Is there anything out there? Steel (or perhaps) Ti? Custom build options?

Tia

There was an article in a roadie mag a couple of months ago and it featured a guy who appeared to have a Burls Ti road frame with discs, so maybe drop Burls a line.

Looked great, but the fact that I really wanted to know what it would cost probably precludes me from being able to afford one.

I’ll check burls out, thanks Swadey.

You’ll love having the sound of scuffing discs as you ride along. Why not just buy a road bike?

salsa vaya or on one pompetamine off the peg steel options.

I’m sure a builder (Dave Yates for instance) would happily take your money and build anything you want…

sound of scuffing discs

🙄

😆

The man wants discs. They may add weight but they’ll lighten your wallet. I like mine. Thanks for the contribution!

They only make scuffing noises if you don’t set them up properly. Hopefully the UCI will allow disc brakes for road bikes soon, and then I think we’ll see some massive leaps in power and weight.

I think we’ll see some massive leaps in power and weight.

…Great.

The advantages of discs are not about power, or weight.

The defining factor on roadbikes as far as braking is concerned is the tyre and its adhesion to the road. More powerful brakes just mean skids, not better braking. Weight is hardly an issue on bikes that are down to 14-15-16 lbs anyway.

Discs offer less rim wear, more consistency in the wet and, er, well that’s about it really.

Maybe for cx due to mud on the rims but why on a road bike?

Modern road brakes really are quite good.

They only make scuffing noises if you don’t set them up properly. Hopefully the UCI will allow disc brakes for road bikes soon, and then I think we’ll see some massive leaps in power and weight.

few issues, the UCI leaving the stone age!!!! not likely,
more power!!!! control in wet weather would be a pro, but more power no thanks.
less weight, maybe depends on how you integrate an ergo/double tap/sti/di2 and the brake lever.

Disc brakes on road bikes? completely unnecessary and as for weight, my brake calipers weigh 200g a pair, I don’t see disc brakes getting anywhere near that!

Modern road brakes really are quite good.

After a couple of seconds of braking in the wet the become… acceptable. I’d certainly rather discs on my road bike.

I think the other big argument for them is that the the rim would not have to be as strong and therefore weight can be reduced at the most important place – the outer diameter of the wheels. I wonder if they would make disc clinchers that rival current tub rims for rim brakes…

Disc brakes on road bikes? completely unnecessary

So are gears, so is lycra, so is carbon fiber…

Disk brakes are not about power. How long before that age old opinion dies?

You can lock your wheel up with a pair of crappy old canti’s, ho hum. Good brakes are about modulation. How much control does a brake give you….

Disk brakes give you many things. Modulation, lack of maintenance, your rims last more than a few months (if you ride offroad in the wet), they work in the wet, they work in sand, they just work.

Discs offer less rim wear, more consistency in the wet

= all I need.

If I want to save a few 100g I go for a poo.

Obviously i havent made my comment from a basis of having ridden a disc’d road bike most work days for the past 18 months so have no real opinion. However compared to my road bikes the brakes are consistently ok, nowhere near as good in the dry as Chorus brakes and a bit better in the wet (they’re shimano road discs).
I’ve used discs on mtbs since 1997 so it’s not like I’ve not adopted things reasonably quickly when they make sense it’s just that I don’t really see the point for discs on a road bike.

LBS just had a Kona Honky Inc in, steel frame with Avid BB7 discs. metro 70’s paint scheme with silver stem & post.
I’d have one, simply to annoy the haters.

aP FAIL and you too crikey, I’m disappointed.

Having ridden DECENT disc brakes on the road for 5+ years, I have experience that suggests you are both wrong.

I’m not sure there’s significant benefit for a bike that is ridden in the dry only, but it will be really interesting to see what mfrs come out with for cx bikes, you’d think cable calipers could get a lot lighter – look at how less metal there is on current spds vs. the original 737s.

