When Tom Boonen, the most high-profile advocate of disc brakes in the peloton, said that he could stop a wheel spinning at 60 kilometres an hour by grabbing the rotor with his hand, Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad decided to put his theory to the test.
The controversial technology has been back in the news this past week after Team Sky’s Owain Doull claimed that his shoe had been sliced open by the disc brake rotor on the bike of Marcel Kittel when the pair crashed on the opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour last week, although it’s far from clear that is what damaged the shoe.
> Kittel ditches the disc brakes after Doull controversy
Speaking ahead of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, Boonen said: “I maintain that they are not dangerous. I’ve dared to stop a wheel at 60 kilometres an hour with my hand.
“It’s absurd,” he continued. “Disc brakes seem at the moment to be the biggest problem in the world.”
> Pro Bike: Tom Boonen’s custom Specialized Venge ViAS Disc for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Boonen added: “I can’t understand the fuss. A crash involving 30 riders with broken legs and arms isn’t news. But one abrasion, allegedly caused by a disc brake, is worldwide news.”
Het Nieuwsblad put Boonen’s theory to the test at the race it sponsors.
Prior to the start, a reporter visited the bus of Belgian UCI Professional Continental team Veranda’s Willems Crelan, also using disc brakes this weekend on its Felt bikes.
A video on the newspaper’s website shows the team’s mechanic, Tim Dejonghe, stopping the wheel at full speed with no injury to his hand.
Concerns remain about the safety of the technology and as we reported yesterday, Lotto-Soudal’s Adam Hansen has accused Specialized – the bike sponsor of Quick Step Floors – of trying to rush it into the peloton.
> Lotto-Soudal’s Hansen says Specialized is trying to force disc brakes on peloton
He also noted claimed that Boonen, who rides his final race at Paris-Roubaix in April, had changed his tune over disc brakes.
Hansen said: “Tom Boonen was against disc brakes last year, now he’s retiring this year and loves them.”
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
47 thoughts on “Tom Boonen says he can stop a disc brake rotor at 60kph with his hand – so Belgian newspaper puts the theory to the test”
Woah, Tom, you’re in grave
Woah, Tom, you’re in grave danger of muddling this argument with fact.
Well, he’s being paid to
Well, he’s being paid to support Specializzzed who are trying to flog discs to the pro peleton.
So he would say that, wouldn’t he.
matthewn5 wrote:
and Quintana has been paid by campag to rubbish them (cos campag are years behind everyone else) 😛
StoopidUserName wrote:
and Chris Froome and most other pro riders are under campag pay as well are they?!
Lol
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chris-froome-disc-brake-debate-shows-riders-are-not-being-heard/
A number of big companies are attempting to push disks on everyone else in order to sell more bikes, whether they are better or not.
Prosper0 wrote:
Euhm, Yes he is paid for saying it in, as Pinarello is against disc-brakes (is what they say), but in my opinion they are just to old fashioned and don’t know how to add them!
KoenM wrote:
Breaking news for you! Pinarello do disc versions of the F8 & K8 this year!
Butty wrote:
Old news: Froome is riding the “rim brake only” F10
Prosper0 wrote:
I’m 100% against disks on my bike. I don’t want any more things holding my data
Trickytree1984 wrote:
and Chris Froome and most other pro riders are under campag pay as well are they?!
Lol
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chris-froome-disc-brake-debate-shows-riders-are-not-being-heard/
A number of big companies are attempting to push disks on everyone else in order to sell more bikes, whether they are better or not.
— StoopidUserName I’m 100% against disks on my bike. I don’t want any more things holding my data— matthewn5
Well played!
StoopidUserName wrote:
Of course 😉
matthewn5 wrote:
just as likely as the first claim, what the pros ride makes no difference to whetehr people will buy another bike.
to date the pros are not riding disc brakes, and yet sales of disc braked road bikes are rising,
matthewn5 wrote:
AND retiring at the end of the season, so why should he care? For him now is the time to be lining his wallet just before exiting the sport. If Specialized sponsored me I’d id say the same.
1. Enough videos out there
1. Enough videos out there now showing that disc rotors do not cut through flesh.
2. Disc rotors can cut through shoes, but only if pushed hard onto rotor while that rotor is still being powered hard by a rider and for a few seconds (not likely in crash, as in such a scenario things are bouncing around and certainly not still being powered by the rider).
