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I'm still not convinced by disc brakes despite having 2 bikes with them (1 cable, 1 hydro) and I hate the way they often drag/rub after use. Calipers are much better from this point of view as they sit further away in the first place, and can be adjusted on the fly if need be.
It's been pointed out plenty of times on numerous threads on here that rim brakes work just fine on road bikes
You can point it out as many times as you like but that still doesn't make it true unless your definition of just fine is different to mine .
Can't help it if you have shit brakes. Or are shit at setting them up.
I saw an actual pic of a custom made one too, but can't remember where :-/
should see the ones we are making at the momentt with the air ducts to keep the disc cool F1 style ....i kid you not , and this is no tiny amateur team
Is this still going on?
Talk about denial.
I was slightly surprised to find my disc front wheel really catching in a cross wind the other day
I'm very surprised at that. I've been commuting year round, all weather (including gale force winds) on a disc equipped road bike for 13 years now, and I've never noticed the front wheel catching the wind.
I was slightly surprised to find my disc front wheel really catching in a cross wind the other day
I'd be surprised if this was anything to do with it having a brake rotor on it. It's usually the wind catching the rim and turning the front wheel. Wind pushing the disc would be a tiny amount of turning force compared to hitting the rim.
I have no issue with anyone buying a disc bike but why do they get so bothered by others not wanting or needing them?
I agree with you though, I think the disc brakes on road bikes is a no-brainer for the general public and the acceptance of them is now widespread enough to ignore the relatively few people who actually do proper road/circuit racing.
I wonder if it'll continue to stick when the general public realise they now have to bleed bits of their, previously simple, road bikes? Welcome to the world of wondering bite points, sticky pistons and joyful bleed procedures
Of course, LBS' will be lap up the extra jobs through the workshop
I wonder if it'll continue to stick when the general public realise they now have to bleed bits of their, previously simple, road bikes? Welcome to the world of wondering bite points, sticky pistons and joyful bleed procedures
I suspect those people would take their bikes to the LBS when brakes or gears need adjusting too, so likely no change!
wilburt - MemberI have no issue with anyone buying a disc bike but why do they get so bothered by others not wanting or needing them?
because the arguments are often not 'I do/dont need disc' but '[u]you[/u] do/dont need discs ...because [u]I[/u] manage fine'
To weigh in with my two pennies worth....
I can see why if you race, then you would not like them, more for the extra weight or aerodynamics than any injury risk. if i was a racer or climbing an Alp everyday in the sun, then i'd feel differently.
But for me, an average Joe, i bloody love them... i remember doing the Tour de Yorkshire sportive last year, coming down a 15% or thereabouts hill, absolutely chucking it down with rain and the road was basically a river, a 101kg me, braked in time and made the left turn at the bottom, i watched numerous lighter riders than me struggle to modulate their speed down, let alone stop including a poor guy who went straight over the junction and through the windscreen of a Transit.
Plus i have lost count of the number of times on commute home where the usual suspect BMW/taxi driver/ bus/ school run mum (take yer pick) has pulled out from a side road or across my path and i know whatever the weather i can stop, quickly, even with a heavy rucksack or bikepacking gear on, i couldn't do that on my previous road bike which had Ultegra well set up calliper brakes, they weren't bad, my hydraulic RS685 are just better and in all weathers..
As per my point earlier- I don't commute and rarely ride in the rain, for me the bike is a fun fitness, sports device.
Its like telling a downhill mtb'er they should be using panniers because you find them brilliant.
wilburt - Member
What next all BMX should have panniers because you think their the best way of carrying luggage?POSTED 4 MONTHS AGO # REPORT-POST
wilburt - Member
As per my point earlier- I don't commute and rarely ride in the rain, for me the bike is a fun fitness, sports device.Its like telling a downhill mtb'er they should be using panniers because you find them brilliant.
