The English has the potential to be the best looking disc equipped bike yet. Some shallower wheels and a less lairy paint job and it would be spot on!

and a non integrated seatpost, and at least 14mm seatstays.
and a bit less matchy matchy.

asides from details, nice bike, and a great builder.

The English has the potential to be the best looking disc equipped bike yet. Some shallower wheels and a less lairy paint job and it would be spot on!

As I said in my earlier post, I’d be first in the queue at English Cycles on Monday morning following a lottery win! Some of their bikes are absolutely stunning – that one has gone OTT on the rims and the orange…

But at least the discs look good. 🙂

he’s not the only framebuilder in the world..

Even that English?

and a non integrated seatpost, and at least 14mm seatstays.
and a bit less matchy matchy.

nope I’m ok with all of that! His Di2 integration and stuff is always v tidy too. Crazy_legs id be behind you. Remember Rob riding the Gorrick 100 on some shonky home made bike years ago, brilliant it’s worked out for him!

An integrated seatpost weights more than a non integrated one in steel.
I prefer Baum’s solution of painting the seatpost.

The seatstays, 14mm is thin enough, I might consider 12mm. but those look to be 8mm.

No tubing manuf. has anything below 14mm in catalogue, and even then, Columbus’ high end tubing (spirit; life) has 16mm min.

Still, it all depends on who you’re building for.
Bit like the twin tube bike we did years ago, on smaller sizes it was great, something medium-big and it didn’t work.
that’s the great thing about custom bikes, they’re custom.

Do you want to look at the bike or feel safe riding downhill? Not a massive question in my mind.

njee20 – Member
The English has the potential to be the best looking disc equipped bike yet. Some shallower wheels and a less lairy paint job and it would be spot on!

Hmmm… something along the lines of

That toptube makes me wince but for me the beauty of English’s bikes is largely in the details.

emanuel – Member
he’s not the only framebuilder in the world..

Soz 🙂

Without all the hideous stuff the discs would look just as bad as they do on all the other bikes pictured.

see ^^^

hub brakes ftw.

Brakes schmakes.

The problem with posting any of the English bikes is that the non disc ones they makes are generally beautiful. They suffer the same problem as the Colnagos earlier, they may not be some of the best looking disc road bikes about but they’re still not as pretty as the non disc versions.

one of the good things about building bikes, is that clients ask you for something you like personally
one of the bad things about building bikes, is that clients ask you for something you personally don’t like.

I did this 3months ago, still don’t know which of the two above is true in this case.
more pics here https://www.flickr.com/photos/94186938@N04/sets/72157640290910616/with/13152294015/

and writeup(s) here

http://revanchebikeco.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/camo-is-this-years-black/
http://revanchebikeco.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/the-trici/
http://revanchebikeco.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/camo-disc-road-bike-or-versatility/

Well for me, nice handiwork on your part. Has a bit of a path racer air about it.
Aesthetically, and that vinyl coating… It’s a bit of a vomit comet.

thanks,
he’s a paying client, so he’s right. (sic)

though I do agree.

he covers sportscars in that stuff, so he wanted to do it to his bike.

ah well, won’t/can’t say more than that.

most of you will have read this already, but we accept something as pleasing esthetically when it fulfils a function.
or something like that-

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/the-problem-with-disc-brakes-in-road-racing-is-40867/

Jesus there are some honking bikes on this thread. Those Rob English bikes are proper vomit inducing.

Road bikes shouldn’t have discs end of.

Also to say they are better on big alpine style descents I’d query. The scariest descent of my life was on a mtb with discs on a big hairpin road descent, the bite point was all over the shop, as they heated and cooled. Not fun. 😥

agree. there are a few situations where discs are better on the road, but lots where there isn’t much benefit.

I’m sure we’ll have the choice (and the chance to mutually disagree about it) for a good long time.

All, or nearly all, the road frames I’m building at the moment have disc tabs, that way, with a new fork, they’ve got a new bike, maybe the seatstay bridge with a hole in it isn’t the prettiest thing, but it’s a small price to pay to be able to ‘upgrade’ your bike so easily.

I just think we should all have the choice, and to be able to make an informed decision, you really have to try out things yourself.

even camo coloured bikes, it’s the price of freedom.

100!

I don’t really see the problem aesthetically at all.

Ditto. I like the clean look and less mess around the fork crown/seat stays.

Besides, while I tended to agree with this before I got a road bike with discs:

there are a few situations where discs are better on the road, but lots where there isn’t much benefit.

having actually experienced it, I disagree. Confidence in the wet and control over hard stops in the dry is much better IME. So that’s a lot more than a ‘few situations’. Unless you’re lucky to live somewhere dry or where you never have to brake hard 🙂

well, I spent 8ys in barcelona, I think I had about 3 wet rides in all.rolling stuff, nothing steep and long.
now in tuscany, some good hills, but tame.

braking does depend a lot on weight, I’m 70kg now I’m out of shape, fighting fit I was 67kg, so I’m never going to need that much power in any case.

so I should have said, there are a few situations where discs are better FOR ME, but lots where..etc.
🙂

Thing is, it’s not really a power thing. As everyone will say, you can easily enough lock road bikes’ wheels (definitely in the dry, usually in the wet if you give a moment to clear the water). It’s control.

