Road Brakes – will calipers become obsolete

In mountain biking calipers are gone and forgotten, is this going to happen with road bikes?

Most manufactures offer a disc version and even the small individual companies are offering disc brake versions on their frames.

If you were buying a summer bike would you go disc, or would you only want disc on a winter or four season bike?

Probably, yes. But it will take a long time. I’d be more hesitant about axle spacing and other stds making disc parts hard to come by.

My next roadie for racing will be disc. No brainer for a year round non racer though. For racing lack of rim wear and reliable wet weather performance means that the slight weight penalty wouldn’t matter.

No, road bikes will always have rim brakes. In summer they are all you need and they are lighter and easier to maintain than disc brakes.

I know someone with a top of the range specialized road bike with hydraulic brakes. He doesn’t like using it incase they stop working and he doesn’t know how to fix them.

As a mountain biker, I will always buy a disc road bike and I’m sure roadies will always buy rim unless it’s a winter bike.

I would never buy any bike these days without proper hydraulic brakes, technology moves on!

I can’t believe that manufacturers are still flogging cable disc and hybrid-hydraulic disc on new bikes, fitting them to bikes with RRP  of £500-1000! 😮

Personally I think once all the pros are using discs then most roadies will switch – other than the purists.

Im not sure what I’ll do – I’m due a new summer bike but not 100% set on discs.

Unless you’re racing, there’s no reason not to have discs.

When the luddites at the UCI get over it, calipers are deader than corduroy .

Christ I hope not. Have yet to see what the fuss is about, have just ridden through the winter on two bikes with rim brakes, and somehow, miraculously survived.

The bike with disc brakes has been left to rot in the garage as I ran out of patience and money trying to figure out how to get the brakes to work as quietly as my rim brakes do. 4 sets of pads, 2 sets of rotors and a completely new set of brakes, to no avail. I’d swear they didn’t even work all that much better, rotors still get wet when it rains…

Of course.

1-2-3 in a very very wet strade bianche were using rim brakes (and the 3rd placed guy normally uses disc brakes) So it seems like skill trumps tech.

Probably, by the same logic mountain bikes only need v-brakes in the dry.

I doubt rim brakes will disappear, in the same way shimano have XT V-brakes in their range still, shimano will just keep cosmetically updating the finish to match new group sets. But that doesn’t mean any of the big brands will spec them on their best selling bikes.

In mountain biking calipers are gone and forgotten,

Are they? Plenty around with V-brakes and they work fine for those on a budget. I still ride one bike with them.

Road bikes? I think calipers will be around for a while yet, they work fine in all normal roads conditions, are lightweight and simple to fit and adjust  I reckon if road gear and brake levers were separate like on most MTBs they would have taken off a bit faster  and also road bikes are still very much looks driven – discs just don’t look as good

I’d still be happy riding and buying a road bike with calipers

I think if you could guarantee no punctures ever the pro teams would switch immediately shortly followed by whole bike business for most higher end bikes.

I think I read the other day that 80-odd percent of all new road bikes sales were disc. Says it all, really. No one wants rim brakes, and rightly so. You either have to a racer, someone on a serious budget, or maybe someone who does steady rides in Norfolk to buy a (new) rim brake bike these days.

I’ve no desire to go disc. Happy racing and training on calliper brakes. Couple of racing friends have just bought rim brake bikes for this season for north of £5k.

Just watched a red hook crit on you tube and they don’t even have brakes. Why add weight and complexity for slowing down when the object is to go as fast as possible.

Even if you are a racer in the UK British Cycling allow discs in races now.

Disks make wheel changes a faff, but I reckon that’ll get figured out, chamfered callipers and pads could be a solution.  And through axles are a vast improvement on QR’s in wheel changes.

Just watched a red hook crit on you tube and they don’t even have brakes. Why add weight and complexity for slowing down when the object is to go as fast as possible.

True, but that’s just one step removed from a track points race, its not even comparable to most normal crits which do laps of city center and usually involve a hill.

Just watched a red hook crit on you tube and they don’t even have brakes. Why add weight and complexity for slowing down when the object is to go as fast as possible.

Because in racing most bikes are under uci weight and they have to bulk them up.

In a flat out race if anything fails you are done for so comp,exity means nothing, in a big race you have a spare bike on hand all the way.

In the end it comes down to because….

No bikes don’t come under UCI minimum weight racing in the UK. If you are racing in the tour yes but not on British roads.

