great brakes, TBH.

As QR's new flagship, the V-PR is exciting (waiting on my wife's new one to get completed in the next week or so!). But at that price point, the X-PR is a lot of bike (and a big step forward from the PRseries bikes in terms of weight savings and performance handling) for not a lot of money. If my wife hadn't demanded the V-PR, we'd be targeting the X-PR. I may be somewhat biased ;-), but best bike for the buck in that price range, IMHO.

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Jay Prasuhn
Marketing Specialist, American Bicycle Group (Quintana Roo//Litespeed//Obed)
twitter.com/jayprasuhn

Hey thanks for all of the info.

Do you travel by air much with a full hydro disc brake equipped tri (or other) bike? Do the hydraulics ever add to the hassles or complexity of travel and bike set up at your destination, or upon your return?

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
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Air travel with any disc-brake setup (hydraulic or mechanical) is gonna be finicky, and tricky to the point of requiring you be very careful about how you pack for travel. The housing is generally pretty tight (whether you have a QR, a Canyon, Trek, whatever), so removing/laying the basebar down is possible... but there's always the chance, depending on how you pack the bike, what kind of case you're using, if TSA re-packs your bike poorly etc. that the housing will pull to the point of damaging the housing. The new V-PR is marginally better to travel with than many hydraulic setups; the housing is fully enveloped by the stem, so the stem and housing move together... and they're all Di2 builds, so with electric cable running through it's easier that way as well. The mechanical brakes on the X-PR are a bit trickier though, to make sure the brakes work well without any cable run interference.

Dan has posted it a few times, but there are hydraulic housing breaks that can be installed, and that would make travel life a lot easier. And there are soft cases like those from SciCon that pack up without requiring you to remove the basebar. Those are obviously the easiest. But for any disc brake bike travel, it's gonna be a bit more risky, and require bike owners to take ownership of how their bikes work. That is, if their hydraulic brake line experiences a leak because of a tight housing line, the TSA handlers (bike throwers) repacked it poorly, whatever the cause, having a plan in place knowing the shops in town and being able to schedule a service if needed pre-race... or being mechanically saavy enough to handle it on their own by traveling with a bleed kit and knowing how to repair and re-bleed the brakes.

So long story short... it's a bit more work to travel with than rim brake. Worth it? Depends on where you sit on the performance spectrum, what kind of course you're riding, etc. For what it's worth, Quintana Roo is at most major Ironman events in North America (We'll be at IM St. George 70.3 Worlds, Kona, and Arizona this year I believe) and we have our service team on-hand to handle most mechanical issues for QR owners—free of charge—if an issue arises. That's some peace of mind.

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Jay Prasuhn
Marketing Specialist, American Bicycle Group (Quintana Roo//Litespeed//Obed)
twitter.com/jayprasuhn