Well I suppose with a paying client’s bike you have to avoid being too disparaging. Personally that simply confirms my earlier assertion:

…and I’m waiting to see what can possibly trump it!

Aracer, sometimes its like that, tho sometimes (often, thankfully) it’s great.

this could do with discs, might as well go all the way.

Well, if you will insist on building with lugs then of course you’ll be forced into silly designs…

If you think 650b steamrolled the MTB market just wait two years. You won’t be able to buy a road bike without discs.

I’m all for it because I live in a mountainous wet climate where rim brakes are a joke.

Clubber;
About 80% of the stuff we do is lugless fillet brazed, agree completely, though there are some modern lugs (35mm dowtube) they’re few and far between, plus they add a bit of weight, and the look is wrong for a lot of bikes.

I do have a thing for bilaminate lugs, you can do the angles you want, and have some lugness in your bike, depending on the bike, it looks great.

got a disc braked roadie coming up soonish, I’ll put it up, just hope we can agree to a paintjob we both like, though it is his, so as long as he’s happy, so am I. besides, paint is cheap enough to change once every few years.

JCL, agree. I’ve retrofit a lot of frames lately, easy enough with steel.
as soon as dics hit the 105 group it’ll explode.

of course, if you go custom you can buy what you like, did a bike with these a few years ago.

ah deraileurs, all those bits, hanging off, what’s that all about..
🙂

Discs on those Zipp wheels just look wrong imo.

From page 2
“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. “

Apart from maybe the stems.
As for the need, hmm but I have yet to find a disadvantage with discs. Most definitely more powerful for those of us with shorter fingers and I have yet to have a problem locking them up as I use my brain when applying.
Actually there is a problem. Finding rims without brake tracks. Some but not many.

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.

With the exception of a slammed stem, that describes my bike 🙂

FWIW, I think classic steel frames look ugly, especially when built with lugs.

as soon as dics hit the 105 group it’ll explode.

Pretty soon then. It’s a good thing, race-replica bikes are nice enough but anything that makes people who don’t race question whether they want that or something that offers other functional benefits or more wide-ranging use is a good thing imo.

I agree generally, classic-looking road bikes are the only truly aesthetically pleasing bikes out there but as soon as you add stuff for performance (di2 or discs, most carbon frames imo, or suspension on mtbs etc) they don’t look as ‘pretty’ and become more of a functional product. That’s all ok, bikes should be function over form, just try to keep some balance.
I’m all for discs on road bikes. I don’t race and I’d like more freedom in rims, tyres, guards (ie clearances) etc so they’re a plus for me. I don’t care about adding a pound or more in weight to a bike that’s already that light. If I wanted a pretty road bike it’ll be an older one where I’ll accept lower performance in many areas so it’s a non-issue there. Personally form always comes second so as much as I love the look of an old Italian road bike I doubt I’ll ever own one.

I think classic steel frames look ugly, especially when built with lugs.

Philistine.. : )

Luddite! 🙂

If you think 650b steamrolled the MTB market just wait two years. You won’t be able to buy a road bike without discs.

Utter bobbins. They’ll become more popular, but road bikes are too led by the pro-tour scene, and there’s no way they’ll be universal in that time. It took 10 years for them to be universal in MTB XC racing, where the downsides were far fewer and more debatable. Considering they’re not even allowed in competition at the moment it’s quite a way until they’re ubiqitous.

I’m with Clubber, never really liked those older style frames.

Disc brakes have their place, my missus loves hers on the roadie, more control, less tiring, more power. I removed a aluminium fork at the same time so there wasn’t a weight penalty at all. Bags more confidence in the wet. Happy days

I’ll have a tenner on the UCI moving quicker to allow discs in competition faster than they’ve done with other new stuff in the past.

They’re certainly talking about it but practical issues are making it difficult – they’ll need to mandate disc use and then disc size and spacing so that neutral service can supply wheels (and they’re claiming to avoid crashes when people have different braking ability but I’m less convinced by this).

That’s going to be a bit of a jump given that there are teams who don’t want to swap over, particularly once you move outside of the protour to teams who actually have to pay for their equipment and don’t want to buy a load of new bikes/wheels.

Sure, practically it’s pita job to make it work but I suspect they’ll ok it and let the teams figure it out. Costs to sponsors won’t be an issue to a body that has an interest in having the best-funded teams racing. Many of them will have spent a lot more than that on dope in the past anyway )

Neutral support is the biggest hurdle I can see – dunno how that could work. Generally I can’t swap wheels with same hub, rotor and caliper models between 2 bikes w/o a bit of adjustment. A bit off the looks debate.. interesting tho

So you only allow protour teams to race at protour events with no continental teams allowed unless they have discs? And then what do the continental teams do at non-protour teams? Do they have disc and non-disc bikes or is that at the next level or…?