[Closed] Road bike... Rim brakes vs discs.

Much more fun descending long, fast, steep switchbacks when you don`t have to worry about your rims overheating. Ok if you only riding UK, but if your venturing abroad onto longer, steeper descents where you know the rims will be at melting point before your 3rd of way down ...

I`m a convert to them now.

but if your venturing abroad onto longer, steeper descents where you know the rims will be at melting point before your 3rd of way down ...

I don’t know about that I’ve always like the extra grip you get from a hot sticky tyre.

Pro’s manage just fine descending without rims/tyres exploding. If your tyres are exploding you are putting too much air in !

Pros manage because the roads are closed ;-).

Happy with my Ultegra and Dura Ace dual pivots. By contrast, the Avid cantis are nowhere near as good, especially in the wet. I often wonder if this is why people have such poor experience. That and an expectation that braking from the hoods is the correct technique. It isn't. Brake from the drops and you'll find its a world of difference. Can't reach the drops? Adjust your bike properly. You don't brake on an mtb without wrapping your thumb around the bar, surely?

That said, I think that ultralight carbon rims and disc brakes are the only natural bedfellows. Just not seen them that often.

And nobody I ride with regularly has them because BC don't allow them in races.

A lot of people just assume that the advantage of disc over rim brakes is only power. However, the real advantage for me is the feel or modulation. Dry or wet roads the braking feel is virtually the same with very little if any lag in the wet. You can judge your braking a lot better and it's not a question of hauling on them to stop quicker. For me they are a lot more consistant and therefore safer irrespective of the road conditions.

but then again on a road bike on the roads around our way I think you would run out of grip before getting the advantage of the disc power.

You think wrong, even on the flat, in bone dry conditions discs are markedly better.

I've got two bikes with rims brakes, one with Dura Ace and one with Ultegra, they're both very, very good, I'm not saying anything to the contrary, but discs are better. I still love my summer bike with rim brakes, but it did make me a bit sad to take my 'second' bike to the Alps because the brakes were better, even if I was very glad I did.

I've got both - Giant Defy with 105 level rim brake, Pacenti Rims and Greenstop pads and an Arkose with '105' level Hydros.

The Giant is fine on dry roads, but pretty scary in the wet.
The brakes on the Arkose are tempremental (had some issues with callipers leaking, which led to total rear brake failure at one point) but when they're working properly, they're very good, loads of power/modulation and can be locked up at any speed on any surface if I really want.

When the time comes to replace the Giant, it'll be with a hydro-Disc 'summer' bike.

Sorry too hijack op,I'm about too click buy on some disc road wheels,what's consensus 6 bolt/centre lock?

Pro’s manage just fine descending without rims/tyres exploding. If your tyres are exploding you are putting too much air in !

Pros manage fine because they're often not doing stupidly technical, narrow road, steep road stuff. On my holidays in France, Spain, Italy etc I've used roads that the pros would never go near - chuck in a few steep switchbacks, some gravel, an oncoming car and I've had some super hot rims before.

The Etape du Tour a couple of years ago, descending Columbiere, there were people blowing tyres all around me. Initially I thought it must be tacks in the road but it was just incredibly hot.

Discs every time.

Pros are often running tubs, as well, so no problems with carbon rims. If you use carbon clinchers, which I guess are quite popular on higher end bikes, then taking the brake surface off the rim seems like one of the best arguments for disks.

Don't forget pros use tubs as well not clinchers. The biggest problem they face is sometimes the heat build-up with rim brakes melts the adhesive and the tub unseats. There have been many crashes on descents over the years due to this.

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I'd have one of these to be honest.

There's a lot going on there, beautiful frame but something's not quite right on the build.

I think maybe it needs a black chainset?

steve_b77... is lovely, but the price 😕

I think maybe it needs a black chainset?

That and black hubs too.

Didn't know they'd stopped doing the Pilgrim. New one on the way looks pretty good though more "adventure" than pure road.

I like the shiny chainset, it goes well with the bare stainless at the BB area.

