UCI to allow disc brakes in cx competition but strangely reduce max tyre size from 35 to 33mm just for some balance 😉

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-to-allow-disc-brakes-in-cyclo-cross-competition

so will the three peaks do the same for the max tyre size?

i think the 3 Peaks CX events organisers can dictate their own set of rules, which ain't a bad thing.

Indeed but they have typically used the uci ones as guidance iirc

There was something on another site suggesting that a lot of 35c cross tyres actually measure out at 33c on a road rim anyway.

The brakes thing can only be good, if only because it will encourage development of better road discs; maybe smaller (140mm front) sizes too?

Andy

Fingers crossed (pun intended) for hydraulic braking STi levers.

"But surely disk brakes are too much on such a narrow tyre? I mean, if you can already lock up a canti, what's the point?"

"But riders will get burnt when they all fall over each other and touch those red-hot braking surfaces!"

etc

etc

etc

etc

Onzadog – Member
Fingers crossed (pun intended) for hydraulic braking STi levers.

No need. BB7s are nigh on perfect.

They might be, but I want hydraulics.

I wonder if many will take them up for racing? Brakes for some time have been seen as a tool to scrub off speed rather than a tool to stop them.
I can see massive advantages for the leisure and trail rider, but not for the racer.

I wonder if many will take them up for racing? Brakes for some time have been seen as a tool to scrub off speed rather than a tool to stop them.

Surely the better the brake the faster you can go?

Dunno there seems to be a trend toward the continental almost road like cross racing nowadays.
I racking my brain trying to think of a single circuit I race that requires stopping power.
Most racers ride in a way that flows to avoid any braking.

+1 for what oldgit is saying.

On the other hand I suppose they've seen that disc brakes in MTBing are now almost de rigeur even for the most die-hard weight weenie, maybe this is a step towards developing road discs? Maybe the UCI have seen that there aren't thousands of MTBers missing limbs as a result of amuptation by disc brake so they're obviously safe enough.

no serious cross racers will use discs till they get light weight hydraulic ones

I'm not a technophobe, I wouldn't want to be without discs in a XC race these days, but TBH my cantis on my crosser are almost backed right off.

bikerbruce – Member
no serious cross racers will use discs till they get light weight hydraulic ones

Why?

the pros will have a disc set of bikes and a canti set.

I NEED to win the lottery soon.

I wonder if this also means that most cross bikes and possibly eventually road bikes will get 135 spacing so that MTB hubs can be used?

druidh cos they are weight weenies.

I think this will take a long time to get established at the top, as most of the top guys are using carbon rims (where braking performance is known to be rubbish!) they're clearly not phased by a lack of power.

Although this could lead to lighter disc specific rims I don't really think there'll be a big switch for a number of years.

Agreed. +1.

Look at how long roadies took to accept clipless pedals etc. Will take ages.

Roadies accepting clipless pedals taking a long time? I think it was more a case of waiting until the technology didn't require you to physically lock your shoes into the pedals and would allow release on twisting.
I can't really see many racing crossers using them though as the bikes don't exist, and neither do the lightweight wheelsets.
Anyway as oldgit says in racing brakes are for setting yourself into a corner rather than for stopping.

Shame they didn't up the tyre to 40mm so those disk brakes might actually be of some use 🙂

Then racing would have improved the breed…

But if you can brake a bike length later that could be enough to get you past the guy in front.

Can't see roadies or CX'ers adopting wider hubs, it would be fairly pointless to them. More likely shimano etc will make disk hubs for roadies, no idea what standard they'd pick though, I'd imagine it would cbe something lightweight so might force everyones hand into the shimano splined mounts?

But if you can brake a bike length later that could be enough to get you past the guy in front.

I quite agree for MTBing, but for some reason that doesn't seem to be the case in cross where conserving momentum is the bigger winner. As pointed out above, carbon rims are de-rigeur in racing even though they are poo-stain for braking in the mud. I'm sure some riders will use discs in a few races, especially if sram bring out their rumoured hydro disc compatible red lever

You beat me to it. It took me a while to convert back to cross braking/cornering from the mounbtainbike version.