There's a reason why all cars now have disc brakes - they're the most reliable brakes in all conditions. I just switched to disc from rim a month ago and I was flabbergasted at the braking power when wet. To me that's their greatest advantage over rim brakes, although the other arguments are fairly convincing too (no need to destroy your rims).

----For Cars.

And in fact, the reason for the switch to discs was stopping power due to swept area, not due to all-weather performance. Discs were first used on racing cars because cars were going faster and faster, and couldn't make full use of the speed because they needed to slow for the corners. All-weather performance was not a consideration.

And for generally discs work great on bikes. I don't find stopping distances to be amazingly better in the wet ... just more immediate. Still, they are better for most general uses.

Again, the issue is not general use, but the safety factors involved with using discs in a pro peloton.

Cars weigh 3,000 to 6,000 lbs. Extremely heavy bicycles weigh 55 lbs. Do you notice the difference?

I have never destroyed a pair of rims with rim brakes, ever.

Again, you can be "flabbergasted" all you want. But when you compare the difference between rim brakes with alu rims and hydraulics, there is a difference, but it's not a night and day difference. You can compensate by braking a little earlier, which is obviously what most sensible people do.

This is what's so sad about disc proponents: a lack of facts paired with hyperbole and fear mongering: "flabbergasted" and "destroyed."

The typical cyclist rides anywhere from 8-16 mph. An athletic cyclist can average 15 mph or a bit better. An elite cyclist can average 18+ mph riding solo. TDF riders average 23-27 mph. They top out at maybe 60 mph.

Compare this to NASCAR, with speeds regularly topping 200 mph.

These are different applications.

The cost of replacing rims is far less expensive than replacing the entire bicycle, which is what you'll have to do if you want to "upgrade" to hydraulics when you have a frame and fork equipped with rim brake bosses. Road bikes with hydraulics start at around $2K to 2.5K.

Hell yeah, I'm totally l33t!!!

You will definitely need discs then to stop you when you are riding 18+ mph. Anything less would be.....











CATASTROPHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol, I just bought new wheels last spring, I'm kind of locked into the rim braking thing for awhile. I will avoid all descents.

Does it matter? They have different bikes for mountainous stages and TTs now? Different Bars, Different Saddles, different Brake levers and different wheels. So they could use disks for downhill mountainous stages and rim brakes for TTs without missing a beat.

Isn't the real point whether or not the disks work better? Is it a safety issue and if so how did they get passed the original three month test last year and the first quarter of this year? Now they are planning to reinstate them in June? UCI to reinstate disc brake trial in the professional road peloton in June | Cyclingnews.com

The question I would ask is how many of us have tried road disks and do we feel they are unsafe? If they are not unsafe and if they can make the weight requirements what is the real objection to using them as long as they are not mandatory? The other question is did the one accident that caused the suspension include an injury from a disk? There has been some questions based on the riders injury and his opposition to disk brakes in the first place.

I don't have a dog in this fight because I don't race UCI events. But having disks on my MTB, Car and Motorcycle I am skeptical about the motives to ban them.

Do you think there is a conspiracy against the major manufacturers to ban disks?

A significant percentage of racers don't want them. They can't speak out openly for obvious reasons: can't bite the hand that feeds them.

But they do have concerns about safety. Road racers face the risk of high speed pileups after crashes, where riders can fall in very close proximity to their fellow riders. MTB racers and cyclocross competitors don't face the same type or level of risk as pack riding is not the norm in those events. Not to mention speeds are much lower.

Bicycle racing is inherently dangerous: adding another variable, this one involving hot, slicing disks, would give anyone pause.

If the competitors are concerned, disks should be placed on hold until their safety concerns are properly addressed.

---

As far as the disk proponents on this forum: feel free to state your preferences. DO NOT expect to pass off wild exaggeration and bizarre fear mongering to go unquestioned.

If you can't handle having your unsupported and wildly exaggerated claims being questioned, don't air them here.

