If you were in the market for a new road bike, would you go for discs or choose not to have them (yet)?
Curious as they are a relatively new thing and as with most new advances there seems to be a few years before problems are ironed out…though discs generally a hardly a new thing.
Would you wait til they’re more commonplace/cheaper or go for it now?
Are they even needed anyway – even 6700 Ultegra brakes are powerful never mind the newer 6800…

7 pages…

but yes, yes i would.

disc brakes work very nicely, rim brakes wear out your lovely wheels.

Yes, I like my braking surfaces to be replaceable.

I’d be waiting until the standards involved settle down, shouldn’t take long with the pro tour allowing disc at his year. Although this assumes that they come up with something sensible for neutral service

yup, got them on the new bike – hydro ultegra – the braking is a world difference even from the Dura ace ones on the old bike, which are the best rim brakes I have ever had

Came down a leafy wet road in the pouring rain the other day and the brakes were as predictable as in the dry – bloody awesome, wouldn’t go back.

Oh god, is it a few months ago again?

It depends what your goals are. If you’re a slow speed cyclist who never tackles challenging roads then rim brakes are fine.

I’m a serious cyclist who regularly competes for “gold medal” times in sportives that take in some of the UKs toughest roads; for me, discs are a no brainer.

Yes (3 years ago).

Already did, almost 2 years ago now, with Shimano R785 DI2.

I won’t be going back to rim brakes thank you very much.

I am holding out for the twin leading shoe/dynamo combo.

Discs brakes are life savers, just like helmets!

Don’t wear earphones whilst riding though, with or without discs you will die!

Are they even needed anyway – even 6700 Ultegra brakes are powerful never mind the newer 6800…

assuming you’re not still running cantis on your MTB you’ll know its nothing to do with ultimate stopping power and more about modulation and uniformity of performance in different conditions.

I’d be waiting until the standards involved settle down

Potentially this- lots of axle diameters, lengths, and securing mechanisms and they’re still trying to solve the short racey chainstay/rotor and crank and 11spd clearance issue. Specialized have a proprietary hub that offsets the cassette I think.

Personally I’d choose the bike on it’s overall merits and discs would be part of that equation. I’d happily buy a non-disc (procrastinated long enough for the discounted SuperSix Hi Mod frames at Pauls to sell out in my size and regret it 🙁 ), but I’m now looking at the Caad10 Disc frame Evans are flogging off….

I’m a serious cyclist who regularly competes for “gold medal” times in sportives that take in some of the UKs toughest roads; for me, discs are a no brainer.

6/10. Still trying too hard.

It’s the truth. Here’s my disc brake road bike.

CX bike? Yes.
Road Bike? No.

27 Pages…
1 Flounce..
5 Big Hitters..

27 Pages…
1 Flounce..
5 Big Hitters..

😀

And people wonder why I post silly replies……

Don’t wear earphones whilst riding though, with or without discs you will die!

Not if you wear a proper rucksack.

I just got some ultegra hydros. Rode down Ditchling beacon in the wet yesterday, 1 finger braking with lots of power and modulation, lovely. Would have been bricking it on rim brakes.

I thought that was quite good DT, obvious but I liked the sportive gold medal time bit!

Yep ok, I get that discs are better than normal brakes.
What I didn’t cover very well was this: if you had a given price point of say £2k, would you go with Ultegra normal or some heavy cheap cable operated discs with cheaper heavier wheels? I guess I know the answer to that given the first bunch of answers 😉

You can change the cheap discs with a few bolts, altering the frame is a bit more involved…

I spend all winter training for the toughest sportives this land has to offer. And as an ex mountain biker/trail-centre slayer, I’m also an incredibly poor descender. Discs are a no brainer; they mean I don’t have to replace my rims every couple of months.

But if the majority of your riding is when the weather’s good; definitely get rim brakes.

😆 @ DTF

Yes, I like my braking surfaces to be replaceable.

Shimano freeza rotor £38
Mavic Open Pro rim £38

What I didn’t cover very well was this: if you had a given price point of say £2k, would you go with Ultegra normal or some heavy cheap cable operated discs with cheaper heavier wheels?

Probably, even at the cheap end those cheap cable/hydro calipers represent a cheap way to upgrade to decent disk brakes on £1k bikes (as long as they come with some sort of disk).

Once you’ve been riding road hydro’s for a little while, calliper brakes are terrifyingly poor, most especially in the wet.

Commuting last week on the singlespeed in the wet, a car pulled out in front of me (a good 10m) then saw me a stopped blocking the lane, despite hitting the brakes almost immediately (I know how bad the section can be, so was covering the brakes) I’d shaved off barely half my speed before I had to swerve around the front of the car.

Had I been on the Niner, I’m certain I’d have been able to stop.

each to his own but I’ll never go back to rim brakes.

What I didn’t cover very well was this: if you had a given price point of say £2k, would you go with Ultegra normal or some heavy cheap cable operated discs with cheaper heavier wheels?

Um, neither? I’d go for RS685 hydros, and save money elsewhere If I had to. But also depends what the bike is for: my new winter bike has disc brakes, and it’s fantastic. If I were in the market for a new summer bike, I’d probably go for rim brakes.

the light blues don’t match very well on that Condor…

Shimano freeza rotor £38
Mavic Open Pro rim £38

Yep, just fit the Open Pro onto your hub with a lockring tool, and off you go…

TurnerGuy – Member
the light blues don’t match very well on that Condor…

I know; I think it’s because it has disc brakes. If it had rim brakes, I probably would have got away with it.

