interesting article on discs in the pro peloton

Less facetiously. This debate
Less facetiously. This debate has been had in mountain bikes already and disc brakes won a crushing victory for the very simple reason that they are better. If pros can’t use them, so what. I am not a pro and all I can think is that it sucks being them.

Wheel changes – a significant proportion of the time (at least based on my televisual experiences of races) the team will change the whole bike. And I imagine that with a small amount of practice you can change a 15mm through axle in exactly the same time as it takes to change a bike with a regular QR. Honestly, with the new generation of through axles, you throw the QR lever (or press a button), unscrew the axle and it pulls out and hey presto the wheel is free. It isn’t any more complicated or (with a bit of practice) time consuming than unscrewing a regular QR to clear the lawyer tabs/undoing the QR on your rim brakes.

Pile ups – I don’t buy this. You don’t have to break at different rates just because you can. Discs offer much better modulation (in my experience and it seems to be generally agreed). Are we supposed to believe that pros won’t be able to adapt their braking to disc brakes? They seem to manage to switch between SRAM/Shimano/Campag shifting without death. If you believe the marketing guff, ordinary road bike calipers have increased in efficiency/power by about a million percent over the past 5 years anyway. Why haven’t we had a spate of brake related deaths in that time? Maybe discs will help avoid pile ups because you don’t have to hurl the anchors on to quite the same on/off effect when someone goes down in front of you.

Razor sharp hot metal death circles – you would have thought that authorities would have banned these machines of death from use in downhilling if they were in fact as deadly as made out.

I have a very nice rim brake equipped road bike that I intend to keep riding for another 3 to 5 years while standards settle down and (hopefully) the frankly ludicrous cost of road hydros comes down. But I won’t be buying any fancy new wheel sets in that period because at the end of it I fully expect that high end disc brake equipped road bikes will be ubiquitous. (Although in the meantime I have going long on a SRAM hydroR equipped cross bike.)

I know internet forums are about sharing your views, however ill informed (and god knows I am as guilty as the next person – alright, perhaps not that guilty – of sounding off about something I have little experience about). But I really would encourage anyone who feels like expressing a view about disc brakes and who hasn’t ridden a bike equipped with hydros (doesn’t have to be a road bike, mountain bike perfectly good for test purposes) to do so before saying anything.

I am astounded by the number
I am astounded by the number of pros who post about this subject on this forum and elsewhere. I mean, surely that must be the reason so many posts express concern (or even a view, frankly) about the impact of the introduction of disc brakes on the pro peleton? You are all the secret pros, I can’t wait until you reveal your true identities, I’ve got my suspicions about a couple of you. (In some cases, your limited grasp of the English language suggests it’s a second language, I am guessing one of you is a certain famous Spanish climber with a penchant for home grown steak and a signature victory salute!)

HalfWheeler wrote:
Look, I’ve

HalfWheeler wrote:

Look, I’ve got some 1st hand experience from this. My winter rig has shockingly bad brakes. Can’t afford to replace them at the mo. It makes life on a club run, erm…lets just say interesting! I’m getting away with it on a Sunday run. Wouldn’t try it in a chain gang or road race.

If you haven’t already, you should change the pads. Clarke make some really great pads that you can buy for under a tenner from CRC. That alone accounts for 80% of the difference between good and bad brakes. Better brake callipers aren’t that expensive either, really. I bought second hand Ultegra callipers (in old school shiny silver) for £25, but you can get SRAM Apex, or Shimano Tiagra/R450/R650 brand new for under £40.

Quote:Yes but this article

Yes but this article (and thread) is about the pro riders and mechanics opinions about disc brakes. Most of them don’t give a damn about your commute!

Yeah, the arguments between the pro racing camp and the “just riding along” / commuting camp are diametrically opposed.

Pro racers and mechanics care very much about an extra 3 seconds in changing a wheel.

The “just riding along” camp just want consistent powerful braking and couldn’t care less about the tiny increase in weight or the extra couple of seconds in getting a wheel off.

So really that article is completely irrelevant to 99% of people riding a bike. It raises some interesting points of course but in the real world where you’re riding a bike to work or doing a Sportive, you just want consistent fuss-free braking and that’s what discs give.

Also, all those people commenting about crashes in chaingangs, club runs etc due to a difference in braking forces… Do you ride along slamming your brakes on? No, it’s all gentle, controlled movements. If you’re slamming brakes on, there’s already been a problem and you’re in emergency crash avoidance mode.

road racers going down long, straight, tarmaced cols hit huge speeds, 100 km/h+, way more than MTBers do. The discs will get much hotter.

No they won’t because you don’t need to drag them – couple of dabs are sufficient to bleed off speed. And besides, a hot disc isn’t a problem, hot rims can lead to melting carbon resin or blowing tyres.

hsiaolc wrote:It is sad.
They

hsiaolc wrote:

It is sad.
They want to promote cycling sport to the masses but most people don’t give a damn about tour de france unless your town or city have a interest in it.

Yet the industry is still backwards and close to ignorance. To argue against disc brakes is just simply stupid. The difference is day and night.

When I started commuting to work daily two years ago it was a shock to me the lack of stopping power in the v or rim brake compared to disc especially being an avid mountain biker.

I still remember first day going back home and I was riding fast down the road with a car right in front. Suddenly the car had to do a sudden stop and me being inexperienced on the road I was following the car too close behind and with the v brake I had I knew I had no chance or stopping. In that split second I thought I was going to lose my new Canyon bike on the first day. Instinct valued the bike more than my life and I took evasive action and swerved left of the car not caring if another car was going to hit me or not. Luckily nothing was on my left. However, I know if I had disc brakes I am certain I will have the confidence to stop in time and maybe use my body to hit lightly on the back of the car.

Not to mention the stopping power of the v or rim brake in the rain is ridiculously lacking. So lacking sometimes I thought I had no brakes on when I am going down hill.

I debated about buying disc brake bike for a while because I wanted to wait for Canyon to come up with a disc model for the road. But I couldn’t wait any longer because I feel that my life is worth a lot more so I went ahead with Rose Xeon disc brake.

My commute to work now is a joy. Every time I brake it puts a smile to my face because not only it is so controlled but also because the amount of power it has and not just raw power but modulated power. Which also in turn puts a lot less strain on my hands and I only need to pull slightly on the lever to bikes stops gently and slowly without using too much force and very controlled.

Personally I find it sad for those people who likes to live in the past. Or lets say no vision. Time to move on really. If those who doesn’t then I don’t really care because I care about my life and I am happy that disc brakes that are finally coming to the road especially for general public. Not sure why it took so long either when it is part of the mountain biking gear for a while already.

Yes but this article (and thread) is about the pro riders and mechanics opinions about disc brakes. Most of them don’t give a damn about your commute!
Nobody disputes that discs have a shorter stoping distance, and I’m sure they are just great on your commter bike, like they are on my MTB, but that realhy is not the point here. The point is whether they have a place right now in a close grouped fast moving peloton, something you have perhaps not experienced?

fukawitribe wrote:HalfWheeler

fukawitribe wrote:

HalfWheeler wrote:

In fact it’s kinda the point. Why the switch? Because they are so much more powerful […] That’s why it’s being considered!

No, no it’s not.

Disc brakes are much better (in terms of stopping power) than road caliper brakes. This much is obvious. But you’re saying that they’re being considered because of…..?