italianthread

I'm considering buying a Redline road bike with dual disc brakes. There's a particularly twisty & gnarly (poorly paved) mountain road nearby I climb daily. Descending the long 8% grade is too fast & jarring; I'm guessing disc brakes will give me the Cadillac power brake effect. Anybody use discs? Do they provide one-finger power braking? I do my own maintenance & I've read bicycle discs warp & eat pads. That's OK as long as I can get tools & parts.
Jim

mx_599

excellent! its the only way i'll go when i get a road bike someday. i pretty much hate rim brakes with a passion and will do anything to avoid them.

HiYoSilver

Don't want to return to rim brakes. Avid disc brakes work very well. One finger, I don't know probably with the hydrallic brakes, I have the mechanical and it still doesn't take a lot of pressure to stop. Warp? not yet. Pads, probably may have to replace mine sometime this year. I've ridden a 16 months with no problems. When it warms up, I plan to carefully check out my pads as I am just starting to notice a strange sound on front disc. Once the brakes burn in, squeaking is not a problem. Besides stopping power you don't have to work about feathering the brakes and overheating your tubes and having a fun popping sound.

BTW, check out new bicycling mag, there are a ton of new bikes with disc brakes for a nice change.

msheron

I figured it was a matter of time before road bikes would gain this feature. I just don't know myself. I guess I am a traditionalist. I will say this, I had a mtn. bike with them on it and they worked fine. The only problem was when they got wet, they would squeal like a pig in a deliverance movie when applied! The traditional brakes on road bikes do not or at least mine don't.

GuitarWizard

How much heavier are they than caliper-style brakes?

BrianJ1888

I've got so-called fitness bike with mechanical discs. They stop great, but are a PITA to adjust, but that's mostly a brand thing (Hayes). Beyond that, they're nice in traffic and downhill. I go town a steep 30+ mph hill in traffic with a short light at the bottom. Braking to sop for the light is never a problem, even in the pouring rain this morning.

Erzulis Boat 

Disc for road? Tough call.
With recreational riding, a disc setup would be nice, but for racing, it still might be a while.
Rapid wheel changes might suffer, compatability with caliper to disc diameter and spacing would put the Mavic wheel support guys out of a job, and rim brakes are super simple and they work. Try some new Campagnolo Record or Dura-Ace brakes, and any smack about rim brakes being totally inferior will vanish very quickly.
Not to mention wheel dish, as it stands 10 speed setups are pushing the limits of a 130 or a 135 spaced rear end.
Mountain bikes, disc all the way, no question, but road?
I will not fight it if it comes to pass (disc for road becoming the norm), but I will not encourage it either.
I say, if the bike has a 135 rear, the intended use is cross, or hardcore inclement weather riding, or radical hill bombs, go for it.

All I can say is this, if discs for road get hot, and Campagnolo makes a set, they had better see it through, and not pull some Bio-Pace on our asses.

Matt Gaunt

Discs for the road are just unnecessary I think. Caliper brakes do the job very well for me, and I couldn't justify the extra weight or the spoiling of the lines of a thoroughbred racing bike. I'll always use calipers, even if marketing pushes the rest of the field onto discs. They just don't sit right with me for road racing bikes.