I’ve just built-up a Kinesis 4S Disc with, wait for it… discs!

I felt that the combination of internal cable routing and price gap over cable discs wasn’t worth it for hydraulic discs, but discs overall get a big thumbs up from me. (I use BB7 SLs with 105 5800 levers).

They’re no more powerful than rim brakes in the dry, but far superior in the wet.

Yep, no question. You wouldn’t buy a bike with gears that were considerably worse than they could be for the same money, why do that with brakes. There aren’t any problems to iron out, they’ve been on touring bikes since 2000, Fargos and the like since 2008. Sure there will always be a new headtube or handlebar width, or some new maxle thing, or boost, or centrelock. Discs on a roadie won’t accelerate or prevent that, or make any of it necessary. One good thing would be to set an exact standard for rotor thickness and exact distance from hub centre line to make swapping wheels between bikes easier(and thus neutral service support for big races), but I wouldn’t hang about waiting for anyone to make it happen.

To sell the bike on in the future – maybe.

My CX likes discs in the muddy conditions.

In summer I like a road bike without discs.

Drooled over a CAAD12 disc yesterday and it very light and not bridge on the seat stays.

Personal choice but my next road bike will have to have discs to keep up with Jones’s.

If I only had one road bike and it was going to be used all year round. Well yes I’d be looking at discs, but for my nice summer bike no chance. I don’t like the look of them for a start, in the dry or even a bit of rain my ultegra calipers work great. 10,000 miles later I’m still on the original brake blocks, and the rims will last for years.
Choice is great though so buy what you fancy. But on my road bike braking is one of the least things I do.

I’ve got a cx bike with cable discs (TRP Spyre) and they are pretty rubbish. The rear seems to get a lot of débris in the cable (probably doesn’t help that the cable runs downhill from the caliper into the outer cable) so it never retracts properly.
There is always water in the cables so they freeze solid when it’s icy – this has led to some scary moments when I try to pull the brakes on and find that the levers won’t move!
They need adjustment all the time so that the pads will engage the disc before the levers hit the bars.
I seem to get about 3 weeks use out of a set of pads before they’re down to the metal, although this has been riding in horrible gritty wet conditions.
I’m planning to upgrade to the RS685 hydraulic STI levers and calipers to solve these problems. Should really have bought a bike that came with these brakes to begin with as I’ve only had the bike since November.

No. Set your bike up properly and learn to brake from the drops not the hoods. Try braking on your mtb on a hill without wrapping your thumbs around the bars for the same “rubbish rim brake” effect. Ultegra calipers will lock rims just fine.

I had a hydro disc brake road bike for 10 months last year

I’m on a caliper brake road bike now

can’t say I miss the discs?

I really prefer the lighter / simpler / quieter ride of the caliper brake bike

I ride a mountain bike with hydro discs (and have for years), I can’t say the caliper brakes in the wet are as bad as I assumed it would be after road discs

I really prefer the lighter / simpler / quieter ride of the caliper brake bike

I’ll give you it’s lighter but the other two… really?

Have you ridden in the rain on rim brakes…

Ultegra calipers will lock rims just fine

ah that old nugget rears its little head

I’ve got a Giant Defy with 105 rim brakes, and a Pinnacle Arkose with 105 Hydraulic discs.

In the dry there is very little difference, I’ve always thought the 105 rim brakes were pretty good actually.
In the wet however the discs are as good as in the dry, the only limiting factors are tyre grip on the road.

I’ve previously had a road bike with SRAM mechanical discs – they were OK but not as good as the 105 Hydraulics.

My next ‘summer’ road bike will have Shimano Hydraulic discs – partly for the extra security on a wet ride, and partly because it avoids rim-wear.

Note – one thing I have noticed is how stiff the Arkose front end is – not sure if this is anything to do with the fork being stiffer due to discs???

Decent rim brakes like recent Ultegra or 105 are excellent in the dry and more than ok in the wet. They don’t quite have the feeling of endless power that discs still do in the wet and poorly set up will feel rubbish but they will stop you.

I have R785 hyrdaulic discs on my winter bike and they are fantastic for stopping, but I can’t figure if the weight/non-aero/slight rubbing of the discs contribute to it feeling like a bit of a dog compared to all my rim braked race bikes. I have a cable disc road bike too and that is similarly heavy and sluggish.

If you’re not racing, and don’t have the comparison of other bikes, then I’d go for a bike with discs. And I don’t really get the axle standard problem/ongoing development “issue”….bearings are generally standard parts, rims won’t wear out….so its only if you want to upgrade it becomes an issue. Even then, its been possible to buy mtb hubs with different spacers for years.

freeagent – so its not just me who thought the front end of an arkose can be a bit harsh(even with 28mm tyres)

freeagent – so its not just me who thought the front end of an arkose can be a bit harsh(even with 28mm tyres)

I can confirm it is still a bit harsh with 32mm road tyres!

The bar tape it came with is a bit thin, I might swap it for the same Spesh ‘Fat bar’ tape I have on my Defy and see if it is any nicer.

Currently got SRAM HRD discs on one road bike. In the dry I can’t say I really care either way as the steel disc bike is a decent amount heavier than the carbon caliper equipped bike. I prefer not to ride the carbon bike in winter if I can avoid it… steep hills and wet rims make for interesting bedfellows.

I don’t race so I’d never buy a new road bike without discs now.