“Discs and hydraulic ones at that. Having had a blow out on Monday coming down Holme Moss as I was mincing on wet roads (keeping it under 40 mph) it is something I am keen to avoid. At 17st the couple of lb for discs makes no odds to me. Blow outs on biggish descents are not pleasing.”

Errrmmm disks are braking items – not puncture proof tires.

I am guessing the root cause of the blowout was deemed to be excessive heat in the rim caused by the rim brake…

In the uk in the autumn in the wet……

For me disc brakes aren’t quite there yet. Expensive, limited choice, standards all over the shop, less aero and slower acceleration due to the extra rotating weight. Not being able to race on them is also a pain.

The first three I’ll give you (although “expense” is a relative term when you’re already going to ne spending £2000 on a bike).
The last two are just bollocks, pure and simple.

Specialized put 2 Tarmacs in the wind tunnel, one disc, one rim braked.
They reckoned that at absolute worst, it was about 8 seconds slower over 25 miles, and that was with the wind coming from about 20 degrees left, right onto the disc and caliper. So basically, not remotely noticeable by the average Joe who’d be buying one.

Giant’s new Defy range is lighter now than it was with rim brakes thanks to a complete redesign to accommodate the discs and the different forces that are generated.

If I was buying a new road bike now it would absolutely be disc brake. I would however be doing a lot of research into what was out there, the potential for upgrades over time, the wheel choices and so on.

SRAM wireless plus hydraulic discs and I’ll be there!

As above most Saturdays theres 30+ on the club rides, no discs yet.

As above most Saturdays theres 30+ on the club rides, no discs yet.

Rewind 5, 10 or 20 years. Make it a mtb club. Change discs to dropper posts, 29ers, full suss, forks or even discs.

Discs are coming to Road bikes. If it’s not for racing jump right in.

Disc for sure because they work better in cruddy conditions … Allow me to show you a Salsa Cossal. It’s a bargain.

salsa colossal

You get discs, a quality steel frame, carbon fork, and shed load off the Rrp. Also being a salsa, it’s a mountain bikers road bike.

Also being a salsa, it’s a mountain bikers road bike.

You say that as if it is a good thing 😉

If you want to race it is rim, if not it is a no brainer – discs and hydraulic at that as more reliable. Riding in the wet, traffic, commuting all improved with discs INMO. Weight wise there is no real down side – anyone who reckons they are heavy should look at rim weights on discs – they can save you serious rotating weight! Myth that they increase mass. Fulcrum racing 5 rim brake wheeelset is 1795g. I have a set of AC wide lightening 29er MTB wheels which come in at 1565g! So a set of road wheels should be load less. The new Storck disc road bike with carbon tubs has a wheelset which comes in at 580g……(it does cost North of £10k though!)

Disc brakes are great, but you are going to pay a premium, compared to a caliper-brake bike with a similar specification.

Entry-level to even mid range disc brake road bikes tend to have quite heavy wheels – 2KG+ is not uncommon and can make the bike feel very sluggish

If you spend good money (over £2K) you can get a decent bike with hydraulic brakes and wheels around 1700-1800 gramme that should weigh overall around 8kg, and will feel zippy under power

This Defy above has carbon fibre wheels that are 200 gramme lighter than the model down which has aluminium alloy wheels, and its quite noticeable when riding hard

There’s a lovely Defy frame in the classifieds 😉

“Also being a salsa, it’s a mountain bikers road bike.
You say that as if it is a good thing “

Salsa make lovely mtbs , lovely cross bikes ….sadly that does not translate into a nice road bike. All the ingrediants are right but that front end is horrible.

And your right , the rest of it does look like an mtb with a pair of drops on.

That giants lovely.

Crashrash .- 165 quid rim wheelset weight vs 600 quid 29er wheels ….. Go look at the weights of 600 quid wheelsets for the road rim brakes .

I do see a place for disk brakes – stopping carbon rim delamination on very long descents.

Some really good points being made here! Not being able to race sounds like a real downer to me, I’ve only recently got into road biking and I definitely want to race at some point- it sounds like a lot of fun! The price thing is a real turn off too- my road bike cost £700 when I bought it (Trek 1.2) and it’s great, I love it. I can’t see any decent disc brakes bikes for that price though (yet! 😉 )

Another thing that occurred to me is that I went on a club run recently and really liked it. One of the things I liked about it is the riding in a group- the lack of wind resistance really does suck you along. However, if the person in front has more powerful brakes than you, is that gonna cause a problem if you can’t stop as quickly as them?

