A broken standard from it's inception that is still annoying people to this day....but sure. Call it smart, by all means

I have never heard any players complain about it. What don’t you like about it?

Good video and he makes good points.
Basically disc brakes are not the best solution for all situations and the same for rim brakes.
Just got to figure out what is best for your application.

A really intelligent and well informed perspective on disc brakes for road bikes. And gutsy too: if he hopes to get a bike sponsorship for next season, he'd better get on the manufacturer bandwagon. Not even the elite level pros and their mechanics can resist the pressure from their masters. But then the purpose of racing is to satisfy the advertising needs of the bike makers and component manufacturers, and right now that need is to sell disc brake bikes to dentists.

A critical comment in this video may have been missed as it passed by so quickly. The video was obviously made by an elite-level cyclist (racing for money) whose needs are pure performance.

The key comment was that if he is training, then he'll be on alu clinchers, and racing, carbon tubulars. Both clinchers and discs introduce significant performance penalties, due to unavoidably higher rotating mass.

In addition, carbon tubulars are a lot safer than carbon clinchers, as they handle braking heat far better, and are substantially less terrifying in the event of a rapid blowout.

There are a lot of people that shouldn't be allowed to use video cameras.
WTH does MIDI have to do with biking?
MIDI has too much delay.

Because...honestly...most all players know jack about anything with a PCB in it. The people to ask about MIDI aren't performers, they're audio engineers and stage techs. A player just knows it "works" or "it doesn't work".


MIDI has been extended and extended and extended again because of what wasn't included originally since 1983; and because MIDI wasn't picky, universal support for all the features wasn't demanded so some devices supported only some things...and now? There's massive inertia to do anything other that let it sit. And what is more--any overhaul has to be backwards compatible with all the 1980s hardware out there that no one is using and broke 30 years ago. There have been talks of an overhaul for a decade and a half. Still hasn't happened.

Personally, I've never been a fan of the DIN connector. Easily busted. No signal boosting when daisy chained (at least not for years with any arbitrary MIDI device). It should have been retired back 15 years ago minimum. AKA when USB was clearly the thing the universe was heading to run on....and basically all OEMs include XLR or FireWire or *gasp* USB.


In an orchestra pit not too long ago we needed to use a MIDI synth....well, because MIDI, and OEMs....the sound that was wanted wasn't in the "General MIDI" bank or even on board the synth. "No Problem" you can sideload sounds, live, from a laptop or other computer. During one of the shows--the MIDI/laptop connection crashed. Kaput. Luckily, with a hard reboot things came back during intermission.

You may have replied, but you did not answer the question.

Someone please, fix the spelling on the thread’s heading, it’s annoying. :crash:

I agree with you. Keep in mind, however, that if everyone followed your advice, 90% of all threads here would simply disappear. :rolleyes:

The guy looks to be middle aged his chance at being a pro tour rider is long gone.

Makes no sense not to go disc brakes when buying a new bike now. Rim brakes are inferior and it’s just a fact.

You say that like it's a bad thing. ;)

Your last sentence is completely false. Rim brakes are perfectly capable of slowing down/stopping a bicycle in most conditions.

I do love this debate.

I'm in the market for a new bike right now and in shopping around, have gone back and forth a bit. I talked to the mechanic at my local shop at length.

He essentially said what most say on the regular: it depends on your riding. I told him I rarely ride in rainy conditions and he basically said that that's where it really starts to come into play. He also dispelled the myths about maintaining discs after I expressed concern over that.

Ultimately, I'm not going to let whether a bike has rim or disc brakes sway my decision given the conditions I ride in. The bike I'm leaning towards right now have direct-mount rim brakes and they felt quite nice. If I decide to get the bike with discs, so be it.

Dick breaks are the answer to braking problems on CF rims, if we’re talking about nice road bikes that really never see crap conditions.

However, since my nice road bike has alloy rims, and also never sees crap conditions, rim brakes are just as effective. And simpler.

I have dick breaks on my wx/utility bike though.

I'm a big guy, and do a lot of descending, I'll keep my discs. In fact, I take my gravel bike (with road tires) when I know I'm going to do a lot of steep/long descents. I'll take the 5lb weight penalty when climbing to have the assurance of discs on the other side (my next road bike will absolutely have discs). I've done descents around here that were scary even with discs, and there were smaller guys on rim brakes with carbon wheels that had no issues, do whatever works for you. :thumb:

Sounds painful.

I worry a little bit. When I'm in a pack that's screaming down a mountain descent with sharp switchbacks every so often, I sometimes worry about whether that rim-braked yay-hoo behind me is going to get slowed down in time. They always have. But I have sometimes altered my line in order to give them room to miss me.

So is dragging your feet.

I tried not to get involved. But let's dispel two anti-disc myths:

• Disc brakes aren't hard to maintain. In fact, if you keep your bike long enough, cable-actuated brakes require more maintenance. Hydraulic road discs, in my experience over the last five years, require zero maintenance if set up properly. Cables eventually fray, stretch, and break. I've never had to maintain a road disc except to replace pads (the same as I would a rim brake).
• Disc brake setups don't weigh that much more. Check the figures on last year's BMC TeamMachine. The disc brake version weighed something like 30g more than the rim brake version. 30g is nothing -- one bite off an energy bar.

Apples and oranges much?

Rim brakes have been stopping bikes effectively for years. They work. Are disc brakes superior in certain conditions? Yes. That does not make rim brakes inferior, in my opinion.

Absolutely! That's why when I get a new car, it's going to have drum brakes. I don't that new complicated stuff.

Pfft. Facts have no place in an anti-disc thread.

:trainwreck:
:popcorn:
:deadhorse:

And guess what: drum brakes will still stop your car!