Well I must admit I completely hated the idea, and I’m not a hardcore roadie of many years by any means, but felt they belonged on mountain bikes as they spoiled the “lines” of a nice road bike, and added more nonsense to the simplicity of a road bike.

But, I have to eat humble pie really?

I got this bike recently and have been on a ride in the dry and today in the pissing rain. It all makes sense now!

I could actually stop confidently, did not get those horrible grinding noises of wet rims and rubber brake blocks full of muck, and my bike / wheels did not end up with sidewalls covered in brake dust and grime to be cleaned when I got home.

The Shimano hydraulic discs have fantastic modulation, which I was surprised about having used their mountain bike discs which some could say are “fierce”.

Bike is bang on 8kg with pedals, with wheels coming in at 1520 grammes which was surprising as I was expecting a porky beast from other reviews I’ve read on disc-brake road bikes.

Any other riders recently got a disc-braked road bike and experienced a similar revelation?

Awesome!
My works commute whyte suffolk has them and in the last 2 weeks I have been caught out at least 4 times. The stopping power is brilliant and always guaranteed. In the summer I ride a tarmac and was caught out once and shit myself when I needed the brakes. Shockingly shit in therror rain. 5 years and all bikes will have them. Upsetting lots of people Lol!!! :))

@jacob46

my other road bike is a Tarmac SL4 with Ultegra caliper brakes and aluminium alloy rimmed wheels – I had always considered this “enough” stopping power, but perhaps denying the occasional sketchy moments in the rain, and the constant filth of brake dust / muck all over the fork legs and stays in wet weather, and rims that wear through the more you ride?

i may when campag join the party … shimano and sram have
never “done it for me” ergonomically or asthetically.

Nice! What model of defy is that? I’m looking at the advanced 1.. but not really liking the white..

@therevokid

fair point

the ergonomics on the Shimano RS685 shifter / brakes are a little different to previous Shimano road STI I’ve owned. I had to reduce my stem length by 10mm to compensate for the longer flat of the hood which pulls you further forward.

Today I did a long climb out of the saddle, and discovered to my pleasure that this longer flat has an opposite face underneath that allows two fingers to locate a very comfortable climbing position, which has always felt too cramped on the older road STI.

I’ve ridden mechanical 11 speed Shimano STI (105 and Ultegra) with caliper brakes, and can report those also have much improved ergonomics on the older 10 speed STI which felt very bulky in the hand.

@turbo

its the 2015 Defy Advanced Pro 1

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/defy.advanced.pro.1/19189/77288/

Mine are on the way from The Germans.

*taps fingers impatiently*

I am of the view that they don’t spoil the lines. As in your pic , the rear one can’t be seen much of the time due to the trend to use dinner plate sized granny gears. Most modern bikes are so bloody ugly that if anything, removing the brakes from the stays and forks cleans things up a bit.

Just bought the Defy Advanced 3, not ridden yet, calendar is full of races, so hoping to get out on it over christmas.

Those Shimano disc brakes look SOOO neat and well-engineered; I can’t wait for an excuse to upgrade my Roubaix for a disc model. Rim brakes in wet weather are the only weakness on an otherwise superb bike.

After having some fairly scarey not wanting -to-stop moments yesterday when out in pizzing rain, I am definitely in the market for discs on my road bike. I don’t know why it has taken so long. In a thread a few years ago on here, when I complained about the marginal nature of road brakes I was ticked off and told they weren’t for stopping but merely losing a bit of speed!

You’ve been waiting for it to be delivered since May, Jamie?

Are you not worried it may have been lost in transit?

😀

The thing is everyone goes on about the wet weather performance and I do of course agree that it’s great but for me the real revelation was in the dry.

I just find that the additional feel/modulation/whatever you want to call it makes a big difference to how well you can stop at the limit – eg when a car pulls out in front of you while you’re doing 30mph…

No doubt, most will say that they can stop fine on their calipers and I don’t doubt that broadly speaking that’s true (and I’d have said the same prior to using road discs) but I’ve found that I can brake really hard even in the dry and easily feel that locking point and adjust which means I brake harder, particularly on the front.