Has anyone seen a hot slicing disk hotly slicing anyone? Or is that hyperbole? Has a majority of the riders protested the tests, or is that unsupported and assumed? What is more fear mongering than saying the peloton or even assuming, and we know what assuming is, that a majority, that cannot be determined because they are afraid the UCI doing I don't know what is against disk brakes? Has a petition been signed? To date many cycling sources only list a few vocal riders with opposition. It doesn't sound like a ground swell. And still disks will be back in June. They will be tested and evaluated, like it or not. If they don't work because they slow down wheel changes or for some other racing related reason they will be discontinued at the team level even if allowed by the UCI.
As far as MTB racers and CX racers have you tried it? Do you know what things they face or how close to disks their legs are every race? Sure it isn't the same but they are often flying past each other in the air or in a full slide side by side. Sometimes the CX racers jump off of their smoking hot disk brake bikes and toss the bike over their shoulder to jump over a log or run up a muddy hill. So if they were slicers and dicers we should see more slicing and dicing here as well. Just picture a CX race start. https://www.google.com/search?q=JPG+...D3PjE7XCwlM%3A

Yes road racing is a different beast and yes the pro peloton is often in close contact and often subjected to big crashes. But without testing you aren't going to prove if they are a safety concern or not. But to date more riders have been injured by support vehicles than disk brakes.

Watch some of the megavalanche videos on youtube. Besides being extremely awesome they also start off on the top of a mountain in snow in a huge pack and wreck a lot while running into each other constantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxY9dMq5BjI
The amateurs class is a good example of that since they spend more time sliding down the mountain than riding down it lol. Check out one of the full runs by a pro too if you have an hour to kill, very cool.

AS HAS BEEN STATED .... I can use this phrase to start a rebuttal to about every post in this thread now. I wonder how many people actually read threads anymore?

As has been stated, riders cannot protest too vocally because their teams would not allow it. The riders need to stay good with the teams or they won't get hired, and the teams need to stay on UCI's good side so they are allowed to compete. A few riders have taken the risk of speaking out ... and there has been some writing in the media. Eddie Merxx, who used to ride, has said a bit.

See above. If no one was oppoesed to it ... why would UCI have fought so hard to stop the test? I t was only after the injuries' causes were called into question that the test was reinstated ... UCI was ready and waiting to end the test after the first suspected injury, and only relented when it was pklain its position had no certain substantiation.

Of course, no one has heard a bunch of chatter from UCI about not wanting discs ... but I fi see an apple lying on the ground under an apple tree, I do not consider it a stretch to say the apple fell from the tree.

Pretty much, the manufacturers are pushing discs and UCI, either for safety and in response to rider complaints, or to try to flex its political power--or both--is resisting. However, UCI needs the manufacturers on board to have a sport to rule, so ....

partly true. Discs will get another test---and sadly, only if a lot of riders get hurt in a pileup will there be proof that as currently employed, discs are dangerous in a pro peloton. Of course, such a crash might not happen during the test period .... so discs might be adopted for 2017, and then halfway through the season, a few riders might get lacerated severely by discs, and the whole controversy might re-erupt.

Or, discs might not cause increased injury. Sort of why there needs to be a test.

However, Teams will not choose to use discs or not. Teams ride what the manufacturers hand them. The manufacturers will assume that their slow wheel changes are as fast as the other teams;' slow wheel changes, and who cares, when megabucks in sales are involved? After all, manufacturers only sponsor racing to sell more and more expensive bikes more frequently.

No other type of racing features the kinds of massive pileups that road racing has. Not at all. A couple riders may collide in some other disciplines, but in road racing it is common for a dozen or two dozen riders to fall on top of each other. That sim,ple never happens in other disciplines.

As for CX--- I can shoulder my bike without getting mud form the tires or grease from the chainring on my jersey. It is silly to assume that a CX rider would hit his own discs ... if the guy has enough coordination to ride a bike, hhe can pick up the bike properly. Weak example.

Well ... first off, the test is going to happen, so I don't know what you are on about.

Secondly ... more riders have been injured by support vehicles because the pros don't use discs. That's an even weaker argument. Also ... More riders have been injured by hitting dogs than by fans on the sidelines shooting flamethrowers at the peloton .... that's a reason to control dogs, not test having people in the crown spraying napalm on the riders.

Hey dude, the UCI banned them because a rider was sliced open by one.

And since support vehicles have been around longer than anyone here has been alive and the first disc brake bike in the pro peloton appeared last summer, then obviously more riders have been injured by support vehicles :lol:

So what is your choice, cut by a disc or chewed up by a greasy chain ring?

