I don’t even like Cake or Coffee as it happens

are you human?

It’s urban commuting that kills rims IME. I never wore rims out (or pads particularly regularly) until I started riding through town regularly. I’m sure I could improve longevity by taking a degree of care of my winter/commuter bike too, but sod that.

are you human?

I’m sure he’s human but he’s definitely not a roadie 😀

I mean that entirely in jest and with a huge sense of irony mtbel. I’m not one for rules either and actually I think the Velomenati’s first rule – it’s all about the bike – is the only one that really counts. Just ride your bike. Be a ‘cyclist’ not a ‘roadie’ or a this or a that. It’s fine to identify with one branch of passion more than the other of course.

I’d opt for disc brakes if they came as standard on a new bike. Just for the wet weather thing.

I’m currently using some Mavic Kysrium SLS clinchers with dura ace 9000 brakes and the pads have small lumps of the rim brake surface embedded in them.
I’m sure most are familiar with the grinding sound conventional brakes makes on a wet alloy rim. It’s not an illusion, we really are grinding down that rim and so for me, replacing a brake disc is preferable to replacing the wheel/wheel rim, albeit that having to replace the wheel for brake wear is thankfully a very infrequent event in my experience.

It’s urban commuting that kills rims IME.

Yes I would agree with that and it would tally with what mtbel was saying without also contradicting other peoples’ experiences.

It’s urban commuting that kills rims IME

agreed. Kills nice roadbikes too.

As it was taken GeeTee 😉 I’m the first to admit I’m not really a “roadie”, don’t even see myself as a cyclist TBH.. I just love riding bikes and really don’t identify with any one branch in particular… I’m the one on 100mile clubrides with BMX spd shoes, no lid, gloves or gels. the DHer on flats with no 5:10s or garish colours and bald tyres, the XC rider in a cotton T-shirt and the ancient BMXer who’s still shit and can’t fit in skinny jeans. Cycling is too fashion driven and cliquey for me really and I’m just as happy riding a 25 year old beater as a 2015 superbike.

Oooooohhh… get you I don’t even like Cake or Coffee as it happens. I’ve already said elsewhere that I ride all year round but just to qualify for your badge of AWESOME that does indeed include all weathers, day and night.

Just so long as it’s anti-clockwise and you wash your bike immediately afterwards…

Sounds like fun. Not.

I was looking at a cheap (Lynskey) ti disc frame but I’d need new wheels (I like my Ultegras) and wheels are important aren’t they.

more fun than sand in yer chamois by the sounds of it, yes.

more fun than sand in yer chamois by the sounds of it, yes.

Is that what happens when you ride clockwise?

nippy wee thing ain’cha?

Debating the same as the OP.I’, planning a new roadbike for my 40th.
It now worryingly seems I may end up just getting the same frame as Hora.
FFS.. 🙄

nippy wee thing ain’cha?

I can even type English.

Just buy his 5 minute old one in a few weeks nick 😉

If you live in Sheffield or anywhere hilly you don’t have any choice about braking. I’d love to brake less to save my rims.

I’m not English

Just buy his 5 minute old one in a few weeks nick

Good plan Mick..

Oh, BTW, you still thinking of going back into comms?
Drivetesting is about £4-500 a day at the minute…

The wages are getting back to what they were.
Its pretty good out here at the mo.. 🙂

Yeah mate id love to i was gonna mail you other week as it happens but ive been off it. I could sure do with the wage rise 😉 any help/info appreciated mate

Well I must be an eejit ’cause I’ve not long replaced my CX frame and wheels and stayed with cantis (bike gets ridden in and around Sheffield and the Peaks, off-road too).

The way I see it is that you don’t need discs on a road bike, but if you want them you can, and yes they will be better.

But, do we need better? Modern caliper brakes already have good stopping power. But wait long enough and the industry will convince us that rim brakes don’t work and your road bike will be unstoppable without disc brakes …

Teetosugars I have good taste in cars, bikes and women so you’re in good company.

Rim brakes on my newest road bike. Rim on the bike I’m about to have built.

Never in my entire life have my rim brakes been wanting, and I simply hate the look of discs. So I hope and prey rim brakes will be around for years yet.

Satisfy my luddite brain.
Disc rims lighter?
If yes does that include the disc and hardware i.e the breaking surface now absent?
Radial spoking a no no with discs?
Overheating on Alpine descents sorted?

Just dreading the day when the incompetent racer at the local crit has even more sudden stopping power.
What will be will be, but I just hope ‘I’ can always get rim brake stuff.

pretty certain I’m the only rider on here that the industry didn’t convince of that with mountain bikes so you may well be onto something there theonlywayisup.

short, slack, ugly and top-heavy to you says good taste Hora?

Oh yes, bought a new CXer for the start of the 2014/15 season and went for canti’s.
Three of the four riders I know on discs have had issues, early days teething issues granted and not hydro.

