End of thread!

Tom’s version

Untitled by Parkesiemtb, on Flickr

http://revanchebikeco.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/painting-the-29er/
Granted, it’s not a road bike, but asides from geo, the rest is pretty similar, any thoughts?

So many mingin bikes on here! Oh my god! That cannondale with discs and enves?! It’d feel like you were constantly doing a wheelie every time you got on it, not a road bike, that is a very expensive hybrid!

That Volagi is gorgeous 🙂

Maybe beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I happen to like the look. Particularly seated on the bike, they are very neat.

Somewhat contentious around these parts I know, but I have gone disc and electronic on both my road and CX bikes, and whatever you might think about the looks, you can’t argue against the performance.

Oh no I’ve been sick again 😥

Those Moots are very dull looking, and the geometry looks wrong from the photo.

I’m starting to worry, since if the boutique builders can make a nice looking disc road bike, what hope have Trek, Giant, Specalized etc. got?

The head tube on that Moots jumps out at me as ugly.

Ok, here goes:

Untitled by sanename, on Flickr

I think it’s pretty, although admittedly I’ve only just built it and if disks are as bad as the neighsayers say, it’ll be the ugliest bike I own. 🙂

A bike with a headtube that length and that number of spacers is never going to be pretty.

Phew – after some pictures of bikes which weren’t completely gopping it’s nice to know we’re back to proving the point in the title of the thread.

Is it about time to vote for the most gopping bike on this thread?

Given the one at the top of this page doesn’t count in the context of the thread, my vote goes to emmanuel’s first entry http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/road-bikes-with-disks-are-ugly/page/3#post-5972071

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.

When the UCI legalizes it which isn’t far off it’ll happen with the pro scene almost overnight.

The industry pressure for the switch is huge.

^^ and the concerns from the ProTour are huge too.

To this end there will probably be a few races where they’re tried out, maybe in two years time, by which time most Sportive bikes will have them and therein lies the definition, Sportive or Endurance bikes and ProTour replicas.

I know which one I’ll be riding.

I think discs on ProTour replicas (of which my R5ca is and my Parlee Z4 isn’t) will not appear for about two years, then they’ll be dismissed as both heavy and cumbersome and a pita to change wheels etc so they’ll be dropped.

I would hate to see my R5ca with discs, it’d look shite 😉

No it’ll be ALL road bikes. I recommend speaking to R&D from a larger manufacturer who’s three years ahead in product planning…

I am not so sure that the wheel swapping will be a problem. I bet things standardise. I reckon 160mm but I may be wrong. Apart from that what else can be wrong? I swap disc wheels willly nilly and never have an issue. Rim brakes however have differing profiles and its less easy to endure that they are all the same. I guess if you have to take a neutral cars wheels perfect brakes may not be the first thing to worry about but with discs there is pretty well an industry standard. It ma not go down well but I foresee a time when discs in the leisure market become huge sellers, at least above the bargain price range and below the top end race replica.
I’m converted .

I really like this one, (green one is even betterer) not 100% sure why but considering it for wet/winter duties.

Luddite bikes FTW!

(I would ‘slam that stem’ if the head tube was longerer but the height of the bar compared to the saddle seems pretty good to me like this)

Well as long as there’s still a choice I won’t mind, and I’ll be more than happy to stay with calipers IME modern dual pivots are peerless.
This is my ‘own’ take on things.
40 years of faultless braking in racing in all weathers. Never in my entire life have I been with anyone that’s had a rim brake fail. Even the canti’s on my loaded up audax bike stop perfectly. And days descending in the Alps and Pyrenees without issue.
Whereas discs, pads wearing in a day, pads popping out, accidental pulls on the lever whilst wheels out, overheating on descents. Even in this years local CX league disc bikes were having problems, from constant rub to loss of pads completely.
My main gripe though is that dinner plates on wheels look gopping.
They still look ugly on a nice XC bike, I’m a bit ‘less is more’ and if less works why do you need more?
However I think this is driven by people who want, who want Carbon/electric/deep profile/discs.
My ‘drawing board’ bike is the standard track bike as used in the hour, add a set of brakes and anything that’ll get me up a 20% climb that’ll do me.

Discs are the future and they will grow on us.

JCL, true, but niche is the new black,there will always be options.

Oldgit, right as usual.

Jacob46, true.

Aracer,thanks! what do I win?

I think a gopping paintjob (like the camo bike I posted), is a gopping paintjob, no matter if you have discs of cantis or dual pivots.

Now, most of the bikes on this thread look pretty similar, the only difference in a lot of cases is the paintjob.

And paint comes and goes into fashion, the current retro revival aesthetic is coming to an end.

Paint, it’s important, I’d say most bikes are sold on paint. but it’s only paint, I’m sure if and when the owner of that bike gets tired of how it looks he’ll strip it down and repaint it.

Personally, I like the looks of brakes integrated into the fork, and under the chainstays, but both are more expensive and harder to work on.

So, discs aside.
What makes a good paintjob?

Here’s what I’ve come up with.

Emphasizes the structure.
Ages well.
Defines the use a bike will see, ie, a dh bike is going to have different colours to a randonneur
Most importantly, I think, you should like it, it doesn’t matter if it’s actually good looking or not.

