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Will disc brakes be banned at British sportives?

Disc brakes are not currently permitted in French or Spanish events

Nope.

Not as far as we can tell anyway. With suggestions that insurance companies have been behind the decisions to ban disc brakes from French and Spanish sportives, we spoke to the organisers of a few UK events to get their take on things. If we had to sum up their collective response, it would be something like: “Never say never, but unless we hear otherwise disc brakes are fine.”

Prudential RideLondon Event Director Hugh Brasher said: "Safety is our priority and we continually review equipment that is permitted in our non-competitive cycling events. Currently we don’t have any plans to ban the use of disc brakes for our mass participation cycling events.”

A spokesman for ITP Events, who organise the Lincoln Grand Prix sportive among others, said: "We haven't had any disc brake problems that I know of. They are road legal so unless our insurer tells us they won't cover it, it's business as usual. If they become illegal or the insurer takes a position on it then we'll change our position."

The Tour of Cambridgeshire said: "We currently do not have any issues with the use of disc brakes and insurance so ToC is allowing them to be used at the event."

Etape Caledonia and Gran Fondo Giro d’Italia Northern Ireland both said that disc brakes were still allowed at their events, while Human Race, who organise Dragon Ride l’Etape Wales and l’Etape London have previously told us that they have no issues with them either.

We also tried to get comment off British Cycling, but haven’t yet heard back. Presumably they’ll have something to say once they’ve tracked down all that old kit and hired a new performance director and whatnot.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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15 comments

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ashg | 8 years ago
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Was also there on the Mallorca 312 and with the weather the 167k was the right choice for me too!

Saw loads of disc brake road bikes and no one stopped them from riding the event. I used a hired bike with rim brakes and the weather was miserable and wet at the top of Puig Major and on the way down and Ultegra 6800 rim brakes on a hire bike that had done some miles were effective enough. Tyre grip was the main worry but I stayed up. I've never seen so many people go down though and into ambulances.

If people want to use disc brakes let them.

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Sir Wobbly | 8 years ago
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Disc brakes banned? Hurrah!

Glad my Pashley Roadster has drum brakes. Now the Sportive world is *mine* yes

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john latimer | 8 years ago
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If UK sportives ban discs I'll still ride the one's I currently ride the only difference I'll have to stop at pub for food instead of footstop.My entry fee will pay for my nicer lunch as all ones I do are open road no one can stop me

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BigBear63 | 8 years ago
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When I was a kid my racer's side pull brakes were rubbish. The number of times I came off, while bombing it down some steep hill, usually with a sharp bend at the bottom, while applying maximum grab on the levers, doesn't bear mentioning. Plus there a was no such thing as cycle helmets in the 70's yet not one of my many friends ever suffered severe injuries of any sort whilst riding. Maybe being so vulnerable to injury made us just a little bit more cautious; I don't know.

Would I have chosen disc brakes back then? If you'd have asked me immediately after each crash, I'd have said "Defo, get them discs on now!"

Did not having decent brakes stop me from bombing it down as fast as possible? Nope.

Did it toughen me up? Well, I'm not sure about that. I like to think you need to be a hard bastard in the first place, to not give a monkeys about stopping safely.

My toughening up came when I got rid of my stabilisers at Age 4 1/2 and repeatedly fell off all afternoon until I cracked that balancing thing. My father couldn't stop laughing as he held my seat to support me for a few yards each time and then pushed me into the rear of the family car, over and over again. He never once cared about the chance of a scratch on his beloved Ford Zephyr, put there by the head of his eldest. Don't you just love dads?

As to disc brakes, I wouldn't purposefully buy a sportive road bike with them, because I find reducing the weight of the wheel is much more important to get you up the hill more easily than worrying about the downhill bit but if they were fitted already then so be it. I've done the occasional touring fully laden and I think they have a definite place in that area of cycling. I also think I would probably choose discs over V brakes on a mountain bike.

I don't think banning them is the answer. Let's face it the odd minor cut that may be sustained from contact with a spinning disc is so unbelievably remote as to be irrelevant. Surely we want to breed tough kids not wimps & wusses.

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cdamian | 8 years ago
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only1redders | 8 years ago
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If this happens (and I very much doubt it will), then come ride Audax instead. Disc brakes (and pretty much everything/anything else) appear to be welcome in my experience

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shay cycles replied to only1redders | 8 years ago
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only1redders wrote:

If this happens (and I very much doubt it will), then come ride Audax instead. Disc brakes (and pretty much everything/anything else) appear to be welcome in my experience

 

Almost anything - but not the wannabe racer attitude that comes with many riders in sprotives. Audax is not a "pretend race" and you can't just ride round as fast as you want as there are both minimum and maximum average speeds for each event. That of course is part of what makes them so good.

 

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matthewn5 | 8 years ago
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I recall that Campag's early quick releases had to be redesigned following fear of injuries in the pro peleton. The later type had a curved lever that tucked in out of the way.

Maybe disc brakes will need some rethinking...

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littlegermanboy | 8 years ago
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Presumably they’ll have something to say once they’ve tracked down all that old kit and hired a new performance director and whatnot.

HA HA

Thanks Alex

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srchar | 8 years ago
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I also rode the rather damp Mallorca 312 on Saturday, on a pair of carbon rim braked Boras. I was in the all-time top 10% of Stravamugs on the descents, proving that one anecdote is as pointless as another.

The only hairy moment came when accelerating out of a hairpin on a climb, the front wheel deciding to dart sideways instead of move forward. Luckily, it regained traction before I was given the chance to have a nice little lie down on the tarmac.

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MoutonDeMontagne replied to srchar | 8 years ago
1 like

srchar wrote:

I also rode the rather damp Mallorca 312 on Saturday, on a pair of carbon rim braked Boras. I was in the all-time top 10% of Stravamugs on the descents, proving that one anecdote is as pointless as another.

Carbon rims in the wet are a great way to get descending KOMs, brakes don't work anyway so why bother trying! 

Rode my new Boras for the first time on saturday, brakes worked fine on some steep descents in the dry, scared myself sh*tless first time I tried them braking for a road junction in the wet (hail), pull lever and nothing. After that, readjusted braking points accordingly and no issues. 

Having come from an MTB background with v's then discs, calipers shocked me at first at just how bad they were, then moving onto Ultegra and alu rims, things got better and became the norm. Sure Carbon will go the same way. Benefit of discs seems to be exactly the same response, whether wet dry summer or winter. Non of the 'oh f**k nothings happening' moments!

 

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Russell Orgazoid | 8 years ago
5 likes
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DaveE128 replied to Russell Orgazoid | 8 years ago
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Plasterer's Radio wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nANsrwcWeTM

Not for the squeamish.

Lol, I almost didn't watch that!

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graybags | 8 years ago
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I did the Mallorca 312 (actually the 167) on saturday with my disc bike, no problems at all and I wasn't alone. Rather glad that I did given the wet conditions.

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Yorkshire wallet replied to graybags | 8 years ago
3 likes

graybags wrote:

I did the Mallorca 312 (actually the 167) on saturday with my disc bike, no problems at all and I wasn't alone. Rather glad that I did given the wet conditions.

I was out in the rain yesterday in Otley/Harrogate area and wished I had disc brakes on some of descents (and a motor on some of ascents). Coming from MTB, I think there's a big difference in initial bite and progression between discs and calipers as well as a totally consistent feel. 

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