I took v brakes off the roadrat commuter and put SLX discs on it. Big improvement for commuting – better control and power, work in wet and dry, maintenance free and don’t eat pads or rims. I think the key phrase here is ‘Sunday Best’. If I had the money/space for a Sunday Best roadbike then it’s going to be something wispy in silk and lace not M & S cotton. Sexy little roadie calipers are more Sunday Best than more practical machine washable disks.

Whenever I watch an alpine stage in the TDF, I can’t help thinking of the enormous heat build-up in the rims and tyres on some of those long descents.

I wouldn’t like to be riding one of them when the tyre popped, or the rim glue started to melt. No sirree.

How about a Jamis Bosanova?
Jamis Bosanova

now the UCI has let discs into CXing we should get some decent disc forks coming through, which is about time. Rim brakes are always going to be limited, even on the best setups.

I’ll definitely be going to discs when the kit becomes available.

Anyone who says that rim brakes are perfectly fine ‘cos you can lock the wheel up’ is clearly not thinking very hard. Good braking is about control and modulation and consistency and feel.

You’ll love having the sound of scuffing discs as you ride along. Why not just buy a road bike?

Ha! You’re just miffed cos I am right about tiny discs on road bikes, and Lance Armstrong (and many other top-level road racers) agree with me! 😀

It’s only a matter of time.

If you had your way, we’d all still be living in caves wearing fur pants and going ‘ug’.

Give it a couple of years and all high end road bikes will have smaller, lighter, more efficient discs.
Bet you that Shimano release a set this year.
Only problem I can see is heat dispersal on long descents, but a solution will be found.
Better materials, finned brake fluid coolers built into the bike etc.
Personally I reckon cable discs are great, but there will be much more profit to be made from ‘new’ technology.

And all the TdF wannabees on here will have them too, because the pro’s will be paid to use them. 😀

Ooh, can you imagine, cute little discs, and with all the carbonium in road racing, I’d imagine some nice streamlined callipers, maybe even special fairings built into the fork lovers.

Hope used to do a 140mm disc, din’t they? something like that, or maybe even smaller, would work on a lightweight road bike, no? So as for all the concerns over weight, surely road bike disc systems would be comparable in weight to a calliper system, within a very short time. Some MTB disc systems are lighter than some V-brakes.

Heard all the ‘oh but my calliper brakes can lock up a wheel easily’ arguments; it’s not just about that, it’s also how much force you can put through the levers. Braking is easier on my hybrid with v-brakes than my road bike with 105 callipers, cos I don’t have to squeeze as hard. Less tiring on the haynds. And if you’ve only got little dainty girly hands, then increased braking efficiency is a Godsend. I remember how my haynds would ache after long rides using cantilevers, then how much easier things became when v-brakes came along, and even easier when discs turned up.

So, discs are the way forward. Don’t fight progress, or why don’t you just go and live in Russia and only sing folk songs?

will they ever release hydraulic disc brakes for road bikes?i presume that you are all talking about cable disk brakes.would love to get a road bike with integrated hydraulic brake/gear levers.i just am comfortable with discs nowadays.

My money’s on Shimano to release them this year.
You don’t have to have the fluid reservoir in the levers, could be in the bars, stem or the headtube.
Electronic shifters free up a lot of space too…

i like disc brakes – a lot.

they’re brilliant for my mountain bikes, but i’m not convinced i need them on my road bikes…

(i’m sure i’d like them, but not sure i need them)

pedalling downhill in the drops gets me to 60ish kph, when i stop pedalling wind resistance slows me to 50ish, when i sit up onto the hoods wind resistance slows me to 40ish.

a quick tickle on the brakes and i’m down to 30ish, and i can get round most corners.

so, i don’t need better brakes – and as has been mentioned before, modern road brakes are scary enough anyway thankyou very much.

but i do like the idea of moving the braking surface away from my lovely rims, onto a small replaceable steel disc – it just seems a nicer way to do it.

Some good stuff here. I reckon 120 mm discs with dinky cncd calipers could look pretty dainty.
That Jamis looks OK, but it’s a bit on the chubby side even for me.
It’s interesting how the weather can change perceptions too. It’s a glorious day to day, and discs somehow seem less attractive. 😕