I agree on the hubs, I reckon silver ones would look a whole lot nicer

My best road bike used to have the single pivot Chorus rear brake which was great until it rained, then it became quite scary. Since replaced with Chorus DP brakes front and back. I most recently rode this in Italy in June at the GF Eddy Merckx and on roads in and around Lake Garda beforehand and it was perfectly fine and worked very well. Last month I rode my Bokeh with eTap HRD in TuscanyRoad'17 (mutli-day packed) and the disc brakes on that bike were great too - they have a good level of feel and also because I ride that bike with 38mm Compass tyres the grip was astounding - even on a tight hairpin descending off the Passo del vestito when I found a car about to occupy the space I was about to go into...

That Bowman needs to lose the skinwalls and have plain hubs/headset, far too much Happening. Then it’d look great.

chakaping - Member
There's a lot going on there, beautiful frame but something's not quite right on the build.

I think maybe it needs a black chainset?

EXACTLY my thoughts, too.

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This would be my choice.

Just got a road bike with discs, its pretty odd as I find myself taking that early pull to clean the rims before the real braking starts and just slowing down too soon! Guess it'll improve. The brakes are Spyre cable thingies, not much if any more raw power but so much more feel and realibilty as the above example shows.

FunkyDunc - Member

Pro’s manage just fine descending without rims/tyres exploding. If your tyres are exploding you are putting too much air in !

I admit, I very likely had too much air pressure in the tyre that popped off. It was about 80-90psi at the time, - but as others have said, the pros wont be using their brakes as much as us mere mortals who have to be aware of traffic coming up the other direction as we descend. Anybody who has ridden on Gran Canaria will know that a lot of the descents are very long, very steep, with often very sharp hairpins; descending the VoTT and the GC210 for example.

I still can't get over the feeling that having discs on your road bike make you look like a complete chopper though....

I've got a Colnago C60 with DA and Reynolds Aero 46 wheels and a choice of Mavic Exalith rims too which I love dearly.

After decending the Mont du Chat (Ritchie Portes tour ending crash) in the summer, I'd sell the lot for a hydro disc option as that was frankly scary on rim brakes. I've done a lot of big mountain decending over the years on the road, and that was bad, with overheated carbon rims.

Only one of my five road bikes has rim brakes. It mountenous where I live and a wheel delamination scares the shit of of me if I’m honest. There are plenty of down hills where you’re between 30-40 mph into a tight corners for up to an hour at a time.

In this environment a disc bike is far far better in every way.

For a blast on the flat, my rim brakes cervelo is awesome and still probably my favourite bike.
Ultimately it comes down to buying the right tool for the job.
We all live in different places and have various degrees of riding ability so buy whatever you feel suits your environment and skill level.

vdubber67 - Member
I still can't get over the feeling that having discs on your road bike make you look like a complete chopper though....

Aye, but if you ride your bike instead of look at it.... 🙂

We all live in different places and have various degrees of riding ability so buy whatever you feel suits your environment and skill level.

Aye, but if you ride your bike instead of look at it.... 🙂

Discs will be on my next winter build, if only to avoid rim wear.

Summer bike gets raced so won't be switching to discs until it's allowed and I've got enough of a budget.

I still can't get over the feeling that having discs on your road bike make you look like a complete chopper though....

It is a more common sight but there is still a whiff of this about a road bike with discs 🙂

Speaking to the LBS by far the majority of their road bike sales now have discs.

I still can't get over the feeling that having discs on your road bike make you look like a complete chopper though....

to 99% of the population a grown man in lycra on a bike looks like a 'complete chopper' so run whatever brakes you are happy with...

"The difference is... I make this look good".

It's the latest thing in road bikes to sell more road bikes. The UCI/BC position isn't relevant to most riders anyway.

One day I may succumb. Just not for a while. But it would be on a best bike for mountains not a winter bike that stops fine (I'm not very heavy) in the wet.

^ this.

The other day I commented to my wife about how sad a tasseled leather clad Harley rider looked having his mid life crises.

She said FFS, you ride around in skin tight red camouflage Lycra.

