[road]

What do we reckon the chances are that manufacturers like Shimano will start making rim brake groupsets across the range again? I’m not sure who started it, the frame or groupset manufacturers, but the move to disc brakes by default is bad. There’s no reason why they can’t start to move back again when they see people still wanting the simplicity and reliability of rim brakes. Same for narrow tyres. I ride with 23 mm tyres all year round because they’re simply faster. Shame to see the death of the proper road bike as every bike slowly turns into a gravel bike. We even saw this when gravel bike races started being won on ‘road’ bikes… Give the consumer more choice! Now that this has been featured on Twitter I would like to add that disc brakes are a psy op.

Topic

[andystow]

Jimmy Ray Will wrote:

Looking at the pros, they seem to be sticking to 25mm tyres for the majority of racing. 28mm and wider for known rougher more challenging days, but the standard still seems to be 25mm. 

I’m personally torn for this season as to which way to go… 28mm for the corners (primiarly racing crits), or 25mm for the pure speed. It’s certainly not a given that 28mm is faster in all situations, but for most applications wider provides a better compromise. 

I believe at least one team got noticed riding on (if I recall correctly) 28 mm relabelled as 25 mm a few years ago, either to fool the other teams, or their own riders (who like ChuckSneed would KNOW the FACT that they needed skinnier tyres to go faster.)

[hawkinspeter]

aitorbk wrote:

Or just go to https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/ and get the results you want.
In any case, wider tyres are safer, this is why I run 28mm, and would even if a bit slower.

Pffft. You’re just playing into Big Tyre’s hands by trusting websites like that.

(I’m a 28mm kind of guy too)

[Rendel Harris]

Jimmy Ray Will wrote:

I’m personally torn for this season as to which way to go… 28mm for the corners (primiarly racing crits), or 25mm for the pure speed. It’s certainly not a given that 28mm is faster in all situations, but for most applications wider provides a better compromise. 

Have you considered a hybrid mix? I’ve been forced to because my road bike can’t take more than 25 mm on the front but can (just) take a 28 mm on the rear. Since I put a 28 mm on the rear it definitely feels more surefooted when cornering and I believe (though this is solely my subjective impression) that the better grip allows me to accelerate faster and my Garmin data seems to show (I say seems because I haven’t done any experiments with exactly the same set up in exactly the same conditions) a small gain of around half a kilometre per hour at 250W. It’s very definitely more comfortable as well.

[aitorbk]

Or just go to https://www

Or just go to https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/ and get the results you want.
In any case, wider tyres are safer, this is why I run 28mm, and would even if a bit slower.

[OldRidgeback]

My newest MTB has hydraulic

My newest MTB has hydraulic disc brakes and while they are effective, they certainly aren’t as easy to maintain and tweak as old school rim brakes.

[Jimmy Ray Will]

Was thinking about this on

Was thinking about this on the weekend. My winter hack uses rim brakes. Being back on it has really shown me how much better disc brakes are. It’s not so much the stopping power, but the consistency that discs provide that is so confidence inspiring. 

However, then there are the negatives. Again the winter hack highlighted this to me. I needed new wheels, and found some stupidly cheap Fulcrums for £90. They weight 1700grams. GP5000 tubed tyres in 25mm add 440 grams pls 200grams for tubes. 

My carbon race bike wheels weigh 1450grams, and cost £1100. However I need to add 225grams of rotors, 28mm tyres weighing 580 grams, plus another ~60 grams for the tubeless valves and say 80-100grams for the sealant. 

Basically, I’m paying well over 10 times the amount for a heavier package. Is this really progress? 

[Jimmy Ray Will]

Looking at the pros, they

Looking at the pros, they seem to be sticking to 25mm tyres for the majority of racing. 28mm and wider for known rougher more challenging days, but the standard still seems to be 25mm. 

I’m personally torn for this season as to which way to go… 28mm for the corners (primiarly racing crits), or 25mm for the pure speed. It’s certainly not a given that 28mm is faster in all situations, but for most applications wider provides a better compromise. 

[IanEdward]

Yes that’s fair. Personally I
Yes that’s fair. Personally I have no issues stopping in wet/icy/snowy conditions on my rim brakes with Swissstop BXP pads, which is why I get so fixated on the unpleasant noise from disc brakes, there’s no worthwhile trade-off!

[Anonymous]

ChuckSneed wrote:

You’re easily brainwashed by marketing. Thinner tyres at higher pressures are always faster. That’s a FACT.

The thinner tyre actually isnt faster. The contact patch offers much less grip and means if you want to sprint youre more likely to slip than transer the power. And since the roads are not perfectly smooth, ever bump, every change in surface the tyre doesnt absorb your wheels bounces up off the ground. If its not touching the surface its not producing momentum. So if your rear wheel is bouncing up and down your losing power. wider tyres reduce the contact patches deformation and absorb road shock. Meaning the tyre stays on the ground for longer allowing more power from your legs to propel you forward. Thats a physics FACT!

[Anonymous]

“yet all the teams have
“yet all the teams have switched to disk brakes” and now have to carry around a couple of spare bikes per each rider instead of spare wheels in case of a flat.

[Anonymous]

Yes of course.
Yes of course.
Slim steel forks absorb a lot of road irregularities.

[Mybike]

If it was a fact all the pro
If it was a fact all the pro sprinter will be on 23 mm tires. Maybe in a lab but not real world fatter tire roll over the small bump better in the real world also a comfortable rider will be faster then a rider who gets bumped around on a rough road

[Mybike]

In the winter time is when I
In the winter time is when I used my disk brakes bike more. Much better stopping with disks in the snow and wet then rim brakes. I rather be able to stop then complain about noisy brakes

[chrisonabike]

As a canti-brake user (on

As a canti-brake user (on commuter) I must object!  Cantis will handily eat rims too.  And my ride will also stop on a sixpence if I can throw one far enough ahead.

[mark1a]

I think whenever brake types

I think whenever brake types and tyre widths are mentioned on this forum, it’s not necessarily “trolling”, it’s just “chumming the water”, no need for disagreement, just everyone ride what they like and carry on. 

[Author]

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