3. FAR MORE DANGEROUS is getting something caught between the spokes of the disc rotor or spokes of the wheel and the bike frame (I know this from experience having nearly sliced ends of fingers off due to my own stupidity/carelessness).
4. There is reasonable evidance showing that the weight and very small aero disadvantage is outweighed by the performance advantage, and rim development without a braking surface will nullify and surpass the aero issue in a year or two anyway.
5. There are plenty of crap disc brakes out there, so please don’t make a judgement on disc brakes without trying a properly set-up Shimano hydraulic or TRP Spyre cable equiped bike (preferably the former).
6. STOP COMPARING RUBBISH DISC SET-UPS WITH HIGH END CALIPER SET-UPS. I’m getting sick of people saying that their **enter low end single sided cable brake here** aren’t as good as their dura ace rim bikes … of course they aren’t. That’s like comparing Shimano Claris with Dura Ace.
7. If after everything you still don’t want discs, that’s fine, each to their own. Just like with frame material, you don’t always choose on overall performance. And just cause the pros do or don’t ride or have an opionion on whatever equipment they are being give/paid to use, it doesn’t mean we have to go out and buy it.
Rant over.
joules1975 wrote:
Unless there is some sort of electric motor involved 😉
Him and Chuck
Him and Chuck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdwC4vhc594
Interesting that so many
Interesting that so many people think Campagnolo are somehow out of the race towards disc brakes. Campagnolo were making disc brakes for motorcycles as long as 50 years ago.
Grizzerly wrote:
Campag are notoriously a little slower to change.
If you look at the evolution of road discs it is pretty much ‘Road Disc V2.0’ until last year they were still essentially a mountain bike part hastily cobbled togoether onto some fantastically ugly hoods.
You can guarantee that in 5 years or so there will be some truly road specific road developed rotors and calipers maybe even some 120mm hidden rotors or something who knows but Flat Mount is just the start of the evolution…
So please everyone buy Disc Brake Road bikes because in about 6 years when I want to upgrade my current summer bike all of the research carried out by you the consumer 🙂
Cool vid with the mechanic’s
Cool vid with the mechanic’s thumbs up.
Not sure what his thumb would have looked like if the bike was travelling at 50kmh rather than spinning at a standstill though
nadsta wrote:
That makes no difference, the back wheel is spinning more like that that it would at 50kph due to the lack of resistance of the ground.
What isn’t there is the 60-90kg of rider pushing against the pedals when the rotor is already on a leg, which in theory still doesn’t have the potential to make a rotor a sharp edge.
People keep saying ‘disc
People keep saying ‘disc brakes don’t cut flesh’. I can catagorical counter that by saying that they do. My bike wasn’t doing any speed either. I was just pulling the air hose off my tyre valve and sliced up my hand.
Brave mechanic that one. But he only ever puts his hand adjacent to the plane of the disc. Like to see him catch the edge, which is when the rotor will cut.
I bet Sagan can stop it with
I bet Sagan can stop it with his tongue…
and only Cipollini can better that!!!
Nothing cuts superMario’s
Nothing cuts superMario’s salami.
“1. …rotors do not cut
“1. …rotors do not cut through flesh.
2. Disc rotors can cut through shoes”
….and most pro level shoes are made of what exactly?
Oh, yes polished and hardened Kangaroo Flesh
So when we’ve got a split of
So when we’ve got a split of braking equipment , will we be collectively referring to the old school as ‘rimmers’?
This is innovation, no need
This is innovation, no need for brakes!!! : P
https://www.bikerumor.com/2017/02/27/152600/
trohos wrote:
Now if only someone will do something about protecting me from my 44 whirring bladed CX Rays of Death
Held my fingers against my
Held my fingers against my disc rotor whilst checking my brakes at the weekend and survived unharmed. But, somehow I stupidly put my hand inside the spinning wheel and got caught by the bladed spokes. Fcuk me that really did hurt.
First rule of working on a
First rule of working on a bike stay away from anything spinning, adjust then spin then stop then adjust – not that you always take notice of that 🙂
This is a spectacular eff up and what happens if you put you finger in between the rotor arms and the caliper.
If you do decide to copy and paster this in your browser you’ve been warned, but you’ll never work on a brake whilst it’s spinning again :-@
cheekytrails.co.uk/forum/file.php/0/1745/finger.jpg
It’s like Shark vs Chairs, I bet there are Hundreds of thousands of injuries caused by Spokes, Brake Levers, Saddles even and maybe a only couple of hundred from Brake Rotors but for some reason Pro Racers have got their bee in their bonnet about this one, bless ’em the little Snowflakes.