Having ridden both, I’d say yes in the main stream and for new bikes calipers will become obsolete.

There will always be some people riding someth8ng different I guess so completely obsolete is unlikely.

In the dry performance can be minimal, but feel and confidence can be improved and for many that will be enough for discs to be favoured IMO.

And through axles are a vast improvement on QR’s in wheel changes.

You will have to explain that one, IME changing a qr wheel is a lot simpler

Fair enough but light enough for most people then unless your convincing yourself 12g will help 😉

 IME changing a qr wheel is a lot simpler

Watch some world cup xc  battery drill 6mm Allen key bit and it’s all a bit f1

Never had a spare bike just in case in a race. What races are you doing mikewsmith? Your obviously in a different league to the rest of us.

Speaking to a fellow racer yesterday he’s assembling a nice new road bike with ETAP and calliper brakes, 5.1kgs. I’d rather have that than a disc braked road bike any day.

Think you’ll find calliper brakes will be around for a while yet.

* adds Makita to list of essentials for this years Alps trip*

Is this another one of those threads were people who dont ride on the road tell those who do whats good for them?

Couldn’t care less but if you have a nice service truck them your off again, if you don’t them I’m guessing fixing that puncture just buggered your race.

As for adding a drill to your packing list…point being watch a xc wc mechanic do a race wheel change it’s as fast if not faster than the tdf guys. If wheel change speeds are your concern in a race then that is covered. In the car park is 5s important to you putting the wheel in?

Now the tech has settled down what are the catastrophic failures that occur in disc brakes? How common are they?

Is this another one of those threads were people who dont ride on the road tell those who do whats good for them?

Very happy on my road bike on discs, perhaps it’s a case of people with zero experience of disc brakes being  a bit scared of the magic and change….

 Watch some world cup xc  battery drill 6mm Allen key bit and it’s all a bit f1

Assumes you have a service pit or close team car, try doing it between team mates at say P-R where your team car could be miles back and it changes to QR being much quicker. But also well drilled pros even in a normal change with a team car close by, will have the wheel removed from the bike before the mechanic arrives, you can’t really do that with bolt through.

Back to the OP for normal riders then discs will be standard for the majority very soon.

My next road bike will have discs. Seems to be loads of rim braked bikes for sale at present, looks like people trying to offload them whilst they are still worth something.

The sheer number of old fashioned caliper brakes out there likely means that spare calipers/mechanical levers/rim brake rims/etc will be available for a very long time, but then I think how quickly 26″ tyes seem to have vanished and I do wonder

Hi mikewsmith it’s a case of someone like you who has never competed in a road race in your life telling us we should be using disc brakes when you have no idea of what road racing in the uk is like. Suggest you go and watch or better still help out at a local road race then come back and advise.

Since they failed to replace cantilevers in cross at the pointy end of racing, why will they do so on the road? My mini-v cross bike provides all the braking I need, and in my last cross race in the snow were silent, unlike the continuously rubbing and squealing discs.

As for road racing, pros ride what they are paid to. Some of the cable runs on aero disc bikes look very nice, and that will sell. Having the words Dura Ace on a caliper across the front brake in a head on shot will also sell. There’s no performance gain here, unlike mtb.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/disqualified-oman-adam-blythe/amp/?espv=1

Recent wheelchange fiascos, including a DQ, will make riders somewhat reluctant, but they are paid to ride. In the amateur market, I’m not seeing a flood of disc brakes in the club or in races.

According to one road bike brand I’ve spoke to, if uci are happy and fully back discs then within 3 years the company will only produce disc brake bikes. There will be a lot of r&d into the disc brake designs which will make changing wheels quicker and more efficient, looking at the way the pads ping back.

it must frustrate manufacturers having to produce bikes in both brake types, never mind the local bike shops having to have both versions of the same model in stock

Disk brakes would be pretty low down my list of must haves on a road bike. I’ve never felt I was under braked even in the wet with calipers and I don’t ride enough to wear out rims.

They make sense off road for sure, however I did 20 miles today on the roadie and barely touched the brakes..whereas on the mtb I’m a serial brake dragger

At work we sponsor in a small way an amateur road team and The uptake of discs has been a surprise.

Personaly for casual use my nice bike will be Caliper but next years winter bike will be disc if I can

Jonba, second post, spot on.

It’s longevity and standards for me.

