Thinking of going for a roadrat now that my work does the cycle to work scheme

Would like to set it up as a commuter and road bike – don’t really do road rides for more than around 30-40 miles though

I’m thinking that Discs would be wasted on something that would have 32mm tyres – i’m guessing the tyres grip wouldn’t make the most of discs and that v brakes would suffice – also cheaper and lighter….

I’m going to go flat bars with bar ends – STI’s are expensive and I never used the drops on my road bike…

What do you think ? Oh and if you’ve got some pics of your set up I’d like to see some !

cheers

Discs – every time. Stopping on the proverbial dime in heavy traffic – especially as you’re commuting on it – will be worth it, and the fact that your rims won’t wear through over the winter will be another good reason. I used to have mine as a SS, then as a 1×9 – rack, mudguards, discs, 1.5″ semi slicks – it was ace. Great fun.

humm still not convinced that discs will stop a bike with skinny tyres that much better

if your running 32 mm slick tyres surely the grip will give up first ?

Small discs seem fine to me. Yes, it’s fairly easy to lock a wheel, but I find that discs are lower maintenance and better when riding in wet conditions.

A picture from this morning’s ride. I’ve just converted my ‘rat to Alfine gears with a bit of help from 18bikes.

-j

Yes – I’m sure you’re right that the contact patch of the tyre will make a difference, but I just remember enjoying fantastic stopping power on what was essentially a flat barred roadbike – compared to my recollections of V brakes and experience of even really good road calipers.

I commute daily on a dirt cheap road bike with 23mm tyres and cheap road brakes,and heading into Derby ‘n back I can’t really say I’ve ever felt lacking in braking power. The times I have come a croper, I’m not sure more breaking power would have saved me, but it may well increase your confidence as you may feel more power equals more control. But this said I do think roadrat’s with disks look very natty, and if I had one that may just be good enough reason for me 😳

I’m running Avid BB7 on my Roadrat, by way of a bit of an inbetweener. More for maintenance/rim wear, but the power helps- i’m too used to riding mtb i guess.

There’s a fair wait on flatbar roadrat at the mo- dont know if you were aware on that? If it’s Cyclescheme, OnYourBike or direct scheme- give us a shout!

Discs in winter, V’s in summer on my RR

I have discs on mine. Tried to bed the pads in as on a standard mtb. Ten seconds later I was getting intimate with the tarmac. I hadn’t realised that slamming on the brakes with skinny tyres is not smart.

I am a lot more careful now. I have had to use the brakes in emergency situations (scouse minicab drivers) and am pleased to have the discs. They are so much better than Vs in the wet.

Discs here (BB7s); not run it with v’s but fully loaded with 2 panniers the braking is reassuring!

My Kona Sutra has BB7 road discs with cowhorn bars and barend and crosstop levers. Had touring tyres on, now got Maxxis Locust CX on, and I have never ever had issues with the brakes. They aren’t grabby, so you can always predict the braking point. I could never go back to rim brakes, and anyone who says the tyres have too small a contact patch is talking bollocks, they have obviously never ridden a bike with narrow tyres and discs and are in no position to give an opinion. The OP should make up his mind based on the advise of those with actual experience.

i has discs on mine, 1000% better than v’s in wet weather, you just learn how not to panic brake and lock them up

“Disks in Winter, V’s in Summer” – you change your brakes between seasons – that is (IMHO) perverse! Especially in this country where you get the same weather all year round anyway!

I use Vs. All you need. Plus discs are tempting to thieves and easy to steal, it’s happened to me on a previous commuter.

countzero – i have a kona dew at the moment with discs

i had too stop quickly the other day but didn’t…

i just skidded towards the car…

but obviously i bow down to your superior knowledge 🙂

Get the disks

Here we fooking go again…
Have done 4500 miles plus on a disc equipped sutra with 32mm tyres with no issues.
Discs work with narrow tyres, just don’t pull the levers like a gorrilla and it’s all good.

Okay, I’m running vees on my roadrat.
It’s easy to forget the faff of moving rim pads about as they wear down super quick during winter commutes. I had.
It’s also easy to forget how useless wet rims are as a breaking surface. I’ve been reminded a few times. Eeek
If you’ve got or getting disk brake compatible hubs then it’s not too expensive to upgrade to discs, I would.

Running my commuter rat on disks now on 23 tyres no problem

I had XTR V’s which were good but they wore the rim down so quickly in winter in was unbelievable! Also the mess of brake dust and the permanent fiddling to keep them running at their best was a pain. The disks are fit and forget. I’ve only changed the front pads once in a year (compared to V pads every other month) and they were fabulous Superstar branded.

