I think this looks quite nice but I don’t know why.

Synapse disc is the disc road bike by which others will be measured in the future, if the rave reviews are anything to go by. I’ve just ridden the ali 105 disc version and it handled as well as my Roubaix SL4.

globalti – Member
Synapse disc is the disc road bike by which others will be measured in the future, if the rave reviews are anything to go by.

Can you point us to these reviews? I was looking at this bike earlier today and I’m strangely drawn to it ….. must resist

It’s all about the cycling though, isn’t it? What matters about a bike is whether it enhances your cycling by being lighter, or faster, or more comfortable, or more reliable, or more fun, etc. I can’t ever remember riding along in the moment thinking about how my bike looks!

how’s about this then.

Synapse disc is the disc road bike by which others will be measured in the future, if the rave reviews are anything to go by. I’ve just ridden the ali 105 disc version and it handled as well as my Roubaix SL4.

This is interesting – as above a nudge in the direction of some reviews would be great. All I saw when I previously looked were ‘preview’ type write ups.
It caught my eye on line and I took a quick peek at one over the Easter weekend – didn’t feel particularly lightweight, but maybe I was expecting too much.
RM.

Floating rotors. That is all.

Sloping top tube is never going to look pretty.
Discs neither improve the looks nor make them uglier, certainly no more than Shimano chainsets and derailleurs with big ugly motors.

Those cannondales both look hideous, the front wheel looks like its a mile from where it should be. The angles look all wrong.

Gary_M – Member 
Those cannondales both look hideous, the front wheel looks like its a mile from where it should be. The angles look all wrong.

Okay, let us benefit from your wisdom; post a picture of what a road bike should look like

The Synapse looks like a hybrid with drops retro-fitted.

I’m very conservative re bikes looks, until I ride something that works demonstrably better, at which point some switch in my head flips and it instantly becomes better looking*.

*The bike, not my head.

Something like this?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/iLLtBj]Singlespeed Peregrine[/url] by paulfulford, on Flickr

The peregrine is nice in an old style classic way. Looks great for touring or audax but it doesn’t conjure up images of speed, just comfort.

Its very subjective but what do you lot expect to see when you think of road bike?

Meh, you’re all picking the wrong Cannondales…

What’s the point of such a big cutaway?

Seems like a terrible engineering solution to me

Frame and fork built heavier to cope with the stresses of the brake forces & torque being applied at the furthest point, Wheels have to be heavier to cope with the same so the spokes don’t rip out of the rim.

Quick wheel changes pretty much gone (obviously an issue for pro riders, not the rest of us)

The ‘hidden’ brake on the Trek shown above was a genius idea – the brake is positioned at the stiffest point of the bike (Ah, U brakes, there’s a memory!)

Why are quick wheel changes gone?

Weight not an issue unless minimum weight limit comes down.

The BMC is nice – looks like a proper racing road bike should look, fast and aggressive and low.

Problem is that because disc road bikes are currently illegal for racing, the only disc road bikes out there are “sportive” models with stupid angles, short top tubes and long head tubes so that fat mamils can fit on them. So none of them look “right”.

What I’d love to see is a Di2 and full hydraulic equipped bike with full internal routing including having the hose run inside the fork leg, popping out just above the caliper. And the bike should look racy. Low front end, proper angles, close clearances. When I win the lottery, English Cycles will be getting a call from me to make a bike to that description!

Tell them to make two!

Is this thread a competition to post the most gopping disk brake road bike, because they’re steadily getting worse!

I think they make a nice option for a winter / commuter bike. I’d have something like this…

Nothing has to be built stronger for discs, unless the braking force that they can provide is increased….assuming you have the grip available from the tyres to use that extra braking capability. The bottom of the forks may have to be stiffer, but the crown of the fork doesn’t have to be as strong as no caliper is being bolted there, so you gain a bit of weight in one part of the fork, and loose the same in another.

When you are braking you’re trying to twist the rim around the hub. This is the same with disc brakes as for rim brakes, the spokes will not see a difference.

The thing I struggle with regarding disc brakes on road race bikes, is that you’re limited to the grip available from the tyres. In can easily lock up with rim brakes, so the extra braking force of disk brakes is useless. Also from an aerodynamic point of view I can’t see how you can make a disk setup as aerodynamic as calipers which can be faired in on sculpted carbon bikes, especially TT bikes.

But for normal recreational bikes disc brakes make sense. They’re better in wet conditions, easier maintenance and with bigger tyres with more grip, offer better braking performance. Horses for courses, there is no one size fits all solution.

This kinda disputes the OP’s theory

Lots of things make a bike ugly:

Any frame design other than thin, straight round steel tubes.
Deep section rims.
Black components (not including cables, saddles, tyres or bar tape).
Slammed stems.
Stickers.
Cross levers.

But discs?
Discs are fine, providing all the above rules are followed.

When you are braking you’re trying to twist the rim around the hub. This is the same with disc brakes as for rim brakes, the spokes will not see a difference.

Think about that again 😉

If anything, the crown of a disc brake fork has to be beefed up even more than the bottom, as not only do you have the reaction torque from the brake acting there (which you don’t get with a rim brake), that force is also asymmetric resulting in a twisting at the crown which has to be resisted. The strength required to support a rim brake at the crown is minor in comparison. It’s not a huge, huge difference, but like for like a disc fork will be noticeably heavier.

just noticed that synapse a few posts up has radial spokage on the front 😯

It does indeed 😆 – though that is possibly a photoshop job or some other sort of mockup, as the otherwise identical show bike doesn’t seem to have that problem

(I note there’s also no sign of any valves in the pic above)

Okay, let us benefit from your wisdom; post a picture of what a road bike should look like

That comes across as though you sound very offended. I apologise for not liking the look of a bike that you clearly do like

Ok bob, I did think about it again and see where I went wrong 😳

Not a brake in sight, simply stunning.
No disks on (proper)road bikes please.

A clubmate has one of those ^ and was saying the brakes felt a bit vague. Also, the OE Look chainset seemed to confuse the Di2, though that might be sorted by now. Not a bad looking thing though, certainly can’t see how discs would spoil it.

The paint and decals are too lairy for me but this is lovely

Zach’s road race disc

Bob, you have to be taking the piss…that’s GOPPING.

despite, or because of the discs? 😀

Despite, it’s truly awful

I hadn’t noticed the discs…I can’t get past the God-awful rims!

most of us could never afford the most of the bikes on the photos
So saying they look great or shit is academic, you’ll never ride it anyway

it’s not tho, saying they ride shit would be.

As Rusty says, the one advantage of the rest of it is that you don’t immediately notice the discs.

Rubbish. Most of us could easily afford all the bikes in the pictures. Plenty of us own and ride bikes more expensive than a lot of them. In any case that issue is totally irrelevant to the point.