I love the clean look with no calipers on the fork crown or seatstays FWIW

Are you not worried it may have been lost in transit?

I can just sense this week is going to be the week. I mean, how long does it take to get from Birmingham?

I mean, how long does it take to get from Birmingham?

@UKIPTraffic are reporting;

A pair of lactating breasts have caused a lorry to jackknife on the M6 near Preston

Maybe there’s tailbacks?

That’s quite a bit tailback.

No more throwing away perfectly usable wheels due to rim wear has to be a good thing as well IMO…

That’s quite a bit tailback.

Moral outrage often leads to gridlock.

benji – Member
Just bought the Defy Advanced 3, not ridden yet, calendar is full of races

Can you use a disc braked bike in BC sanctioned road races?

Sportives = races? 🙂

Here is my Chinese bike with them on:

The benefits I have found so far are a very light braking action, but plenty on modulation. Nice to finish a wet ride without the rims covered in black paste. I havn’t ridden them on proper dry roads yet, so tyre traction has really been the limiting factor on my stopping speed. Agree about the longer hoods, I got used to them very quickly, and have used a slightly shorted stem than I was originally anticipating.

The only downside I have noticed so far is that in the wet they squeal a fair bit. Fine whan the pads and disc are dry, but a bit of moisture makes them quite noisy. I am currently on standard Shimano pads and discs, but might try some other pads to see if that improves things.

@Jason

my rear brake was squealing yesterday in the rain which surprised me as all the reviews I’ve read about the Shimano road discs is that they were noise free, but I’m not sure if this included wet ride testing?

My mountain bike with Avid hydro discs squeals like a pig in the rain!

My Giant has Tektro rotors as apparently Shimano don’t make a 140mm 6-bolt model yet, so not sure if a genuine Shimano rotor would remove this noise?

My spyres don’t squeal in the wet, unlike my Hope mtb brakes which do.

Hmmm. I have bought some Shimano RT-76, to go with my new brakes. Be a bit annoyed if they squeal, and I would have been better off leaving the TRP ones on.

Jason – what rims are they?

I also have a Chinese (HongFu) carbon disc roadie. I found the std Shimano pads were a tad squeal-prone. I now run SS Kevlar which are better – more feel, less squeal.

I love the idea of hydro discs on road bikes. The only thing currently putting me off is the thought of having to bin the entire STI if you have a master seal issue like some xt levers have been experiencing.

The focus cayo and ktm revelator sky both look great.

Jason – what rims are they?

Light Bicycle 45mm U-shaped rims, in matt UD finish. Seem good so far, I ordered them with a solid rim bed so no need for rim tape to run tubeless.

What were they like to lace up Jason?

Sorry no idea, I got Light Bicycle to build them up. I have built up a few of their mtb rims in the past and was planning to build these, but thought threading the nipples through the rim would be a bit time consuming. I think getting LB to build them only cost £20 or so more than all the bits cost of the bits. I was prepared to re-tension them when the arrived, but haven’t touched them as the build seems pretty good.

Fair enough for the money. I’ve built a few LB rims too and fancied their 25mm wide 35mm deep road rims.

Been debating hole count to go for as a disc setup. 28 has always been fine on my MTB’s. I guess the less holes the less fishing necessary if I were to go the way of un-drilled rim-bed.

Don’t you work in a Specialized Concept Store? 🙂

Total convert here. Race bike, winter bike and CX bike all discs.

Currently running BB7 SLs as I use Campagnolo EPS. Even these are streets ahead of rim brakes, and I can only imagine that hydraulics will be a further improvement. C’mon Campagnolo!!!!!

Can you use a disc braked bike in BC sanctioned road races?

Not currently, but it’s going to change in the future. There shouldn’t be a problem with TLI events.

Sportives = races?

No it doesn’t 😛

I’m racing plenty of 4hr mountain bike races, with the odd cyclocross chucked in on empty weekends, evening rides are on my paddy wagon fixed with mudguards.