Fair Pont well made 🙂

Hydro discs are worth it for 'normal' riding. But they do have a few negatives, heavier wheels and brake rub, which is not an issue for normal riders but could be if you were racing. (Anyway you hardly brake in most lower level UK road races anyway.)

Avoid cable operated calipers they simply aren't worth it IME.

Aside: All the bike posted on this thread are minging, that Bowman particularly so, although that's nothing to do with discs on them.

It mountenous where I live....There are plenty of down hills where you’re between 30-40 mph into a tight corners for up to an hour at a time.

Where do you live? hour long downhills sound like amazing fun!

Probably not a case of 'normal' use for most people though, a case of pick your bike for your riding.

I have disc and rim brake road bikes, still think for most use I'm happy with the rim brakes, the times when I want/need the discs are only in really shitty weather and generally that's not [i]that [/i]often, even in the UK.

If it's a one bike for everything choice then I think I'd probably go disc, but while I have the option of multiple I tend to go with the rim braked bike 90% of the time and keep the discs for a crap weather bike.

Dragon- you'd better post a picture of your bike so we can critique it. I quite like the Bowman, just not with the odd coloured hubs and headset.

But they do have a few negatives, heavier wheels and brake rub

Rim and disc wheels can be heavy or light. Brake rub is non existent unless there is an issue that needs fixing.
I’m pleasantly surprised with the lack of rub with my road discs.

There are plenty of down hills where you’re between 30-40 mph into a tight corners for up to an hour at a time.

Unless you are dragging them, then that shouldn't be an issue. Sit up, break, off brake corner, sprint and repeat. Brake should have plenty of time to cool between bends, even if they come fairly quickly.

Blazin-saddles I don't have a pic of mine to hand but here is the website shot of mine. I actually wasn't keen on the colour when I got it, but i;s grown on me. (Yeah I know it's not strictly a road bike, but it is used as my all year road bike, my summer roadie has calipers.)

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Unless you are dragging them, then that shouldn't be an issue. Sit up, break, off brake corner, sprint and repeat. Brake should have plenty of time to cool between bends, even if they come fairly quickly.

Technique is fine thanks but carbon rims with latex tubes puts and element of doubt in which I don’t have with my disc bikes.

Looking at the Giant TCR Advanced 1, premium seems to be around 200 quid for an equivalent disc braked bike (1799 vs 1999).

I had a toss up between the Advanced Pro with disks, or the Advanced SL without. I went for the latter, and I'm quite happy with that choice. But, same frame and wheels for similar price and I'd probably go disks.

I had a toss up between the Advanced Pro with disks, or the Advanced SL without.

Rim brakes on the race/ summer bikes. Got disc brakes on 2 bikes, caad12 and cheapo Chinese thing for winter and I tend to cycle in Norway quite a bit an do prefer the disc bike's for that as the weather's pretty changeable in the hills.

Also got a rim brake caad12 that I use for crits and summer training, i did take this to the Alps/ Spain over summer as it just feels a bit more lively than its disc equivalent despite the wheels being pretty similar in weight. I do have a lot of wheels!!

I certainly think disc's offer a lot, particularly when the weather's poor, and would be happy to race them.

Seems like opinion is changing towards discs , I suspect that if you had asked the same question last year there would have been less pro disc replies .

I've never been sold on discs on a road bike. However, I accidentally bought one and love it. The modulation in hydraulic discs makes it much more comfortable on long rides.

I'm still a naysayer for the most part. I've yet to have any incidents caused by poor wet weather braking and obviously don't ride enough/split my riding between enough bikes, that I don't wear rims out.

My other experiences are:

Avid BB7s - squeal in wet
Shimano R505s - leaking and contamination
SRAM Levels (MTB brake but used on a slicked up tarmac only commuter) - Truly horrendous squeal in wet
TRP Spyres - Quite good so far, some noise in wet but nothing terrible, possibly cured by replacing stock pads. With stock pads there still seems to be a delay in power delivered when rotors are wet.