There's also the fact that there is no standard disc wheel, companies are all setting their own standards for disc size, axle, etc...until those aspects are worked out, the neutral service for a race might not have the wheel you need, so if your team car isn't nearby, you're stuck standing on the side of the road.

At this point, I think many of the pros aren't interested in them because they can stop just fine with what they already have. I've yet to see anyone not be able to stop and fly off the side of the road in a race.

We basically have a technology that seems helpful to your everyday rider, yet a lot of disinterest from the professionals. I personally think disc will stick around on gravel/adventure bikes, but will fade from road bikes over time. Of course, gravel/adventure bikes are quickly becoming the rage even on the street because they allow for wider tires, so it'll all even out in the wash.

Actually, I believe someone proved that it was impossible for that rider to have gotten the injuries he got from a disc brake. If I'm not mistaken, they discovered that to be the crank of the other rider that did the damage.

You are mistaken. That's why the UCI banned them. They didn't ban discs because the guy was cut by a crank.

.

Right, but there's been tons of speculation on what actually injured the guy. And I swear that they were going to allow discs again for the volta, but can't seem to find it.
Have disc brakes really led to injuries in peloton? | road.cc

Ummmmm .... No.

I hope that was clear.

After the fact is seems Ventoso's wound was not caused by a disc---wrong side of the bike for the injured leg to hit a disc in the manner he says the incident occurred, for one thing. Right now there is no credible evidence that discs caused that or any other injury.

No one can be completely sure ... but when none of the facts add up .... Also, another rider was injured in that same race. Ventoso claimed that rider was also cut by a dicsc. but subsequent investigation showed that there were no disc-equipped bikes anywhere near that incident. Sorry to introduce facts and logic.

Which is a sort of deliberately ignorant misunderstanding of the issue.

How many riders have been KILLED by discs, ever?

How many riders have been KILLED by vehicles Just This year?

Last year a couple riders were wiped out by media motorcycles. We all remember seeing Johnny Hoogerland get nerfed into a barbed-wire fence a few years back . Most of us have seen numerous lose calls with support and mostly media vehicles. They are obviously insufficiently regulated .... and have ZERO to do with the safety or danger of discs in a pro peloton.

They banned discs because they don't want discs. The ban was announced well before the injury was investigated. Sorry to again have to introduce facts, but a little Google work will make all this clear.

If Ventoso's wound was demonstrably caused by a disc, the ban would never have been lifted and the test never reinstated.

Found it!!! It was June, not the Volta...must have been the volta last year when they initially started testing.

UCI to reinstate disc brake trial in the professional road peloton in June | Cyclingnews.com

Ummmmmm... YES.

I hope that was clear.


Harald Tiedemann Hansen, the President of the UCI's Equipment Commission, confirmed that the UCI will suspend the use of disc brakes in professional road races after Spaniard Francisco Ventoso suffered a deep gash from running into another rider's rear brake rotor in Paris-Roubaix, Procycling.no reported today. Ventoso vented his anger about disc brakes in apersonal letter distributed by his Movistar team.

The Association of Professional Cyclists (CPA) also urged the UCI to bring disc brake use to a halt.
"We have asked to suspend the tests on the disc brakes to the UCI," CPA press officer Laura Mora said. "They will probably suspend it. We have just had the support of the equipment commission for that.
"We have been talking about the risks of the use of the disc brakes since months and we have sent letters in the past to the UCI and the organizers to avoid such risks. Now they are going to finally listen to our voice. We don't want to stop the progress but we want to find common solutions for the introduction of new technologies without risks for the riders and definitely with their involvment."
Tiedemann Hansen confirmed the suspension of the disc brakes, but said that the initiative came from the UCI itself after Ventoso's injury.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-suspends-road-disc-brakes-in-races-after-ventoso-injury/

I wish people on here would post up to date information! I mean really, that article you posted was from April 4th!

Take a look at this from same source. Dated May 2nd.
UCI to reinstate disc brake trial in the professional road peloton in June | Cyclingnews.com

Ummmm sure dude, be a lying sack if you like. yes, at the time people thought Ventoso's gash was caused by a disc ... mostly because Ventoso kept claiming so. Since then, however ... but hey, cherry-pick whatever info you need to to make yourself feel like a real person. Whatever.