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news
Specialized studying road.cc reader's disc brake injury video
Specialized are studying footage of a crash involving a road.cc reader who says he was injured by a disc brake rotor on one of the California-based brand’s bikes when he was riding with friends last month.
As we reported yesterday, Peter Curtis-Brown from Nantwich in Cheshire needed hospital treatment for a deep cut to his leg after the incident, which happened when he was on a café ride with friends on Sunday 23 April.
> Video: road.cc reader films moment he says his leg was cut by disc brake rotor
Peter had initially provided photos of his injury and the disc brake on a friend’s bike, still with traces of blood on it, to Specialized UK.
He said in a comment to our story yesterday that after it was published, he had received a call from the company’s head office in California “and we had a good chat.”
He said that he was “very happy with them and I remain a big fan of the brand.”
He added: “On reflection, yes this really is a freak incident but Specialized are grateful for the footage.
“To date they have never had coverage of an incident involving disc brakes so I am sure this will be useful to them and can benefit rider safety in the future.”
Mark Cote, head of global marketing at Specialized, told road.cc: “We wish Peter the fastest recovery from his injury.
“We had a very good conversation and thank him for documenting and passing along all of the info from the incident.
“Our product and engineering team are reviewing the details,” he added.
In January, Lotto-Soudal rider Adam Hansen claimed the brand was trying to force the technology on the peloton while there were still concerns over the safety of the technology.
> Lotto-Soudal pro Adam Hansen says Specialized is trying to force disc brakes on peloton
However, last month, Specialized founder and CEO, Mike Sinyard, insisted disc brakes were “adding to safety, not danger, and if anything, the chainring on the front is a bit more dangerous.”
He added that he believed all road bikes in future will be equipped with disc brakes, and predicted their universal use in professional races within two years.
> Specialized boss Mike Sinyard says in future, all road bikes will have disc brakes
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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35 comments
Why is this primarily a road controversy? The MTB guys have had disc brakes for years, and I don't read a stream of alarming press about off road riders getting sliced up by their own bikes.
The "mixing groups" idea is interesting. Only 4 years ago, most of the carbon wheels that you'd see in amateur races had terrible braking compared to aluminum rims, especially after a lot of descending. You'd occasionally see some guy who couldn't slow down anymore, and that was exciting in a bad way. Having BETTER brakes wouldn't seem to be nearly as dangerous a problem if the rider with the amazing brakes has a basic level of group riding awareness.
I'm still on caliper brakes (modern and old), but watch the newer technology with interest, trying to decide what/when to change.
again, the riding in itself is not only not the point it's irrelevant.
without a disc being present there would not be a pretty nasty injury, end of story.
Dave Atkinson says"but talking about risk from disc brakes purely in the context of injury from the brakes is the same as talking about helmets purely in the context of head injuries: there's a bigger and more important picture. i don't think they are an additional risk: they're better brakes, so there are plenty of circumstances where they will mitigate against injury because people will be able to stop better on their carbon rims, in the wet, with cold hands. overall risk will, in my opinion, go down, not up."
an opinion minus not only any fact but flies in the face of human behaviour/psychology and fails to ackowledge limiting factors like the brains ability to process quicker oh and tyres, in the wet.
comparing to helmets is not the same, helmets are massively worse in every aspect.
the bigger picture is neither are needed to race hard, fast and safe and won't save more than a few seconds tops, unless you're a spaz at braking and can't/won't bother to learn how to modulate your braking in x conditions or even learn to understand your environ better.
Looks to me like the car pulled out to the other side of the road to avoid the ramblers, not seeing the bikes, which then panic stopped and piled into each other. Only the front rider was watching and stopped safely, gets piled into by the chap with the Boardman gloves and the red Spesh.
Woeful riding skillz.
The slow reactions of the riders behind or what caused the accident are irrelevant anyway. The incident finally ends the argument that the disc rotor cannot cause injury. It clearly has.
The on coming car most have played a part, but I agree that it was ultimately just bad group riding all around. Though a conclusive disc injury would make interesting data for future developments is the point of the post. Glad it was only a minor injury
re: what caused the emergency stop
There are ramblers & a bike in front & a car heading towards them.
So what could've happened is the car comes round the corner, see's the ramblers walking on the road pulls over the white line to avoid them, front cyclist goes left to avoid the car & causes cam bike to brake & the pile up of bikes behind.
Cam bike reaches ramblers who have now stepped onto the verge out of the way, the slowing car goes back over the centre line.
Or they really shouldn't be let out without a responsible adult telling them how to do it properly.
one or the other.
So the person with the camera got his/her right calf cut by the front rotor on the red roubaix? No picture of the wound??
Some people have been injured by airbags deploying in car crashes, yet overall they still contribute to massive safety increases. I have yet to physically meet anyone who has tried a road bike with disc brakes and not love them. The only people I have seen who do not like disc brakes on road bikes, are people on forums who don't think they need them.
Am I missing something, why are Specialized in the firing line for this, the last time I checked they don't make disc brakes, I guess it's shimano ?
Breakthrough idea: Ban all bike racing and reduce the risk of injury! Let's stop descending quickly as well in case anyone gets a scratch. Wear full body armour around the house as that's where most accidents/incidents happen!
Don't venture out the womb in case (you never know)!!
Don't have a life and it can never be taken from you!
Yes you are going to have to buy a new frame, forks,wheels. Yes you 6k carbon bullshit machine has lost a load of value. Yes you will have a bolt through axel. Get over it and move on (suck it up son), do we ban motorcycles from filmind tours as they have disc brakes? No we don't we evolve and develop. For F's Sake!!!!!!!!¬!
Lack of any riding skills caused that accident.
Why did the guy with the camera brake? Nothing on the road gave any reason too.