Trying to spec a custom build and adding discs was all disadvantanges, heavier for a given budget and less choice of wheels (I like cup and cone...).

Despite the above I was finally convinced to give discs another go, thinking that some decent Ultegra level Shimanos probably wouldn't squeal or leak. Problem is all the 2018 bikes on the high street with Ultegra level hydros are now way out of my budget, looking at £2000 plus! I went with my initial choice of a Rose Xeon with full Ultegra, rim brakes and Fulcrum 3s for £1600 all in.

My perfect braking set up right now is the Tektro RX6s with Swisstop Blue on my commuter. Work with drop levers, clearance for big tyres and guards, silent, powerful, fairly instant braking in wet. Lighter and cheaper than discs too 8)

I've yet to have any incidents caused by poor wet weather braking

Nor have I, but I would say as a rider I ride to the limits of the conditions, equipment and my nerve. Reality is most of my crashes are caused by riding too fast in the wet or dry regardless of brake system 🙂

Nor have I, but I would say as a rider I ride to the limits of the conditions, equipment and my nerve.

Very true, I guess I could shave a few seconds off my commute on wet days if I wasn't unconsciously dragging my rim brakes a few seconds before the junctions 8) (although I do this on my disc brake bike as well to lessen the inevitable squeal!).

Having had a scary bad off a couple of years ago with rim brakes on a long steep descent and struggling to scrub enough speed before a very tight slightly off camber corner. I left road cycling alone altogether for a year but then I thought I would give a disc brake equipped bike a try. End of season sale 1500 off to bring a ultegra synapse with stupidly light carbon disc wheels down to 2400£ helped the decision.

Apart from the crappy pf30 the bikes been great, the disc brakes offer great modulation, run without rubbing or any other issues yet and give greater confidence and have bailed me out when I've had to stop within a shorter space in emergency.

However like most things there are also cons, the extra power and dependability can give a bit of false bravado to go a little faster than may have previously done or ride conditions that I would have previously avoided.

Today being a great example, a lot of rain overnight made me skip the usual mtb Friday ride and go for road ride instead. The local roads were plenty wet but not too many puddled etc. Buoyed by recently reading one of the britains best climb books I decided to head off and try and tick off a few local hills that I either haven't done for a long time or may have been in the wrong direction.

I dropped down a short very steep hill on a narrow lane down from newchurch to barley around Pendle hill. As I dropped in the steeper bit I was coming up behind a car so started to gradually slow down trying to keep a decent gap which I succeeded in doing by gently feathering the brakes. Then just as I was on the steepest most marble like section the car stopped as a car approached up the hill. The upcoming car stopped and they seemed to debate who should reverse to a passing point all the time I was getting closer and trying to scrub more speed without skidding.

The other car reversed but the problem car didn't follow, so I had no choice but to try and stop before I got to it, I broke as hard as dare but as soon as I did I just went into a long skid, if I stopped braking I was likely to hit the car somewhere around 25/30mph so I had no choice but hope for some grip, I aimed to get closer to the side of road incase I could find grip or the car pulled away leaving a gap. As I got closer I seemed to speed up after hitting some fallen leaves and the car wasn't moving so I had two choices; hit the car or aim for a bit of banking before a dry stone wall. I hit the banking flipped over the bars landed a couple of foot behind the car.

Now if I had rim brakes in the same situation I may not have slowed at all from further up the hill or as controlled and hit the car full tilt or just generally a faster crash. Difficult to tell.

However if the rim brake bike was my only option then I would have either gone on the mtb after all or opted for flatter route. I guess the moral if the story is they may be slightly better but weather and ground conditions matter more and not to let the disc factor lull you into a false sense of security.

On the plus side once I gave myself a minute sat on the deck to check for injuries after the adrenalin had started to subside, I expected to retrieve my bike piece by piece but it was absolutely fine. So the carbon frame, fork and carbon wheel which bore a full front on smash into banking at somewhere around at least 20mph survived intact barring a very slight buckle/flat spot to the wheel.

Sorry for the long story, just a practically live example.