MM

I have discs on the road bike I commute on and would NEVER go back

ok – i’m just about convinced – might try some BB5’s or 7’s though as a compromise price wise

mountain mutant – those forks look a good idea, the road rat forks are supposed to be a bit harsh ?

had avid juicy 3’s on my roadrat with 160mm rotors. Never had a problem. Ran 28mm slicks and 32mm CX tyres. In 2 years i never did any maintenance to the discs and they worked fine.

Now on V’s on my commuter (gets locked up in london so got something dead cheap). Utterly terrible in the rain. Would go back to discs in a second if i thought the bike wouldn’t get stolen.

Made up my mind to buy a Roadrat (when they’re back in stock once the euro accreditation red tape hold up is sorted out) I’ve been using my 29er and really want it back as a mountain bike but right now it’s set up as my commuter with 23mm conti gatorskin tyres and avid juicy 7s, 205mm at the front. Stupidly overbraked on paper but I’ve never once had a problem, in fact quite the opposite.

Was thinking of BB7s for the roadrat. Considered the magura HS33s but on second thoughts thats probablyjust a more efficient way to wear out my rims.

Cotic do some more affordable disc upgrades for the ROADRAT as well the blingy Hope ones:
Tektro cable disc for drop bar bikes, and Magura Julie hydraulics for the flat bar bikes.

I’m considering trying to fix up my old Hope C2s for mine, although I’m not very good with seals and hosing and fluids. Problem is it means building some disc compatible wheels, or getting some of the disc ready ROADRAT wheels.

Will you be interested in buying a pair of hope XC4 150/130 then 😉

Justa.

I like the Pace fork. It is a little longer than the standard fork but doesn’t seem to affect handling so much.

Peeps say the original Roadrat fork is very heavy. I don’t know how it compares to the Pace but I do know that the Roadrat fork bends when you plough flat out into a pedestrian when they walk out on a red man in front of you!

MM

This has got me thinking about my Roadrat. My dilemma is Shimano SLX for £70 or a BB7 for £47 and use existing Deore V brake lever. I’m honestly trying to buy the Avid after reading so many positive reviews but though the SLX is more expensive you seem to just get a lot more for your money…

Hope Mono Minis on my ‘Rat. Running 32mm Bonty tyres on CXP33s/XT disc hubs.
Lovely set up, 1 finger breaking with no locking up problems whatsoever.
Bear in mind, you might not have the blocky tread to bite the road surface, but with a slick tyre on tarmac, you’ve probably got just as much contact area of rubber-to-road.

Todays ride (off-road 29er, not rat) reminded me how good BB7s can be

if you don’t use the drops you can’t be going very fast so why bother with disks.

Bear in mind, you might not have the blocky tread to bite the road surface, but with a slick tyre on tarmac, you’ve probably got just as much contact area of rubber-to-road.

At twice the psi, you’d have half the contact area.

You do have shedloads mnore grip due to the tarmac though.

“if you don’t use the drops you can’t be going very fast so why bother with disks.”

– LOL – good troll

What happened to the Kona?

discs, without a doubt

one day all bikes will be disc’d and we’ll look back with fondness for rim brakes…

The skinny tyre vs braking power thing is a bit counter intuitive, but whilst you get less contact patch, there’s a lot of pressure on it as a result of it’s size, and it’s also pretty constant compared to knobblies. The only time I’ve ever had problems with axle movement under disc braking was with 160mm rotor Hope mini’s on the prototype forks which had a brake mount in the conventional place. It’s not necessarily the ultimate power, but the relentless consistency you can apply on road slicks that means discs are fine. This prompted the move to the ‘wrong way around’ disc mount BTW.

Personally, I go for discs every time, and it’s not actually an ultimate power thing. I’m pretty sure most V’s are less powerful than my teeny disc Hope setup. What V’s are not is more controllable. I’m used to discs now and find V’s horribly grabby, which is way more scarey on a road bike IMO. It is a question of what you’re used to though.

Discs-wise, we’re loving the Tektro cable disc brakes we’ve just got in. Loads cheaper than the BB7’s and work better and easier to set up in our experience. The rotors are prettier too 😉

Bike2Work-wise, you’ll need to speak to any one of our dealers as we’re not registered anymore. They’re all better set up to deal with any upgrades you might want anyway (as Si from 18 mentioned). We’re out of Long Roadrats until early June, but we have the Short length frames in. If you’re 5ft 10in or shorter then one of those sizes could work in flat bar set up and we have flat bar kits in stock. Drop us a line if you want some sizing help.

Which Tektro brakes are they Cy?

thanks Cy – might be worth looking at the tektro’s then

my work is using Samways in Derby so I am guessing that will be ok…