This brake argument is
This brake argument is putting me off road cycling just like the tyre size debate put me off moutain biking.
F**k it, lets just take all
F**k it, lets just take all the brakes away and make them ride fixed. The move to a controlled environment with only left turns, maybe indoors so the weather doesn’t have an impact, but can’t have too many riders in the same area at a time so lets race say on opposite sides of the left turn. The winner is the first to cross their respective finish line or catch the other rider.
Oh, wait…
Choose wider tyres, choose a
Choose wider tyres, choose a kind of suspension system, choose a more upright riding position, choose an 11-32 cassette, choose disc brakes, choose a mountain bike.
dreamlx10 wrote:
You’d be hard pressed to find a modern MTB with an 11-32 cassette, TBH.
Interestingly enough……
Interestingly enough…… You could have gotten a fully suspended, disc brake equipped bike, with ‘lovely‘ wide Westwood type rims & balloon tyres back in the late 1890’s……
Personally I don’t give a
Personally I don’t give a shit either way when it comes to disc brakes, I have two mtb’s with discs and three road bikes with rim brakes.
Are disc brakes dangerous? I know somebody who lost the tips of two fingers from sticking them in the rotor with the bike upside down and spinning fast (he didn’t do it on purpose as part of an experiment). I don’t know anybody who has ever been injured from them while riding or crashing. I do know somebody who crashed the first time he rode a mtb with them fitted because the idiot in front (me) broke too hard and he overreacted in a v-brake style.
I think there is a lot of smoke and mirrors in terms of rider preferences, team suppliers etc. currently going on in the pro-peleton.
My only genuine concern re discs is the heating issue. On a relatively short downhill run with some hard braking areas your discs can get very hot. How do road discs handle a 10km+ descent of a mountain with a lot of switchbacks?
PaulBox wrote:
IME, very well. You brake far less since the dics are way more powerful so you only need occasional pulls unlike a rim brake where you need to drag them.
On Etape last year, I started the descent of Columbiere and suddenly there were punctures (and crashes) galore around me. Initially I thought someone might have scattered tacks but it was actually rim brakes overheating and then blowing the tyre. It was a baking hot day and I guess lots of people were running high pressures since the roads are nice and smooth.
Disc brakes – no problems at all.
Although I admit the above is not exactly a rigorous scientific test…
crazy-legs wrote:
but that’s not true is it, in terms of actual road bike stopping distances, in the dry.
700c wrote:
..or is it that there is less fade over long distances of braking? Which would then make them more ‘powerful’ (Which may be the case, but would be good to quantify).
Rims certainly heat up and brakes fade over long distances of braking. Are we saying discs don’t? ! Someone test this on alpe d’huez please before I invest 😉
Re my comment about discs
Re my comment about discs getting very hot above, my concern is about the effect on the pads and fluid rather than burning another rider in a crash.
Yes it’s only another
Yes it’s only another anecdote but I have descended Ventoux 4 times on my discs (2 of those descents in heat and two in high winds/rain) and did not experience any degradation in braking power at all. Every time I needed braking force, it was there.
“Campag are notoriously a
“Campag are notoriously a little slower to change. “
Yeah, cos gears will never catch on, right? Nor quick release wheels.
Hansen is wise.
Hansen is wise.
Imagine a disc equipped bike
Imagine a disc equipped bike being crashed onto its right hand side, rear disc upper most. Imagine too a following rider cannot avoid the fallen rider(s) and falls to the right and that this rider’s knee runs in the exposed disc at speed.
Imagine someone in the bike industry tested this effect of this. It would take a lot of effort to set up right? Wrong. Cue video and watch without wincing if you can
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It-WDJhZsAI
gnarlyrider wrote:
To spare anyone else the bother, the video is just a guy dropping a potato out of a window
Last time I checked my knees were not made out of potatoes.
gnarlyrider wrote:
actualol there 😀
would say this is getting ridiculous but I think we passed that stage long ago…
How did he get the potato to
How did he get the potato to land on the brick? Genius.
Can he also do a video of a
Can he also do a video of a spud falling on to the end of some bar ends/ upturned brake lever/ upturned forks.
They’ll all show the maiming and disembowlment that will happen to riders in a crash.
Road discs. Real brakes
Road discs. Real brakes finally come to road bikes. Love mine. Go Tom. Check out team mechanic Tim Dejonghe in the vid and then state your case against. He’s a badass