Let’s imagine a situation…..

The UCI, for whatever counts as a “reason” in their book, mandated that any racing mountain bike would be 9mm QR only and could only use cantis. (We could get sillier and ban droppers and suspension, but bear with me).

So, in this world, to race a mountain bike, you would have to have antiquated, early 20th century technology, designed for road bikes. In this world, wouldn’t your ordinary, go out to ride and enjoy mountain bike choice say, “Sod the rules. I want discs and bolt throughs, dammit!”?

Now, imagine another world…..The UCI mandate the use of early 20th century technology, which has been far surpassed for decades in other cycling arenas, meaning that if you want to race, you have to have caliper brakes and spindly little QRs. In this world, wouldn’t your go out to ride and enjoy road bike say, “Sod the rules. I want better brakes, dammit!”? Oh, hold on, this one isn’t an imagined world. The UCI really have kept road racing brakes in the dark ages.

Has anyone ridden a disc braked road bike down a proper alpine descent

Can’t comment on hydraulics, but I’ve ridden Alpe d’Huez, Stelvio and various other passes with full camping kit in front and rear panniers, using BB7s, and had no problems.

3 bikes that not enough. You need at least one mtb. I am at 14 bikes.

Would you ride a mtb now with canti’s regularly. I have a canti equipped bike it does not get used much. Apply the same logic to road bikes. The axle standards that will stick are 5mm q/r and 15mm/142x 12.
It is possible that the rear spacing may grow in time but the 148mm boost is not exactly dominant for mtb yet.

Soon road bike for rim brakes will grow to 135mm rear spacing. Dt Swiss are expecting this to happen over the next year or so and it makes a lot of sense.

Id say it all comes down to how heavy you want it.nifnits a city slogger then yup discs are where it’s at, if it’s a thing of beauty then rims are where it’s at.

So many choices it seems too wide a scope for one thread on the subject, we need more threads on the disc/rim conundrum.

One per week should cover it.

That enigma looks lovely. Rim brakes have stood the test of time and work really, really well. Yes discs will probably become more prevalent but that will still be a lovely bikes and nice spares will be available for decades.

Has anyone ridden a disc braked road bike down a proper alpine descent

I’ve ridden a Defy with Shimano hydraulic discs down both sides of the Col du Glandon. Performance was exceptional. The noise was horrendous though.

That Enigma does look lovely, and spares will almost definitely be around for ages, but it’s occurred to me that with that frame having vertical drop outs and being steel, there’s probably nothing to stop you having a disc tab brazed onto the back at some point in the future, and and applicable disc brake cable guides too, and getting a replacement disc fork at a later date if you regret not going disc.

I’ve recently come across this, which has sparked ideas of buying a mid 90’s vertical drop out Italian steel frame in nice tubing, and having some forks like this made for it, and a disc tab brazed onto the back and mixing retro niceness with disc brakes.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3801/11844933676_e654a679e7_z.jpg

I rode a Defy with RS785s up and down Col du Galibier, Col de Jox Plane and my local col, Col du Pierre Carre this summer and the brakes were excellent. I’m used to riding those cols on rim brakes. The discs were more progressive and confidence inspiring, even if not necessarily more powerful. Then there’s wet weather performance, which is a good argument for disc brakes in its own right. Disc brakes on road bikes are here to stay. It’s like the whole 650b thing: whether we like it or not, it’s here to stay and will quickly become the norm. Personally, I think it’s a great idea.

Just to echo the above really. Discs are great for bad weather, however I am in a minority in that I like small discs on the bikes rather than caliper brakes.

Would I wait, probably not given that you are going for an enigma and the forks etc can always be upgraded later.

Can’t comment on hydraulics, but I’ve ridden Alpe d’Huez, Stelvio and various other passes with full camping kit in front and rear panniers, using BB7s, and had no problems.

I overcooked my BB7s with a light load in the hills of Italy this summer. 160mm rotors, may use 180mm F in future. Sometimes the roads are so steep and twisty you can’t get off the brakes long enough to prevent overheating. The more open, fast Alps decents are never an issue ime, just brake before the corners and the speed in between is no issue. I’d still take discs of some kind on pretty much any bike though. A town/commuter bike is about the only exception, rim brakes are fine there. Maybe a nice ‘classic’ roadie for summer use also. That doesn’t help the original point does it : )

I’ve got a Sabbath September ar1 which has the rs685 hydro brakes. Used it with bike packing kit for some long alpine descents, including mt ventoux, col de montgenevre and even the gravel descent from colle dell finestre. Absolutely fantastic, and quiet as a mouse.

I quite like discs on a 26 wheeled commuter bike, you can pick up speed away from lights and doofus drivers, and stop quickly too.

Going to get my alu Kona hardtail repaired and have it for commuting. 🙂

If going dream bike it’s a bit silly to be worried about having contemporary features, it’ll probably seem even more outdated in a few years than if you’d gone for something with a classic look that won’t date as much.

I’ve been on a hydro disc brake endurance road bike since November last year.

I’ve just bought a new bike and got a caliper brake road race bike. This will be my good weather and climbing bike.

Will get another hydro disc bike as soon as stock is available in 2 months. Best choice for foul weather and commuting.

The main thing I’d be concerned about if I was going for a once-in-a-lifetime bike right now, would be the axle/hub standards for discs, and spacing/chainline.

I would’ve thought that 12mm 100/135 would be where things will convererge. But who knows.