Bike Forums - View Single Post - Disc brake road bikes

03-24-14 | 05:13 PM

#96

Retro Grouch

Senior Member

Joined: Feb 2004

Posts: 30,225

Likes: 649

From: St Peters, Missouri

Bikes: Catrike 559 I own some others but they don't get ridden very much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro Grouch

One other MAJOR point has been completely left out - the coolness factor. Disc brakes have it. I don't know how to measure how much that counts in the purchase decision but, if you think that it's zero, you're wrong for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camilo

I think discs and the forks and stays needed to support them look horrible on a sleek road bike.

Just FWIW, I'd have to say FBNY's post reflects my attitude perfectly: Not needed for 99.9% of road bike users, rim wear and modulation being red herrings, power not an issue (braking power limited by contact patch, not brakes), BUT... there definitely are road bike users who can benefit from discs - more of the touring and utilitarian / all weather and urban transportation segments. But not for the vast majority of road bike users, including racers.

So there you are:

The people who think discs look cool will always find a reason to say they're better, the people who don't like them will find logical reasons to "dis the disc". Either way, it looks to me like the decision is being made mainly on the perceived coolness factor.

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