Mtbel I own none of those so stop being an attention whore x

Love my discs on my winter bike, solid, dependable power all the time and the bike is way easier to clean without all the scummy shitty grime that builds up off rim brakes. I had ’em stinking the other day after a twisty steep descent in the dark which I thought was awesome and put a grin® on my face, rim brakes would have been slower. It’ll be intersting which way the peloton goes but this doesn’t/shouldn’t matter to 99% of riders, choose what looks the best, both are around to stay for the foreseeable and both do the job just slightly differently.

@oldgit, your questions and my probably not 100% correct thoughts …

Disc rims lighter?
I was going to say yes/probably. I recently built up some wheels using DT Swiss TK540 rims. I just checked and they have the same quoted weight for the disc and rim brake versions.

If yes does that include the disc and hardware i.e the breaking surface now absent?
The weight of discs, calipers, pads, levers, cables or hydraulic reservoir & hoses is greater than the kit needed for rim brakes, so definitely not lighter.

Radial spoking a no no with discs?
I don’t know for sure. I did have an MTB front wheel (Fulcrum) that was radially spoked on the drive side and 3-cross on the disc brake side. I guess that suggests discs and radial spokes are not ideal.

Overheating on Alpine descents sorted?
Probably, but in the past I’ve heard that excessive heat in a hydraulic system can heat up the brake fluid and detrimentally affect braking. Still an issue?

But, do we need better? Modern caliper brakes already have good stopping power.

Do we need better? Well better rim brakes have been around for ages in the form of v-brakes and would have been a relatively easy jump for road bikes to make, yet no one bothered.

Never in my entire life have my rim brakes been wanting

I’m much the same. Though if I spent some time on a road bike with discs I suspect my brain would be slowly re-calibrated and going back would likely find rim brakes wanting.

Well better rim brakes have been around for ages in the form of v-brakes and would have been a relatively easy jump for road bikes to make, yet no one bothered.

Actually they have:

Not too wide spread yet but they may end up being.

Nah, can’t see that happening. Although maybe with direct mount frames/forks.

Rim weights will be interesting. A really light tub rim is in the 220-230g range at the moment, can’t see they’ll go lighter than that. Deeper section rims, and clinchers, I reckon we’ll get lighter with discs, not convinced overall weight of wheels will come down though.

Not too wide spread yet but they may end up being.

Not really with the intention of better braking performance though!

Well I’ve just bought my 1st road bike and it has discs fitted. I wanted to future proof my purchase but the fiscs were only part of that, also wanted a di2 ready frame.
There are loads of different road bikes out there and brake type is only 1 of the factors to take into account when choosing which bike to go for.
Coming from a mountain bike background I’m used to disc brakes albiet hydraulic, It’s what I’m used to and didn’t want wheels that would need replaced due to rim wear, cheaper to rellace discs and pads than rims and blocks.

I believe discs on road bikes are the future but being the go to option a fair way off, but once more of the big players set their stalls out on discs and aftermarket upgrade options improve they’ll become the majority.

Not really with the intention of better braking performance though!

Well 3M didn’t create the Post It Note ouf of the intention to invent a glue that sort of stuck but didn’t quite. 😀

But no I grant you, the driving force behind those brakes is improved aerodynamics. It’s still a V-Brake though. Has a ‘noodle’ and everything.

Good road brakes are as good as Vs anyway. The reason MTBs used cantis and Vs was more to do with clearance than doing power.

Actually they have:

And Giant, on Propels.

I find it just a teeny bit interesting that a big name player like Giant go for discs big time, but just on the Defy’s, their endurance bike. Yet their flagship bike the TCR remains a rim job.
Discs are clearly a market driven thing, but the Giant move to disc up the Defy to me says there is a divide between riders and racers. Or maybe that’s me as I don’t want discs to come near race bikes.
I’m sure disc bike manufacturers will let us know how much better they are at just about everything, and the pros that openly say at the mo that they prefer rim brakes, will when they’re being paid to ride on discs say how they prefer those.

I find it just a teeny bit interesting that a big name player like Giant go for discs big time, but just on the Defy’s, their endurance bike. Yet their flagship bike the TCR remains a rim job.

Trek have done the same with the Domane, as have Specialized with the Roubaix. Guess it’s a nod to the sort of person they expect to want to go disc – sportive type rider, MAMIL, new golf fad type folk, not your racers.

Discs are clearly a market driven thing, but the Giant move to disc up the Defy to me says there is a divide between riders and racers.

There is but that might be also to do with the UCI not sanctioning disc brakes yet for use in competition.

I could be wrong about this but I think that if an amateur road race is held in the UK and sponsored by the BCF then the bike you compete on has to be UCI legal.

I was just trying to remember when I actually had to brake in a road race and apart from scrubbing a little speed here and there I can’t. Suggests for road racing at least weight and aero are drivers not brake performance.

Are Campagnolo working on a disc brake? I suspect those who prefer Campag over Shimano won’t go near discs until they’ve brought something to market, which is a fair chunk of riders

Weren’t Campag looking to work with Formula? Sure I read that somewhere.