Rim brakes all the way I have a nice Sabbath September Titanium, Ultegra and carbon stem bars and seat post needs selling so I can buy the disc version 🙂
£800 btw based in the Lakes

FWIW the new Kinesis 4S has swappable drop outs for 130 + 135mm spacing, holes for calipers and flat mount standard for discs meaning you can have whatever braking you want and if you choose calipers there’s no ugly arse redundant disc mounts sitting in the wind.

For me a summer bike go calipers. If you want guards and all round usability I’d head towards disks.

I’ve a Spesh Roubaix with rim brakes and there has been precisely one instance in the five years that I’ve had it that I wished I’d had disks. That was coming down from Great Dun Fell this “summer”: it was snowing at the summit and wasn’t exactly pleasant for the entire descent.

My main beef with rim brakes is that they do eventually wear out the rim so you either have to rebuild the wheel with a new rim or get a new wheel. Having said that, a pair of Hope wheels lasted three years’ all weather riding in the Dales which isn’t exactly flat.

A mainly summer bike: I’d go with rim brakes. Cyclocross, an all year round bike or commuter then I’d be looking at disk brakes.

@shermer75 When riding in a group you need to be very alert and be looking well ahead rather than at the wheel or gears of the rider in front. Unless there’s a reason to stop quickly then a typical group will just ease up rather than slam on the brakes.

Regarding braking with disc brakes, a good set of Shimano hydro discs on the road bike have incredible modulation, giving the rider a much larger degree of control over their stopping.

This is contrary to some reports in the media claiming that the huge stopping power will cause crashes, especially in a mixed group of riders. Yes, if you want to cause a crash, you could certainly jam on the anchors (you would still outbrake the tire in reality, and skid) but once you get used to the braking system its not an issue.

I’d say from my experiences riding the hydraulic disc brake Defy the past year, that brake control is something I now feel lacking, as I am back on a caliper brake race bike.

On the hydro disc bike, I could exert great control over the brakes, from the hoods, using just one finger.

Back on a caliper brake bike, there is nothing like the degree of modulation, nor stopping power, especially in rain where even good caliper brake pads struggle compare to the disc brakes

This is contrary to some reports in the media claiming that the huge stopping power will cause crashes, especially in a mixed group of riders.

I think the issue is more that in, say the wet, the rider with discs would start slowing down immediately, whereas riders without (especially on carbon rims) would only start slowing down after a second or two of applying the brake, likely ploughing into the back of the rider with discs!

I sold my two calliper road bikes at the start of the year after having ridden my RLT throughout the winter (Shimano R785 Hydro disks) The difference in performance and modulation was, quite frankly, alarming. My main road bike is now a Pickenflick.

Once you go hydro, you’ll NEVER, EVER, go back. It’s akin to car without power steering…now, in 2015, when you have a choice, would you buy one as your daily driver?

Ooops

I have a CX for gravel and child towing duties and a cervelo S3 with dual pivot ultegra and fancy mavic rims with machine-odized surfaces

to be honest, theres nothing in it.

the S3 is a lot, lot faster, and never feels under braked.

but fashion, yeah?

^^^ I have those mavic ‘expensuim’ wheels on my road bike and they’re as good as/better than the BB7s on my CX bike.

I really like disc brakes but I haven’t been overwhelmed by how good they are on my CX bike. Just ‘whelmed’. Suspect that might change if (when) I go for hyrdaulics.

EDIT – oh, and I don’t think that telling everyone to get fancy mavic wheels is necessarily the best solution. I think they cost about the same as a set of shimano hydraulics and some OK disc wheels.

I have those mavic ‘expensuim’ wheels on my road bike

totally worth it for the noise

For a light weight summer/dry weather, not needing rack/cross tyres, rim brakes are fine and I’d say better unless budget is big.

I’ve had a disc road bike for commuting/touring/training for 10 years but my summer bike still has caliper brakes.

Most affordable disc ready frames are not light.