TiHabanero

Just read The Russian Crank opinion piece about Chris Froome's comment on disc brakes and how they are becoming mandatory. Below is quoted from the piece and really does sum things up with complete accuracy.

"They started their life like any other new product on the market. People who liked them, bought bikes with disc brakes. Everyone else ignored the fad.It would have stayed that way if not for this caveat — you can’t buy just a pair of disc brakes and install them on your bike. If you want them, you need a new a bike. And who wants to sell more bikes?

This is where the sponsorship angle came in. Make the pros use disc brakes, spin some marketing ******** about stopping power and rain and boom, sell more bike."

rubiksoval

Oh, another thread about disc brakes.

phughes

Germany_chris

I wouldn’t buy a new bike that wasn’t thru axle and disc brakes no matter what the online cognoscenti thinks.

Branko D

It doesn't take a big conspiracy to sell people a better braking system.

Ogsarg

Oh fer cryin out loud. It could not possibly be that people (including pros) prefer the feel/performance of discs that caused their popularity. No, it must be the evil marketing people that are forcing us to buy new bikes with disc brakes and we're all going to lose our limbs from razor sharp rotors cutting them off.

If it wasn't for those evil corporate marketers, Ferraris would still have the vastly superior drum brakes as God intended.

Gresp15C

I think it's worth separating experienced / enthusiast cyclists from casual cyclists and beginners. I put myself somewhere in between. I own multiple bikes that have different braking systems, including caliper, disc, and coaster. They all stop my bike. I know their limitations. I don't exceed their capabilities.

On the other hand, I've also known beginners, or people who gave up cycling and then took it up again, reporting to me that the difference between disc and rim brakes is like night and day. One friend thinks the difference is so profound that rim brakes are dangerous and should be outlawed. If they have ridden both kinds of bikes, chances are the disc brake bike is newer. Many older bikes may have never had properly adjusted and maintained brakes. For whatever reason, the impression about disc brakes is pretty strong. And this is from people who have no awareness or interest in what kind of gear the pro's are using.

blakcloud

I am with German_Chris on this one, I wouldn't purchase a bike that wasn't disk brake or thru axles and I will also add to that list electronic shifting.

All these advancements enhance my cycling experience. This idea that manufacturers force us to buy new bikes is ludicrous. Consumers speak with their dollars, and if something that doesn't sell, then the bike companies stop making it. See a pair of Synergy wheels, or a Trimble mountain bike or the Buddy Bike lately? They are hundreds of examples of cycling products that just didn't work out and they die a slow death until something better comes along.

Koyote

Now you've done it.

I suspect that with both disc brakes and electronic shifting in this thread, it might get us through to the spring riding weather.

badger1

You'll know spring has sprung when the first Waving Thread returns to its breeding ground.

Bimmer69

At least it’s not about chain lube

For the record I am pro-rim brake.

63rickert

Yes, I have seen Spinergy wheels recently, and seen them being used. There is a steady market for them, they fetch good prices. Once the sale is closed, the sale is closed. Once a consumer is emotionally invested in a product no further information will make the slightest difference.

tomato coupe

Disc brakes and electronic shifting allow me to keep one hand ready to wave, at a moments notice.

hsuBM

Some bike manufacturers are doing a good job of keeping rim brakes as an option just as car manufacturers are keeping manual transmissions available...

...kind of in-secret, you gotta look deep in their entire product line to find what you want if what you want is the not-new thing.

coffeesnob

rim brakes stop you quicker. at least with what I compare the with

Shark86x

Hey, I still ride my ol' 1968 Schwinn canary yellow Super Sport. I refuse to get anything newer because they have those nasty newfangled indexed shifters.

Oh, and those old rim brakes are great, I've never stopped too fast and flew over the handlebars and I never get tired of the constant adjusting. It makes me feel handy.

rydabent

And it was no more than two or three years ago when I posted that disc brakes would take over the market because they were a superior brake. At that time I took a lot of abuse for my prediction.

There remains two overridding reasons that discs are superior. Better stopping power in the wet, and they dont ruin high priced rims.

Disc brakes in the beginning suffered the old foggyism that seems to run rampant in the cycling community. I remember very well how the "real cyclist" resisted click shifting, and clipless pedals.

Koyote

Since you appreciate new tech so much, you must love carbon fiber.

MoAlpha

I was furious when they obsoleted drum brakes! They never warped or got dust on your wheels.

indyfabz

Contradicting himself is part of his schtick.

And it’s not as if he needs them for the slow, flat trail riding he claims he does.

Reflector Guy

Is that sort of like the swallows returning to Capistrano?

badger1

As you like it.

General Cycling is delightful come springtime, as nesting season ramps up. Long-time thread watchers know that the Waving Thread is an early arrival -- but a reassuring one, presaging as it does the eruption of song to follow. Its peculiar cry puts the steady drone of the Steel-is-Real, Rim Brakes Are All We Need, and the Asploding Crabon -- all hardy species that have acclimated to northern climes and winter over -- firmly into the background. Typically, the Waver's arrival is shortly followed by the I-Passed-A-Roadie. Then, by around May, all h_ll breaks loose.

Bigbus

I'm fine with rim brakes on my road bikes, but I could never go back to rim brakes on my MTB. That's just nonsense! People will get out of my way if I can't stop fast enough, trees don't budge.

Hiro11

We should go back to spoon brakes.

Troul 

Tennis shoe wedged in rear seat stays on tire. Good for a couple of reserved watts.