So if you want a swedish m90 camo in chrome pink and yellow, why not?

I’ve been riding a road bike with big tyres / light wheels and discs for a while. This moring I was on a light road bike with racey angles and caliper brakes on a couple of wet and risky descents that I don’t know too well.

I’m very much looking forward to getting back onto discs – and for a long time I’ve said that my winter bike didn’t need discs as I go slower in the wet anyway, etc. All that stuff about not needing them. Add some tyres that can cope with the brakes a bit better and it’s all quite different. Stuff the looks.

Tyres need pumping up on that Pinarello.

Sorry, no prizes. You are correct and admittedly it’s horrible enough that you tend not to notice the discs quite as much as on something more aesthtically pleasing, though discs certainly make a nice bike look less nice. The Enigma up there I think comes closest to not looking all that bad, but I suspect that’s probably the lighting making the discs less obvious.

Discs are the future and they will grow on us.

Just like obesity has.

Rode down a 1:4 on Saturday. I wished I had discs.

Rode down a 1:4 on Saturday. I wished I had discs.

You wished you had better brakes. Everyone complaining needs to invest in some better brake blocks. I have never felt the need for discs and that includes when I was coming down Hardknott and Honister in the rain. Campagnolo Athena brakes were plenty powerful enough and had enough modulation too.

Discs are ugly, heavier, not as easy to use or set up and are being pushed by the same folk who brought us 650b. Mountain bikers. Enuff said 😉

Just like obesity has.

Sounds like you need to ride your bike a bit more, tubby.

To this end there will probably be a few races where they’re tried out, maybe in two years time, by which time most Sportive bikes will have them and therein lies the definition, Sportive or Endurance bikes and ProTour replicas.

I know which one I’ll be riding.

I think discs on ProTour replicas (of which my R5ca is and my Parlee Z4 isn’t) will not appear for about two years, then they’ll be dismissed as both heavy and cumbersome and a pita to change wheels etc so they’ll be dropped.

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/road/tarmac/sworks-tarmac-disc

Top Specialized Tarmac for 2015…

I have never felt the need for discs and that includes when I was coming down Hardknott and Honister in the rain

Try doing it at a fast pace then

Neutral support is the biggest hurdle I can see – dunno how that could work.

Neutral support will end, too many options to cover. How much is it used these days, anyone have any recent reports? (havnt watched any races recently). Which race was it where Cadel and others rode over tacks, sure they waited for the team car?

If you think it might be possible to get the UCI to legislate it, too late.

Longer chainstays would obviously impact the handling of the Tarmac, so instead they have developed a new rear hub that places the cassette further inboard, along with a custom dropout that locates the rear derailleur inboard as well, to maintain clean shifting.

specialized-launch-new-tarmac-disc-brake-option

Interesting solution to the chainline on the new Spesh. I think adding a couple of mm to the chainline for doubles would work for more bikes but only SRAM offering that at the mo, basically a double on an MTB-like chainline.

here is mine .

I have never felt the need for discs and that includes when I was coming down Hardknott and Honister in the rain
Try doing it at a fast pace then

TBH The contact patch of the tyre would be my concern, not bigger brakes. Only in the Alps have I wished on a couple of occasions for a bit more braking power than calipers on ally rims can offer, Carbon rims in the wet on the other hand…..

TBH it’s not the pros who need disc brakes, it’s average cyclists who can’t afford to replace their rims/wheels every 2-3 years (depending on usage). To have a braking system that relies on wearing away a fundamental structural element of the bike each time they are used is ridiculous.

Not to mention poor braking performance in wet weather around vehicles who don’t want them to be there and the poor state of the roads that increases the chance of buckled wheels

Indeed, which is why rim brakes don’t rely on that. I’ve never had to replace a rim on a road bike due to brake wear.

I think that with carbon rims it can be a good idea.
you’re keeping the same system weight but lighter rim weight.

plus more reliable wet/dry performance.

A bit like the move from steel to alloy rims, apart from the brakes being changed.

Indeed, which is why rim brakes don’t rely on that. I’ve never had to replace a rim on a road bike due to brake wear

They do though, don’t they?

Just because you haven’t caused enough wear for them to need replacing doesn’t mean they weren’t being worn.

Decent pads on carbon rims have never stopped me from braking hard to a stop, ever. Decent pads on alloy rims have never stopped me braking hard to a stop, neither.

I think it’s just an overkill situation for a solution that doesn’t really exist, but I’m happy if you want to ride with them, if you feel they’ll help you then off you go, trott on.

They’re ugly and unsightly and a pita to change/maintain and I can’t see them heading that way for racing for a good number of years yet, if ever.

Hey ho

Indeed, which is why rim brakes don’t rely on that. I’ve never had to replace a rim on a road bike due to brake wear.

Of course, there is a braking surface that is in addition to the structure of the rim: However, once that is worn through you are into compromising the integrity of the rim structure itself and therefore the rim needs to be replaced and that is not a cheap, or an easy exercise, at least compared to changing disc brake pads or rotors.

I know pro racing tends to drive the development of road bikes, However, in this case it should be the needs of the public that should drive the development of the type of bikes they will be buying.