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Tom Boonen on disc brakes (source Quick Step Floors Cycling Team on Facebook).jpgSpecialized boss Mike Sinyard says in future, all road bikes will have disc brakes
Specialized founder and CEO Mike Sinyard has said that in the future, all road bikes will have disc brakes - and predicts their universal use in the professional peloton within two years.
The California-based company was accused earlier this year by Lotto-Belisol rider Adam Hansen of trying to force the controversial technology on the peloton before safety concerns had been fully addressed.
> Lotto-Soudal pro Adam Hansen says Specialized is trying to force disc brakes on peloton
That followed an incident at the Tour of Qatar in which Team Sky’s Owain Doull claimed his shoe had been sliced in a crash by a disc brake rotor on the Specialized bike of Quick Step Floors sprinter Marcel Kittel, although video footage suggested there had been no contact.
The UCI resumed its trial of disc brakes from the start of this year after suspending it following a crash at last year’s Paris-Roubaix where Movistar’s Fran Ventoso blamed a disc brake rotor for causing a deep cut to his leg.
But Sinyard, speaking to Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport at Milan’s Vigorelli velodrome, defended their use – and said that the day will come when all road bikes have disc brakes.
He said: “There’s a lot of questions about the disc brake” in road cycling.
“If you think about the disc brake in everything, whether it’s the car, or the motorcycle, and also the mountain bike, it’s so logical, because with the disc brake you can have more precise control.
“I believe it’s adding to safety, not danger, and if anything, the chainring on the front is a bit more dangerous.
“But the disc brake, it’s the future. In the future, we won’t look at road bikes that don’t have disc brakes, they all will.
“So my personal feeling is the disc brake is bringing the safety because there’s more control, if you can go down the mountain, put the brake when you need it instead of dragging the brake all the way down to make the speed lower.”
Asked whether protective covers should be used on disc brakes, he replied: “We always need to look at things for safety. We’ve taken the disc brake and put the edge very smooth on there, that makes a big difference. If you cover it, it’s going to make it hotter.”
When it was put to Sinyard that some riders describe them as being ‘like knives’ he replied: “People talk about the safety of that. Actually, we have no evidence of that yet, and I think the safety of the brake outweighs any other issue.
“As I say, on the crankset, it’s probably the most critical part that can cut into the rider.
“I think now you see a lot of pro riders using them [disc brakes] more and more for sure, and I believe fully that in two years from now, everyone will be riding with disc brakes.”
Sinyard had headed to Milan after watching the peloton’s leading advocate of disc brakes, Tom Boonen, take part in his final race at Paris-Roubaix.
He was asked why another star of the peloton who rides Specialized – world champion Peter Sagan – did not appear to favour disc brakes in competition.
“He has used them in races,” Sinyard said, “and he will use them more in races, so I think you will see that, he will use it.
“Of course, he’s a fantastic mountain biker and mountain bikes only have disc brakes. It’s just a matter of time.”
As for the future of bicycles generally, he said: “I think the bike, just like in the past, will continue to evolve and evolve and be more comfortable, more safe, much faster, enjoyable, and be essentially in the future more of a smart bike.”
Asked what he meant by the term “smart bike,” Sinyard explained: “In the sense of having the best design, like we say ‘rider first engineering’ we’re engineering the bike for each size, each rider, which makes a big difference, and also more electronics in the bike.
“One of the things we’re very excited about is that with the fitting of the bike, we can really make it your bike, your machine, fitting your body.”
> Road discs: what will they cut? Road.cc takes an unscientific approach
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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31 comments
The question that isn't being asked is whether rim brakes are good enough for the pro peloton. For racing, rim brakes may often be good enough, and they also also allow potentially easier wheel changes.
If rim brakes are good enough, shouldn't it be up to the teams to choose?
the safety aspect is complete and utter bollocks.
I'll explain later, I'm off for a ride out.
It would always be most interesting to know when exactly Synyard made these remarks. To me it looks like publishers use the same articles over and over again as if they were oppinionated too?
It sounds like I should buy a new bike, with the latest rim brakes, as it will be seen as a classic in the future.
Fair comment, my last MTBs all had Shimano discs of some variety and all were mostly excellent.
Same apparently cannot be said for SRAM brakes. So disc brakes are obviously better than rim brakes in all respects, so long as you buy the *right* disc brakes (and if the *right* disc brakes happen to be Shimano, just hope you haven't bought one of the sets with the leaky seals...).
