Disc Brakes for Pro Peloton

Welsh boy wrote:benevans

Welsh boy wrote:

benevans wrote:

Has anyone had there finger caught in a disc brake rotor? with mass pileups rather frequent in road racing, is this something that should concern the UCI?

Has anyone been bitten by a sharp chainring, has anyone caught their finger in rotating spokes, has anyone hit their face/head on the floor? All considerations in bunch crashes so I dont think this is a real worry for the UCI.

And the UCI banned spinergy wheels and spinaci’s because of safety questions. (at least that was the given reason)

And you could say, why add more dangerous things to a bike? isn’t the risk of chainring gouges bad enough, why add the risk of burns into the mix?

Has anyone had there finger
Has anyone had there finger caught in a disc brake rotor? with mass pileups rather frequent in road racing, is this something that should concern the UCI?

arfa wrote:Whatever floats

arfa wrote:

Whatever floats your boat but it’s pretty hard to find mountain bikes with calipers these days, so that might tell us something. I can’t wait for hydro discs to become cheaper for the wear and tear wheel savings alone, let alone the consistent braking in grim conditions (which sadly I get to ride in alot this time of year). My rims last less than a year commuting in London, so there’s 300 quid saving straight up. They’re coming anyway and let’s face it, what the pro’s ride is broadly irrelevant for the bulk of us.

Quite hard to find a 26″ mtb these days as well. So to say the adoption of discs tells you something is impossible.

Last but one set of wheels on the road bike lasted 5 years, the last set got hit by a car!, that was c8k miles a year. In contrast i wore out a set of Mavic 217sunsets on the mtb in 9 months before i went to Ceramic rims, which after 10 years got replaced by a new bike with disc brakes.

Anyway i am looking forward to the can i bake my contaminated pads in the oven to recover them and the how do i bleed my caliper threads. Not forgetting the classic the compound has fallen off the baking plate thread.

I’m not actually as much of a
I’m not actually as much of a retro-grouch as I have been painted, and I accept a number of the advantages of discs.
I’m not fully sold on the frame issue; I think that the reinforcing required for discs will pretty much always mean that frames end up heavier at the rear end and at the fork ends.
The lack of a braking surface is …maybe… an advantage, but you’ll still have a rim which requires sides…
Bigger tyres is not a reasonable reason; I’ve got 35mm tyres on one bike with rim brakes.

They are an advantage for some types of riding.
They are not a universal advantage.
As noted above; it’s a relatively small change in the ability to slow down, not a major advance in cycling tech.

…they’ve also been available in one form or another for at least a couple of years; so why the big fuss?

There’s a little more to this
There’s a little more to this than the wheel being slowed down using a different mechanism. After all, a rim brake can be considered a ‘disc’ brake with the rim as a large disc.

The real difference is not the brake mechanism itself, but the physical packaging (mounting) of a modern disc brake caliper and rotor, which means industrial designers and engineers at bike companies have many less constraints when designing frame sets and wheel sets. No caliper on the seat stays means the stays can be designed with compliance for rider comfort.

As we saw in mountain biking with the introduction of disc brakes, many companies simply adapted existing frames/forks and laced wheels with disc hubs. It was not uncommon to see bikes with both v-brake and disc brake mounts, these were heavier. It was also not uncommon to see a number of frames suffer failures from the stress the brake caliper placed on the stays. Frames were made heavier to resist the loads.

With time, companies started designing disc specific frame sets and wheel sets with no brake surface. This is where the secondary advantages surfaced of making stronger/lighter/stiffer products, the primary advantage being the improved control and safety of disc braking in bad conditions.

As discs become more widespread on road bikes, the frame sets and wheels will improve.

Many have just adapted existing frames, adding weight to strengthen and resist the stresses of the brake. Its expensive to tool up a new frame.

But, if you do it right you can make a lighter frame – Giant claim their Defy Advanced SL is the lightest road frame they’ve ever made.

Wheels can be weight competitive whilst being much stiffer under load as discs require cross lacing, but weight is reduced in the rim itself. With a caliper brake wheel the braking surface limits design, meaning a reduction in spoke count / rim section to reduce weight often leaving wheels feeling flexible when pushed hard.

You can also run bigger volume tires as there are no brake callipers to foul. I’m running 28c on my bike. Performance rubber in 32c is coming on some 2016 bikes.

Quote: don’t think there’s

don’t think there’s any need for these kind of comments. Just because someone prefers disc brakes, doesn’t mean they’re ‘easily scared’, ‘knobbers’ or ‘nazis’. Let’s keep the discussions focused and civilized

You are, of course, correct.
I was trying to point out the sense of evangelism which creeps into these kind of discussions, but I did overstep the mark and I apologise.

crikey wrote:
Great on

crikey wrote:

Great on mountain bikes, great for commuters, great for the easily scared, but no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

crikey wrote:

Definitely seeing the emergence of a new kind of cycling knobber; ladies and gentlemen, I give you the disc brake Nazi…

I don’t think there’s any need for these kind of comments. Just because someone prefers disc brakes, doesn’t mean they’re ‘easily scared’, ‘knobbers’ or ‘nazis’. Let’s keep the discussions focused and civilized.