Originally Posted by
grizzly59
Rim brakes are brick simple, most issues can be fixed by the rider on the fly good enough to finish the race with minimal time loss. Issues with disk brakes / rotors that would cause any extra unwanted friction (rubbing) may not be so simple in the context of professional racing. How important is braking to a professional rider?
I take it you haven't used discs?
Rubbing with discs is almost always a non-issue with regard to sapping energy - kissing a high spot on a rotor makes an annoying noise, but it's nothing like a rubber brake pad dragging on a rim. You need to forcefully sandwich a rotor to brake - compared to rim brakes, there's less friction between the rotor/pad and there's rotor deflection if the pressure is only coming from one side.
And yeah - who needs brakes? They only slow you down, amiright?