I genuinely reckon you’ll still be able to keep a QR, rim brake, old school roadie going for longer than any disc bike currently in production.

Yes, discs are better. Love my cable  BB7’s on my tourer, love the Hope hydraulics on my wife’s MTB and the older Shimano on mine.

But the MTB manufacturers are just itching for a new standard, flat mount MTB specific brakes next year?

And I’ll bet you a pair of unwashed jeans that there’s a newer, Flat Mount 2  road standard within two years.

Not for me. I really fancy a new road frame. It will have rim brakes, because I like to keep my bikes and it seems like that’s currently the best option in that respect.

I know someone with a top of the range specialized road bike with hydraulic brakes. He doesn’t like using it incase they stop working and he doesn’t know how to fix them.

Hope he never finds himself needing to use a car. Imagine if one of those stopped working and you couldn’t fix it.

I don’t think they are needed as such but still they become predominant in time?

Very likely would say. It’s just about how many years it will take.

A recent 40 mile ride round muddy lanes with puddles in the rain made me reconsider discs.  I was on Campag Record calipers and doing fine. My friend was on his new S-Works McLaren Roubaix with Dura Ace discs and the racket they were making was unbearable.  We used more water rinsing them than we drank. I’ve no idea how much that ride cost him in pads and rotors.

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mikewsmith

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IME changing a qr wheel is a lot simpler

Watch some world cup xc battery drill 6mm Allen key bit and it’s all a bit f1

Yeh, I’ll carry a cordless drill for next time I get a puncture in the rain out on a club run 🙂 I’m not anti discs on road bikes I’m anti getting reamed by manufacturers changing standards and making perfectly good kit obsolescent to boost their sales

I started (like a good few on here) riding mtb back in the mid ‘90s & have seen the progression of braking from canti through v to disc, each evolution being genuinely better in both power & ease of use as well as allowing development of bike & wheel design.

I’d been riding road bikes since the ‘80s though & the calliper brakes on my current road bike (Ultegra) are better, but not much. They don’t need to be, though. I’ve never felt the need for more braking power on the road. Yes, the lack of rim wear, extra clearance for wider tyres etc are very good things but in my experience the brakes on road bikes don’t need to me more powerful.

I wouldn’t avoid discs on a new build but I’m in no rush to change. The industry seems set on it though so I imagine in a few years 90% or more of new bikes available will be disc.

I fully understand that disc brakes perform better in wet conditions. That’s great. That’s progress.

I’m all for that. Yet I just built up a new steel frame that I plan to use for club rides, chain gangs and some very limited (!) racing with Dura Ace 9100 mechanical with callipers.

I just don’t care about the extra braking performance of discs – braking has never been an issue. More of an issue was a lack of training in my legs.

I also don’t believe that (now) the pro peleton will ever fully adopt discs. The penalties for wheel changes and f-ups on changes are too high. The manufacturers don’t care if the pros adopt them now – we’re in the 3rd year of them trying to get them to change and they have, what, one team sometimes using them? They don’t care about this anymore – as someone pointed out, most Freds are buying discs anyway.

What is more odd is the vehemence of those who run discs insisting that all road bikers must NOT run callipers, with a strangely religious zeal. As though they need to justify what they invested in.

For what it’s worth, in the saturday morning chain gang, we have one disc braked rider out of 8. We don’t give him a hard time. We love all equally 🙂 Even if they do squeal like a piggy.

I genuinely reckon you’ll still be able to keep a QR, rim brake, old school roadie going for longer than any disc bike currently in production.

This is an excellent point and I’m inclined to agree, though it may not really matter for most people who only want to keep a bike for three to five years before getting another.

To counter the oft-cited “but the bikes are under the UCI weight limit anyway” line, I’d say that’s irrelevant to the vast majority of us (when not arguing on the internet). What really matters to me is the total bike weight when I’m spending £2k on a new road bike. That’s not gonna be under the UCI limit with either rim or disc brakes, but it’ll be closer with rim brakes.

In response to “well they disappeared quick enough on MTBs”, do you remember using rim brakes on MTB? They were alright some of the time, when your wheels were running straight and the trails were dry – but they were crap for a significant proportion of the time. And they ate rims at a much faster rate than road brakes do.

I’ve used nice Shimano road disc brakes. They were great. I’d probably get them if buying a new winter bike. But I don’t think rim brakes are going anywhere for a while.