that bikerumour article is a joke and should be pulled IMO, gives bike journos a bad name.
The problem is that it’s very easy to scoff at him and say “what an idiot, not knowing how to brake” – but is everyone who buys a road bike going to get a free lesson on how to use the brakes? He admits there are issues with the choice of equipment, but we can’t expect everyone to know how to use their new ‘far superior’ brakes.
People drag the brakes. They have always been able to do this with cable brakes. They will expect hydro dicss to be far better (just look at half the opinions on here), and will not expect to need to change their technique. L’etape will be utter carnage!
I can’t see rims getting much lighter. the need for a braking surface on a tub rim is fairly arbitrary seeing as they’re basically a square profile anyway. Clinchers are heavy because you need to reinforce the bead for the tyres a fair bit. This doesn’t change because you take out the need for a braking surface.