POSTED 21 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Well at least you are consistent with your arguments but as analogies go those are pretty poor . You can still have a fun fitness sports bike with disc brakes , panniers on the other hand would ruin the performance of downhill or BMX bikes with no benefit whatsoever .
wow, my arguments have no chance in face of obsession!
ride on fella's.
Is it OK for me to want disc brakes on one of my road bikes but not on the other?
I feel like I'm sitting on the fence here.
Is it OK for me to want disc brakes on one of my road bikes but not on the other?I feel like I'm sitting on the fence here.
I certainly hope that's OK, cos that's what I want too.
I wonder if it'll continue to stick when the general public realise they now have to bleed bits of their, previously simple, road bikes?
You have to bleed disc brakes? I have never ever had to do it on my mtb, why is a road bike different?
Last year I was all for my next road bike being disc. However this last summer I went to the Pyrenees and had rim brakes and didn't die. In fact I was glad of the lower weight.
So for now, my next road bike will be rim brakes.
You have to bleed disc brakes? I have never ever had to do it on my mtb, why is a road bike different?
You realise most of us have had to bleed disc brakes, numerous times?
I've never had to bleed a set of caliper brakes.
In fact I've barely touched my Ultegras in two years and they are still on the same set of pads.
I have bike's I race with rim brakes, a winter/ commuter bike with trp spyres and a pimp ass Sunday training bike with hydro disc brakes because I lucky and can. I certainly wouldn't go back to rim brakes on the winter bike, but I don't have any desperate desire to upgrade it to hydro's. I don't have an issue with rim brakes and like the performance of the hydro's, and probably feel overall these offer the best performance across a range of conditions. I won't have any issues letting rim brakes go when I can race on hydro's but equally I don't have any great desire for this to happen. I can't really get much more excited about the issue.
FunkyDunc - MemberYou have to bleed disc brakes? I have never ever had to do it on my mtb, why is a road bike different?
Assuming that you actually ride your bike, what brakes are these that never need bleeding?
legend - Member
Assuming that you actually ride your bike, what brakes are these that never need bleeding?
If your brake hoses have no leaks, why would they need bleeding? In over 15 years of running discs on multiple bikes, I've only ever needed to bleed them when I've trimmed hoses.
With all the p*ss-taking above, i have been genuinely surprised that only after a year and a half and nearly 8000 miles, the Shimano RS685 brakes on my Roubaix have needed bleeding this week, much less upkeep than any hydro brake on MTB.
bensales, ever owned a pair of Avid brakes? ๐
It's unfortunate the way this topic always degenerates into those that only wish to ride in good condition for sport - who generally view rimbrakes as acceptable vs anyone with a different opinion.
The genie is well and truly out of the box. Most ranges now are reasonably populated with disc bikes, there are sufficient disc groups developed now that the technology is unlikely to be dropped anytime soon; and for most real world users they genuinely are a better day to day solution.
I really don't see the problem. Top level sporting equipment being 'different' is not new. If top level racing wants to mandate rim brakes then fine. It's not like anything new needs developing.
Where it becomes contentious is clubman level where people might want to race on their daily ride. These are the people really affected here as they need to compromise on safety for day to day to make possible peloton pileups safer.
[quote=vincienup ]It's unfortunate the way this topic always degenerates into those that only wish to ride in good condition for sport - who generally view rimbrakes as acceptable vs anyone with a different opinion.
Well no, you're misunderstanding the arguments being made. For example up there the suggestion was made that for joe public on a nice road bike discs are a no brainer. Well joe public only rides his bike in good conditions for fun/sport, in which circumstances rim brakes are just fine.
for most real world users they genuinely are a better day to day solution.
aha, and there you go generalising from your usage. For most users day to day riding there is a negligible performance advantage to discs. I certainly can't remember the last time I had a problem with the rim brakes on my bike and I probably do exactly the sort of riding the average road bike rider does.