Is that Specialized trying to say you need to buy a new bike ?
They sell helmets as well. I bet he's in favour of mandatory helmet wearing.
Define 'better'.
I don't ride bikes out of necessity, I ride for fun, and the godawful noises that emanate from my brakes if I so much as ride through a puddle seriously detracts from that fun.
I want to like disc brakes, but spending endless time and money just in an attempt to make them work acceptably just puts me off them and makes me resent how ubiquitous they're becoming.
In 15 years of exclusively having shimano disc brakes on many mountain bikes, I have had to rebleed brakes after initial installation only twice. So from my experience, if you buy quality shimano brakes, they are virtually maintenance free (just pad replacement). I will not be buying another bike without disc brakes (ok, well, I might get a track bike again, but that's different). Road, CX, XC, and touring bikes are on the longterm shopping list, and all will have discs.
Re: “Get over it, you weight obsessed, faux safety concerned luddites.”
Just as a nit-picking aside – But - It could quite reasonably argued that the ‘Luddites’ where right. Firstly, They weren’t anti-mechanisation per-se, their [not unreasonable] objection was to mechanisation that took away their earning capabilities and passed it on to the owners of the machines. They were also ‘right’ in that industrialisation didn’t do a world of good for themselves, their children or even possibly their grandchildren (as physically evidenced in their bones by declining stature and the marks of malnutrition). By the end of the nineteenth century the bulk of the urban work force was getting on for physically degenerate.
Ultimately industrialisation did bring many benefits (bicycles included) – but it wasn’t a forgone conclusion and a heck of a lot of ‘eggs’ had to be broken in the process.
“I believe it’s adding to safety, not danger, and if anything, the chainring on the front is a bit more dangerous."
The chainring doesn't keep spinning when you've crashed and are trying to extricate yourself from the tangle.
That's true, but the disc rotor only keeps spinning with the angular momentum possessed by a bicycle wheel; that's barely enough to cut butter, even at the highest speeds that the pros manage…
The chainring thing is a red herring too - the only time that is likely to be unprotected by a chain is during a steep climb - not many high-speed crashes then. It is possible that the chain could be unshipped by the impact, I guess, but that is starting to clutch at straws, surely?
Easily the most dangerous thing is the ground. Why can't we do something about that? Won't *someone* think of the children?
I blame gravity
"Not just a good idea, it's the Law."
also, they're going to start making bikes that fit - I can't wait for the future!
Or maybe they'll trademark the words "disc" and "brake" when relating to a mechanism for stopping a bicycle...
"Specialized are trying to sell bikes!!" Yes, probably. They are a bike company.
A brave new world of restricted wheel choice, more expensive bikes, and deafening screeching in the wet awaits!
Yes - like rim brakes are so quiet in the wet as grit and crud scores your rims and stopping distance increases by 100%...
I have rim brakes and disc brakes on my bikes. Discs are simply better there's no argument to be made. Sure you may prefer the aesthetics and lightness of rim brakes but lets not pretend they're better at stopping a bike in the quickest most controllable fashion.
On the same bike? Wow - that's taking redundancy to a whole new level
I guess they didn't teach you about plurals at your school?!
In all fairness, I can do that with rim brakes...
The evil, red-hot spinning discs of death.
Rim brakes: VHS
Disc brakes: Blu-ray
Get over it, you weight obsessed, faux safety concerned luddites.
as in, nobody bought because it was obsolete before it was even launched?
You still use Blu-Ray? Luddite.
"Two years from now, everyone will be riding with disc brakes...", I think that unless he plans to come around my house and steal all my bikes then he is sadly mistaken. Let's have a think...company making bikes with a possible vested interest in getting us all to rush out and buy new bikes to replace the ones that mostly work ok at the moment??
He didn't say...
... he was talking about pros. Put your knickers back on.
To be fair, unless the article misquoted him, he did specifically say:
I think it's pretty clear, in the context of the article, that he meant the pros. I remain hopeful that we're not facing a Stalinist purge of disloyal rim-brake riders.
"First, they came for the rim-braked bikes, but I did not speak out, because I ride discs ..."
It's not the article that is misquoting him, it's you! What about the first half of his sentence?
You're right - the context is pretty clear. Ignoring the fact Sinyard struggles to form comprehensible sentences - I don't give a toss what brakes people use but I don't think it is right to criticize people for something they didn't say.
So presumably Specialised sells mostly disc-braked road bikes...?
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