Road Upgrade.. Lateral? Or disc?

[Jewbacca]

Exactly!

 

but the wear issues I'm seeing is with a few lightweights. Sub 70kg but fairly quick (3hr Argusts)

They obviously brake badly....  .

 

I am 75kg and don't get through lots of pads. I actually used 1 set of brake pads for the whole of 2015 averaging 250km a week.

 

 

Is that not the point, most people will never need the braking of discs? 

 

So when choosing a road bike, disc or rim does not make an actual difference. Just one is heavier than the other and one looks nicer than the other.

hahahahaha your humour made me giggle...

 

But the option exists and taste/preference comes into play. I like the look of disc brakes. I also like how they feel and the predictability they give me.

 

But ja, I'm a firm believer that the best bike is the one that makes you want to ride it. as long as it's reliable. For exactly this reason. 

 

We simply just don't use the kit well/hard enough for it to really matter

[Pure Savage]

They obviously brake badly....  .

 

I am 75kg and don't get through lots of pads. I actually used 1 set of brake pads for the whole of 2015 averaging 250km a week.

 

 

hahahahaha your humour made me giggle...

 

But the option exists and taste/preference comes into play. I like the look of disc brakes. I also like how they feel and the predictability they give me.

 

But ja, I'm a firm believer that the best bike is the one that makes you want to ride it. as long as it's reliable. For exactly this reason. 

 

We simply just don't use the kit well/hard enough for it to really matter

We wont comment on non WT riders using power meters then... 

[splat]

Yes I read that this morning. Surprised its taken so long. These guys are going 80-100km/hr downhill. Bicycle disc brakes are designed around converting kinetic energy to heat but based on MTB technology.

Considering that velocity is the main driver in kinetic energy (hence its name), by travellng twice as fast they have to absorb 4x the energy!!

Yet they are mounted to flimsy mounts, use a smaller caliper than a MTB and often use smaller rotors than an Mtb. Roadies also brake longer than Mtb riders do.

The bike industry has taken a tool designed for mtbs and pasted onto road bikes and expect the masses to buy them because "better longer lower slacker faster".

 

What i've picked up about road discs is that the pads require much more frequent replacement than for an MTB.

The brake fluid needs more frequent replacement because its being oxidised by greater heat build up.

this = more maintenance. Maybe for guys just out riding their bikes disc are ok because at least they have consistent braking. For peeps riding at higher speeds, riding the descents at greater speed, maybe not so good. I'm betting we'll see a lot more brake failures till the industry goes back to the drawing board 

 

All valid points, but those European mountain descents caused many blown tubes, burnt pads or delaminated rims on caliper brake bikes.

Granted, it was carbon rims that caused much of that drama...

[Jewbacca]

We wont comment on non WT riders using power meters then... 

ja, look.... Don't get me started on the gizmos and gadgets people 'need' to be 100% bog average at cycling

[Myth]

TLDR...I only read the crux of it, not everything, so if I duplicate anything, sorry...

 

My two cents though, is that the biggest cycling mistake I ever made, and still regret, was to sell my Ritchey steel frame rim brake road bike a few years ago and getting a carbon aero disc brake road bike.  Sure, I whacked more than 15 mins of my best 94.7 time using the aero bike (albeit not only due to the bike, but also increase in fitness)...yet it never gets ridden as its uncomfortable to me.  And believe me, its crap if a bike just stands around as then the wife's n-1 argument gets fueled and soon a bike is gone.

[The Ouzo]

hahahaha A Series of fortunate events!

 

Yeah... I've had other bikes, but gone back to my steel disc bike. BUT that Roubaix looks like it has my name on it, is in my size and will match my mountain bike...... Now to find some money

 

It started with a few races where I commented to the wife that I did well and was sticking it to guys with machinery that cost 10 - 20 times more than mine.

 

Then one afternoon when leaving the neighborhood i saw a garden executive on a bike that looked just like mine, I turned around and followed him to make sure it wasnt mine, the wife sitting next to me very confused as to why I'm staring at a commuters bike. When I told her its the same bike I have she then commented that maybe its time for me to upgrade.

I dont need to be told twice.

[eddy]

 

 

So when choosing a road bike, disc or rim does not make an actual difference. Just one is heavier than the other and one looks nicer than the other.

 

 

Perhaps the answer is that moving from Rim brakes to  Disk brakes is not an upgrade but a change to a different technology that has advantages and disadvantages.

 

The upgrade is in choosing a better frame, a better groupset or a better set of wheels. 