I'm not sure anybody has said on this thread that discs don't have advantages in some conditions - I certainly accept that for some riders there is an advantage, and if I was getting a new utility bike I'd probably consider them. On the contrary it appears to be the disc brake fans getting upset that not everybody wants them and that there are some events where you can't use them.
Last month I did LEJOG with 8 other people . I was riding a Trek Domane with hydraulic disc brakes and everybody else was on rim brakes . On day 2 we came down a pretty fast descent , round a corner and there was a halt sign at a junction about 10 yards away . I stopped fairly comfortably before the junction but the person in front of me shot half way across the road . Now I may of had faster reactions or there may well be some other factors at play there and we were both going too fast for that road I will admit and I know that this doesn't prove anything . On one of the days in Scotland it rained all day and I was the only person in the group who could consistently stop well and quite a few of the others had no braking at all at certain points in the day . At a cafe stop I sat drinking my drink while everybody else was trying to degrease their rims as they thought something had got onto them from the road surface . Anecdotal evidence I know counts for nothing and I know plenty of people who ride with rim brakes and don't crash . Plenty of them can also descend faster than me . So there it , each to their own I guess .
and i have taken the mtb out on the road in the winter and got diesel i guess all over the discs and screwed the pads so i had no brakes. Works all ways. If you want discs feel free, if you don't so what. Ride the bike and stop worrying about the kit.
legend - MemberAssuming that you actually ride your bike, what brakes are these that never need bleeding?
TBH if your brakes need bleeding often, they're either faulty or you can't bleed brakes. (mostly it's because people leave air in the reservoir but I won't assume...) Last time I had to do one of mine except for a hose change or other maintenance/repair was 2009...
Rounded rotors to the rescue apparently!
+1 for the "why do you need to bleed brakes" themes.
I've always found anything cable related much harder work. I'm probably incompetent, but that makes hydro discs a much more welcoming prospect for me. Though I probably have crap rip brakes too.
ive been pretty vocal on this earlier on in this thread for the against camp. For no other reason than the picture in my head of a road bike doesn't have disk brakes. So the real world bike I ride that I like to think represents the image reflects this.
I did however on a very soggy strines loop a few months ago wonder if disks would stop that grey grinding paste on the rims, sidewall, chain stays etc. Now that would be a bonus.
Then last Saturday we did another loop of the strines but this time on my Propel Pro 0 with carbon rims and guess what...... No caked on black gunky sheet.
My theory, it wazzed it down ALL day...... The descents were as wet as anything I've ridden and as steep as anything I'm probably going to ride so it confirms two things "to me" I made the right bike choice and I still don't need disks.
That's just me though, others may disagree and claim I do need disks. But I don't.
First UCi win on a disc braked road bike
[url= http://www.velonews.com/2017/01/news/tech-milestone-boonen-wins-first-race-with-disc-brake-bike_429063#r1fBeQRcYA2O3vq1.01 ]Boonen wins first race with disc brake bike [/url]
I get this.
Loads of riders, many with zero group riding skills, piling down long descents at speed - the last thing you need is somebody in front of you with no consideration for other riders, stopping way more abruptly than you can.
Based on his gushing Instagram post, it seems Boonen was [s]pleased with both the win and the bike[/s] very aware of what his sponsors want to see.
FTFT ๐
Interesting debate. To me the benefits of hydraulic discs are that they don't wear out your rims (them wheels can be mighty pricey), are less likely to be effected by gunk/water on rims hampering braking performance and can't be impacted by cable stretch. On the flip side they're a bit heavier.
Interesting (given what some have said on this thread) that Boonen sees fit to say "It gives you better control of the bike braking into corners" which I'll take from a pro..
Hopefully this will go some way towards them becoming race legal so when I eventually replace my roadie I can get some!
"It gives you better control of the bike braking into corners" which I'll take from a pro..
Pro's are used to using carbon rims all the time which are notorious for giving poor control. May be singing a different tune if they were using alloy like 99% of non-racing riders.

