I think the big problem I have in very wet conditions is caused by the amount of water on the rims. Discs should help with that, since the pad pressure is higher, the disc is further from the water and it’s got lots of holes in it to clear water.

+1

“There’s a lot of truth in this – you simply don’t brake as often on a road bike, so more power/modulation etc isn’t a solution to any relevant problem…

My summer bike’s 4 years old, been ridden 50-100 miles most weeks from May-Sept in that time and still has original brake blocks…”

Oh that UK perspective again. In 10 seconds of riding out my door I’m doing 70kph and half the time it’s piss wet. I eat pads and get the dissolved pad material all over the shop. Rim brakes are junk and I totally agree with the OP. WTF is going on manufacturers???

That said I don’t want them without 10mm bolt thru axles and without electronic gearing crap or on a frame built for old farts with bad backs please.

IanW – you’ll go faster overall if you can brake later.

For the poster who reckons saving one second on a corner is nothing – most hills, esp in the alps have more than one corner. That second is now 20, and you’ve lost the ability to draft.

Rim brakes without brake tracks CAN be built lighter and more aero – marginal gains perhaps, but gains nonetheless, and that’s where the road bike industry is at the mo.

Oh, and the rim weight naysayers, ever swapped from a light climbing wheelset at 1000g and an aero at 1800g? If you can’t feel the difference on climbs or accelerating away from lights then you must be climbing or accelerating very slow!

JCL – storck had a fully bolt throughed disk road bike at eurobike, although you’ll have to accept the (really rather good) electronic gears…

If you can’t feel the difference on climbs or accelerating away from lights then you must be climbing or accelerating very slow!

Now there’s a man who really needs to learn about the flywheel effect. Things that are really easy to accelerate are really easy to decelerate so heavier wheels go faster for longer…

…and that minus 800 grammes you are accelerating is nothing at all in the total weight of ?100 or so kgs that you are also accelerating at the same time.

Physics; it doesn’t change for bicycles.

Flywheel – well yes, that’s why tt wheels tend to be deeper and consequentially heavier – tts tend to have less climbing and less sprinting. Why would pro tour riders have both super light climbing wheels for climbing days and deeper aero ones for flat stages and tt stages if the flywheel effect was so beneficial for climbing?

Oh, and I did that exact wheel swap today, there’s a difference

Oh, and I did that exact wheel swap today, there’s a difference

There’s a difference you can feel, for sure.

The actual performance benefit is a tiny and inconsequential one, yet is always implied by to be enormous. That’s why the riders who depend on acceleration the most; track sprinters, aren’t using the lightest wheels they can.

That’s what I said… There is a difference. Never quantified the difference, but FWIW IME it completely changes the feel of the bike. My commute has 50/50 city/dual carriage way. At the lights and up the short sharp hills, light wheels are more sprightly and accelerate better. Heavier aero wheels (both thanks to flywheel and aero effects) give me around an extra couple of kph on the flat dual carriage way sections (if my computer is to be believed) – they hold their speed better, but are more sluggish at the lights and on climbs. I’m off to the alps next week and I sure as he’ll won’t be taking the aero wheels I’m currently riding on !

Track riders also need to take aerodynamics and stiffness into account though.

JCL – storck had a fully bolt throughed disk road bike at eurobike, although you’ll have to accept the (really rather good) electronic gears…

Well that’s good to here. They’re definitely ahead of the game. There is a lovely 10mm fork by a US company too. can’t remember who.

I really don’t see the logic behind the complexity and fragility of electronic gearing and the hassle of batteries on such a durable machines as bikes. I appreciate they work well but the benefit to hassle ratio is the opposite of the caliper/disc brakes IMO. They also look horrid too.

Other than charging, they’re less hassle ime, as there’s no cables to adjust for indexing. Don’t even have to charge them that often either.
the new ultegra is a little more svelte, but yeah, aesthetically they’re not the best.