 

Unless you are riding in the wet, good disks don't stop you faster than good rim brakes. I have done the tests with DA disks and SR rim brakes. Stopping differences are indistinguishable and for practical purposes identical.

[Patchelicious]

ja, look.... Don't get me started on the gizmos and gadgets people 'need' to be 100% bog average at cycling

Need and Want are two different things.

 

None of us are riding "need" only bikes. We all have stuff that we want.

 

The best bike?..... is the one that you WANT to ride.

[Duane_Bosch]

Stopping differences are indistinguishable and for practical purposes identical.

The limiting factor has always been the traction of the tire. Putting hydraulic disks on a bike isn't suddenly going to give more traction. Especially in the wet.

 

Unfortunately it seems that the days of the rim brake bike have gone.

 

I get that things move on. But are disks going to make me a faster rider? I doubt it. 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Duane_Bosch

[TNT1]

Perhaps the answer is that moving from Rim brakes to  Disk brakes is not an upgrade but a change to a different technology that has advantages and disadvantages.

 

The upgrade is in choosing a better frame, a better groupset or a better set of wheels. 

 

Unless you are riding in the wet, good disks don't stop you faster than good rim brakes. I have done the tests with DA disks and SR rim brakes. Stopping differences are indistinguishable and for practical purposes identical.

I agree.

 

You don't see any of the accidents happening in the pro tour (or in local races I guess) being blamed on different stopping distances or power of rim and disc brakes.

 

I general riding, they stop about the same. I would think that even if they stop differently in controlled or lab conditions, the human in control of them in the real world learns to accommodate the shortcomings, eg, learning how to stop in the wet with rim brakes.

[eddy]

ja, look.... Don't get me started on the gizmos and gadgets people 'need' to be 100% bog average at cycling

 

 

Ja, but some of us need the gizmos to be merely 78% bog average.

[Patchelicious]

The limiting factor has always been the traction of the tire. Putting hydraulic disks on a bike isn't suddenly going to give more traction. Especially in the wet.

 

Unfortunately it seems that the days of the rim brake bike have gone.

 

I get that things move on. But are disks going to make me a faster rider? I doubt it. 

Yes and no, modulation make a difference.

 

We can argue that drum brakes can lock car tires too, but discs stop the cars better.

[DieselnDust]

All valid points, but those European mountain descents caused many blown tubes, burnt pads or delaminated rims on caliper brake bikes.

Granted, it was carbon rims that caused much of that drama...

 

Yes we won't get into the spectrum of failures being confined to some very very expensive German brands and lots of cheap cheap Chinese brands. Not a lot of the rim failures within the pro peloton either.

Someone also told they will never use latex tubes because they just explode., yet every mid to high quality tubby uses a latex tube.

 

90% of us don't need carbon rims either. They don't offer performance improvement over alloy rims for the bulk of cyclists out there. They look totally pro though and that's the appeal.

Discs are probably safer for the bulk of riders living near the Alps or who ride regularly in the UK or other very rainy climates.

 

For us SAFFAS, just get the best bike you can afford and leave some change for pro team kit to look the part,

[Bub Marley]

To be quite honest, I think the reason manufacturers are pushing discs are because of Carbon wheels. An aluminum brake surface has stood the test of time and for me is equal to a disc except maybe in wet weather where discs really shine. I use Carbon wheels and even though I’m fine with it, there’s no doubt that they are worse than the two I’ve just mentioned. Plus you have the added risk of a blowout. Also they’re useless in wet weather.

 

Ideally you’d have a Carbon wheel with alloy break surface. It’d probably still be lighter than disks and will be cheaper, frame and wheels. I just wish they would put some coating on the brakes surface to prevent it going silver which makes it look not nice. 

[Patchelicious]

I was in Italy for business and went to Caldonazzo to see a chap called Dario Pegoretti. Unfortunately he died before building my frame. I think he knew a bit about bikes so let me give you his view on the question.

 

He said that builders have had a century to learn about tuning the ride of a rim-brake frame; that moving the braking force away from the top of the fork and rear triangle to the bottom, and asymmetrically at that means you have to beef up the fork and frame and that has a negative effect on compliance and accordingly  comfort.

 

Therefore if you want a stiff, well tuned, comfortable ride, stay with rim brakes unless the bulk of your riding is in on long descents in the rain in which case disks have their place.

Is that the frame you told me about many moons ago?

[TNT1]

WTF?

 

First we had rim vs disc, now someone wants lateral discs. WTF are those anyway?