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Braking efficacy isn't the biggest benefit of discs in my book. Never wearing out rims is a pretty compelling one, but my favourite thing about them by far is the fact that the bike doesn't get covered with horrible black brake sludge. Reflective tyre walls keep reflecting, cleaning is easier and barely ever needs doing at all, and you don't get your hands and gloves and clothes turned black with foul pervasive filth when you have to fix a puncture.
A useful trick to play on yourself with a road bike is to buy one that's slightly above your level as a rider, such that you look a bit ATGWNI on it ie: it's a light, fast bike but you're not so fast.
Let your ego take over, feel like an idiot who's overspent and ride it all the time till you can ride fast enough to justify such a nice and expensive bike...
a) you've got a nice bike
b) you're fitter than a butcher's dog - win win 🙂
btw I'm a Condor lover - I have two and they're beautiful bikes to ride. If I needed another bike I'd def be looking at an Acaccio
The calipers that are part of the new 11 speed groups from shimano are a lot better than most others and have made me think far longer about road discs.
Still have the rim wear issues though
Oh and I'm no faster on my early 1980s steel bike than my modern ti best bike
Speed is not the currency. The OP wants convincing buying a new bike is the right thing, he's just fretting over discs or not. Solution? Buy a nice bike with disks and buy a nice conventional road bike with calipers.
There now. DONE! n+ is always the correct answer 🙂
I have 3 road bikes and the biggest difference in ride quality is between the 2 aluminium bikes. My higher end aluminium one is pretty close in ride feel to my Scott carbon.The carbon one does come up lighter though.
Speed is not the currency.
But the OP says...
I want to race my mates or strava times.
Surely beating your mates on Strava is the number 1 priority here and everyone knows a shiny new bike is faster than the one you currently ride 🙂
I'm fretting on everything!
This probably all sounds confused. Speed is kind of the currency, like i said, i'm not going to be entering races but i'm a competitive sort of person.
if i'm out on a road bike i want to feel like i'm going fast, i want to try and keep up with my very fit roadie mates and kick the asses of my less fit mates, i want to feel like i'm getting fitter which in the context of only being able to go for fairly short rides a lot of the time, means going faster. I dont ride my road bike to cruise and smell the flowers so i'm not after comfort at the expense of speed i already have. I like climbing hills, i like coming down them fast.
i know that what i would ideally want is something carbon, di2, racey and with discs but, there arent many bikes like that around and they are all going to be over budget so where do i make the compromise?
Is it staying with alu instead of carbon maybe with discs, is it decent calipers from a better groupset and carbon, is weight important, is it really just that i want a bike that i think is "cooler" (probably!) and that there isnt really a huge measurable performance benefit to changing anything?
For the record i'm 5'6 and 60kg so i'm not big and i'm not that slow
[i]"if i'm out on a road bike i want to feel like i'm going fast"[/i]
Pedal harder?
Half-facetious, half serious. One slightly odd example: if you've currently got a compact, for some unknown reason I find a 52-53 big ring makes a road bike sing where a 48-50 doesn't. Might be purely psychological, but a standard just seems to be happier a little faster. YMMV.
I'm sure you know this but the only things you can work on that'll really make you go faster are position/aero, power and your weight. New bike is marginal.
is it really just that i want a bike that i think is "cooler" (probably!) and that there isnt really a huge measurable performance benefit to changing anything?
Yes.
Well,I fell for the red light sabres and some of their capes were 'well cool' ,but once I heard what they had done to all those young Jedi,I was sickened.
That was my last day with the dark side.
In answer to your question, I would go carbon and Di2 above discs. If you are 60kg, the real braking advantage of discs will be modulation rather than power. Rose bikes are doing some good deals.
Modern calipers have more than enough power. The weight difference of discs v non discs on a small frame (assuming you ride a small frame at 5'6'') is greater proportionally than on a larger frame given that the kit is the same and the mods to strengthen the frame to take calipers will be about the same.
If you want to go faster I would say 'pedal faster' rather than 'pedal harder'
You hardly need to brake on a nice road bike.
Not ridden Exmoor much then. 😯
2.5k max
i know that what i would ideally want is something carbon, di2, racey and with discs
OK, it's a bit mainstream but perhaps:
[url= http://www.specialized.com/gb/gb/bikes/road/roubaix/roubaix-sl4-comp-disc ]Baaaa[/url]
Or drop the Di2 and stretch your budget a little for the 105/Hydro build of one of those Masons you like:
Hmm, link doesn't look right on the preview, so copy and past this into your browser:
http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e86461b63dea84030f145a4db&id=7a337087d7
By the time you wear a rim brake wheel out (3yrs av with wet riding) you are looking for a valid reason/excuse for better/faster wheels anyways.
Who said it's 3 years to wear a rim brake out? Surely that'll depend on how much you ride... 😕
Rims on winter bike lasted 3 yrs.
I prob do a bit more miles than your average STW-ers though.
Haven't read the whole thread but what is your budget OP? Because this looks incredible VFM, ticks all the boxes. My brother is about to order one, git.
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-xeon-cdx-3100-di2/aid:756129?bikevariantchanged=756153