spdracr39

Cool or Uncool

dalava

Resistance is futile you will be assimilated

Cookiemonsta

Hmm, I am also interested in this.

I have heard a lot of reasons why they should not be on road-bikes, but since then technology has moved forward and components have become more advanced.

Right now it is probably seen as uncool, as anything else that deviates from the norm. But that would not stop me from using them if the functionality is there. Over time, it is inevitable that we will replace the current style of brakes similar to how it happened in other brands of cycling like on mountainbikes.

Aesthetically I think it is a trade off, it looks a little cleaner but I am not sure if I like the way brake discs look around the center of the wheel.

rms13

Specialized Bicycle Components

dalava

hot

RJM

uncool and not needed.


edited to add - and they are unsightly as all hell.

UnfilteredDregs

Cool, much more condition agnostic. Unless yer a pansie who shys away from the slightest inclement weather.

hairnet

cool

Lazyass

When pro team mechanics can change a disc wheel as fast as a rim brake wheel then maybe it will catch on. So maybe never.

merlinextraligh

I like the 622mm discs on my bike.

markjenn

Yeah, 10-sec wheel changes are a super important thing to the average bicycle rider.

- Mark

rms13

Don't pros have a pit bike?

merlinextraligh

I think the point is that the high end road bike market is heavily influenced by what the Pro's ride. So even though the speed of a wheel change doesn't matter to most of us, it will indirectly affect what's sold to us.

merlinextraligh

If disc brakes become UCI legal, and Pro teams start adpoting them, you may see more full bike switches as oppossed to wheel swaps.

However, it's a bit of a logistical problem to get 9 bikes on the team car, and access the one that is setup for a particular rider quickly, and a second flat is going to be a problem.

And what do you do when you have a rider in the break; team car 1 is with the break, but the rider's bike is on team car two with the pack.

Fair amount of expense and hassle. The benefit (or sponsor marketing opportunity) who need to be significant to offset.

grolby

Wheel changes within a team shouldn't be that problematic, as they can ensure that all the wheels and rotors are spaced identically. It will take a bit more work at the service course, but so be it. This would be further assisted by the adoption of thru-axles for road bikes, which give a more consistent and precise alignment. It's neutral service that would be difficult.

As for cool versus uncool, I don't think the coolness of a road bike has much relationship to the sort of brakes it has. There are definitely road bikes with discs that look dorky as hell (Volagi, I'm looking at you... and hairnet, nothing personal, but that Straggler ain't cool) and I've seen some that look awesome.

achoo

Depends on the ambient temperature, and whether or not you've recently braked.

rms13

Hard to look cool with 6 inches of spacers

achoo

Well, I'm not sure "so be it" is applicable. I'd bet that mechanics during stage races are pretty busy already. The extra workload of dealing with disk brakes makes it harder/more expensive for manufacturers to push disk brakes on a team. A large, well-supported team might very well have to add another mechanic for stage races, for example. If the disk-brake-pushing manufacturer won't pay for that, such a team would have a substantial incentive to use another manufacturer's equipment.

The only manufacturer I can see who'd even have a prayer of pulling off a "You must use our disk brakes" ultimatum to any pro team would be Shimano. And I don't see what the upside is for Shimano in such a move, while I can see the downside for them of teams moving to SRAM or even Campy.

If SRAM, Campy, or a frame or wheel manufacturer as a sponsor tried to force disk brakes on a team without providing substantial financial inducements, the team's response is likely to include several four-letter imperatives. (Does any team at the top pro levels even use SRAM or Campy any more?)

And that's assuming the logistical issues Merlin brought up can be solved (not likely....), or the design changes you mention to make alignment more precise are not only implemented but also consistent enough that wheel changes are actually feasible.

In short, for road racing teams I think disk brakes would be an expensive pain in the ass.

Lazyass

So what is your opinion on why disc brake road bikes aren't widely manufactured?

Jed19

+1.

It is the future of road cycling. I'm not particularly crazy about it, but that is b/cos I have seven pairs of non-disc road wheelsets.

achoo

Dunno what markjenn's opinion is, but to me they're a solution in search of a problem.

cderalow

I'm not sure why everyone says wheel swaps would be a pain. I swap back and forth between two sets without an issue. if the pads and rotors have similar amounts of use on them, it's a non-issue when they're setup properly.

I've got Avid BB5-R on my hybrid with two sets of disc capable wheels (default Alex ACE-17 and cheap china carbons). I swap back and forth depending on what I'm doing and I only had to adjust the brakes the very first time. since then I've never had to adjust.

i can also swap wheels in 20-30 seconds and most of that is spent spinning the quick release nut off because I'm too cheap to have two sets of skewers.

redlude97

Are you confident you could put your wheels onto a bike with Tekro calipers in 20-30 seconds? Do you know if the same disk size is used?

cderalow

It had crappy tektro novela's on it before the BB5's. I'll agree... those were a bit more difficult to work with.

I use the same size rotors front & back and on both sets.

grolby

Yes, this is why I specified there would be more work "at the service course." That is, teams will prepare their wheels well in advance of the actual stage race. How this then becomes hugely more work during races is unclear to me. Wheel spacing need not be an issue as the race goes on. The question is whether disc brakes (it's spelled disc, not disk) are more work in general than rim brakes. I don't know whether they are or not. They certainly will require some new training.