Why did the gey in the yellow top take so long to react, try moving hands when braking?
Why was the guy on the Roubaix half asleep?
Shocking riding! Almost comical.
Interesting that you could see what was going on in front of the camera bike with a rearward facing camera.
Amazing insight! Almost comical.
I wonder if the company concerned had not been from the seemingly litigious USA whether a similar response would have been received.
Seeing as the accident is in the less litigious UK, I'm sure it bothered them not one whit.
Yes, other pieces of equipment on bicycles like brake levers and chainrings can poke or slice you. But they are necessary parts of a bicycle, or at least unless you want to go around on coaster-brake-equipped shaft-drive machines weighing half a tonne and with low efficiency. Disc brakes are not necessary on a road bike. They are an additional risk - small, maybe, but made worse by seemingly adding mostly to the danger to other people. That those other people might have poor group-riding skills is not a mitigating factor, as who hasn't made the odd mistake while on a club ride. And anyone who thinks a pro-rider, much less a club-rider, would orchestrate some elaborate hoax to undermine disc brake technology, just to make you feel bad about the new toy you've purchased, is displaying Theresa May or Trump levels of paranoia.
Like it or not, in 5 years you won't be able to buy a 'decent' bike without disc brakes. Maybe then, once everyone has them and everyone has a had a good few crashes well be able to get a real picture of the danger, or lack of. I'm edging my bets on lack of.
... based solely on your (bullshit) definition of what's necessary.
No he is quite correct, you arre adding to more surfaces that can potentially cause injury, thereby increasing the risk.
FWIW I still race, officiate and organise, once discs are allowed in domestic UK road races, I will not be putting my neck above the parapet and will stop all three.
Did Specialized ever get in touch with Helen regarding these injury free devices?
https://redditchstandard.co.uk/news/helen-grits-her-teeth-after-crash-sl...
Dup post
Hoaxes aren't necessary when some pros have Owain Doull-levels of spacial awareness, technophobia and stupidity.
i don't think the pros are orchestrating a hoax, it's just confirmation bias: there's a lot of news about disc brakes cutting stuff, stuff gets cut, ergo it's the disc brakes what done it. in the case of owain doull i can't see any way a disc rotor could have caused it. the pro bubble is neither here nor there for me, anyway. I certainly don't think the injury above is a hoax.
but talking about risk from disc brakes purely in the context of injury from the brakes is the same as talking about helmets purely in the context of head injuries: there's a bigger and more important picture. i don't think they are an additional risk: they're better brakes, so there are plenty of circumstances where they will mitigate against injury because people will be able to stop better on their carbon rims, in the wet, with cold hands. overall risk will, in my opinion, go down, not up.
Should have gone to Specsavers.....
Admittedly circumstances may be different in the case of close group riding (tho not in this case : rider behind just isn't paying attention) but in the 20 yrs that disks have been on mtbs, I can't recall anyone making much of a fuss about this sort of incident.
It's not entirley clear, but it looks as though the bloke in the yellow top / black sleeves is very slow to react. He appears to be still pedalling when the camera bike is braking heavily (he is pedalling as the gap closes rapidly), and then it looks as though he takes his right hand off the hoods and down to the drops to brake- so the (considerable) gap has almost totally closed before he even starts to brake.
Isn't the point here that, unlike chainrings which are in the middle of the bike under the rider and often protected with a chain and the riders legs which are clipped-in to the pedals, discs are close to the front and rear of the bike and never protected with anything, can be hot and have sharp edges?
In a crash situation it is easy to see how a front disc could be very close to the right leg of the rider in front, whereas the chainring is nowhere near.
Also, chainrings will tend to give puncture wounds which require less medical attention, whilst discs will slice through the skin and create a much larger wound.
Seems like there are some simple solutions though:
What this does highlight is the problem of having mixed braking technologies in a group, the bike that the camera footage is from stopped alot quicker than the one behind (I'm assuming this is the disc braked equiped one and the rider behind started braking at the same time)
No, the disc-braked bike is the red Roubaix that hits the camera bike. The left hand side of that bike (and therefore the rotor side) goes up the right hand side of the stopped bike.
What that video shows is appalling group riding skills with complete lack of attention from the riders behind. Quite why the guy with the camera even stops there is questionable - it's not an emergency stop to avoid something so if just a casual stop you find a layby or you pull off the side of the road completely. You can see when he turns the bike around that there is no obstacle or junction ahead so WTF was he doing just slowing/stopping? Doesn't sound like there was a shouted warning to the riders behind and equally they were so busy chatting and not looking that they just rode into the back of him.
Dreadful group riding.
Not exactly.... If this were an even comparison of who can stop the quickest, rims vs discs, then that may be true. Besides, in those conditions, disc brakes wouldn't stop significantly quicker.
Watch the video in slow motion, the rider in black and yellow was still pedalling when the rider carrying the camera slowed. In fact, the rider behind didn't even have his hands covering the brakes (pretty bad given that he was group riding), he fumbles, moves his hand onto the drops then brakes with the right brake only and much too late.
Similarly, the bloke on the red specialised clearly isn't braking very well as you can see his brake levers have barely moved.
What this highlights is how not to ride with others.
Errr ... no it doesn't. I believe you have it around the wrong way - the chap with the red Spesh has the disc brakes and on conventional wisdom should have come to a halt much faster than the bloke with the camera who was on rim brakes.
If it highlights anything, it's the "problem" of having mixed abilities in a group.
No. don't know wht the front bike was running, the offending bike is the red roubaix that comes in from the left. The camera bike was virtually stopped, and you can just see the red roubaix rider reaching for his levers just before the accident. (Pure inattention rather than due to a variance in stopping power)
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