tomato coupe

Well, you sure have a bug up your butt. It was a simple question, and it wasn't even directed at you.

bykemike 

A few years ago I did a cold, wet ride down from Craggy Gardens to Town Mountain road in NC. I was with a guy with disc brakes, I had rim brakes. Side by side, compared to him , I had essentially no brakes. Up until that morning I just accepted the noisy unpredictable performance of rim brakes as the way it is.

I am almost 100 % hydraulic discs now and can't see buying another rim brake bike unless I go vintage.

BengalCat

Discs are becoming increasingly stock on new bikes without any optional choice for rim brakes. For better or worse the argument for or against disc becomes day by day increasingly moot. Just an observation, not a thumbs up or down on disc brakes.

Darth Lefty 

They will be thirteen bucks
https://www.amazon.com/SHIMANO-BR-CT...-28&th=1&psc=1

Or twelve
https://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Alloy...255251&sr=8-39

Or one hundred and fifteen
https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Componen...255251&sr=8-51

Or whatever you can scavenge from the calcifieds

aclinjury

ugh as it is, there are still LOTS of disc bikes struggling to go under 6.9 kg, while almost all rim brake bikes are having to add heavy components to meet the 6.9kg minimum requirement. So no, not every UCI rider has to adhere to the same weight. It's more like rim brake bikes are forced to add weight. And like you said, the tech is there (and people are already doing it) to go to 5.5 kg.

5.5 kg vs 6.9 kg on a climb? I'll take the 5.5 kg bike any day all day if i'm doing this for a living.

AdkMtnMonster

Go re-read post #9 that I was responding to, and I think you’ll see that I was simply pointing out a bit of ironically circular logical fallacy.

Russ Roth

Why care? Dual pivots were heavier then single pivots and were bulkier, yet other then cane creek 200sl the only single pivot by 2000 were the cheapest of the cheap. Weight and chunky didn't matter since the stopping was night and day. Going down major hills in the Catskills one would stop and the other would lightly modulate speed and a decent basic cable disc setup stops better still not to mention the ease of using hydraulic. I can remember squealing down muddy slopes hoping my cantis would slow my cross bike and the discs do. Loaded touring with rim brakes is just fun in the wet, especially the game of will or won't it stop in time. Maybe this has to do with me being a clydesdale and needing brakes that really stop but discs are the best to me. I've been struggling the last week with the possibility of buying a DeRosa carbon frame and fork NOS from 2008 or so, only 700.00 and my size which would be sweet. But its the same age as my steel Carrera, probably doesn't ride that much better and it doesn't have disc which I know I want on my next bike. The whole disc, 142mm thru axle does result in a much stiffer wheel that feels really balanced as well and I think disc rims look better to boot.

WhyFi

Hello, Kettle.

WhyFi

That was the context in which I replied.

Oh, and I don't think that means what you think it means.

WhyFi

The disc-brakes-were-foisted-upon-us narrative always amuses me because of how much it just doesn't ring true in my case.

I bought a gravel bike with mechanical discs. I liked it well enough, but decided to upgrade to hydro when I found a good price on a kit. After the install, I was immediately hooked and there was no going back. I've bought two hydro disc road bikes since. I've heard similar "why didn't I do this sooner?" stories from others, much more so than, "eh, I can take it or leave it." "These are horrible and I'm going back to rim brakes!" is almost unheard of, IME.

So foisted? Not so much. I, and many others like me, have been enthusiastic adopters.

eduskator

If I had to take a guess, I'd say the price will stay the same. There will always be a fringe of cyclists that will continue using rim brakes. Even if they know that discs are more efficient, most of them will stay with rim brakes.

For my part, disc brakes have just always looked better. Moreover, mainly riding in mountains where hills can get very steep, it's a must for me.

big john

They have to draw the line somewhere, and while some feel 6.9kg is antiquated, it at least levels the playing field. I remember when we thought getting under 20 pounds was light.
If, as you say, some are struggling to get under 6.9, it probably isn't by much. And, if that's true, then lowering the minimum to 5.5 would obviously put those people at a 3-4 pound disadvantage. Why would the UCI want to do that? To just eliminate disc brakes from the peloton?

People say disc equipped bikes are 500g heavier than similar rim braked models.I guess you're saying it's more like 2000g?

WhyFi

+1

A disc and small caliper within the wheel gives cleaner lines to me, compared to a rim caliper hanging off of the fork/stays like a wart.

Also, in terms of performance, I'll say that the lighter lever effort of hydro is better all of the time, not just when it's wet or whatever.

Marcus_Ti

Problems abound.

A) The bikes the ProTour rides must be retail product

B) Already at those weights...rider weight limits abound, typically 180lbs max--because while lightweight the frames and wheels simply are not structurally strong enough for "normal" people.

Reminds me of the old "If it isn't broken/falling apart at the finish it is overbuilt" tortured "logic".

big john

Here is a Cannondale @5.7kg, but not the record for the lightest disc road bike.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/product-news/lightest-disc-brake-road-bike-world-2983

https://bikerumor.com/2018/11/30/201...oes-full-aero/
Supposed to be lighter.

Cypress

S-Works Tarmac: 6.4 kg
S-Works Tarmac Disc: 6.6 kg

WhyFi

There are off-the-shelf disc bikes under 6.9. Nothing that a pro world ride would have much trouble getting under that limit.

eduskator

I was about to make the comment...

As if disc brakes would add that much weight on a bike... 200-300 more grams perhaps, but not 1kg!

Cypress

And I would happily trade 200-300 grams for the braking feel and performance. Not wearing out $2500 carbon wheels with rim brakes is a huge added bonus.

Psimet2001 

Correct. At most and as a whole for all riders. In other words - I live in the flat lands - I absolutely never need them.

Some live where there is actual elevation. They can use them as a benefit there.

So apologies for using the word need. Should have been 25% of the time they are a benefit.

Psimet2001 

The side benefit for me in the wheel world is that disc brakes have virtually eliminated the customer's obsession with wheel weight. With disc there are so many variables in what the hubs are that weights on the same sets with different setups vary so much that they aren't comparative. Eliminates about a third of the conversation content I used to have to have daily.

Notso_fastLane

Understand that the weight thing is a non-issue for probably 99.9% of bike purchases. Even relatively dedicated riders that are buying a good bike for fun and/or commuting aren't going to care. Only the racers (including tri-athletes) and time trials riders care about that level of minutiae.

My first disc brake equipped bike (recumbent), I bought because I had just moved to Seattle and wanted better wet weather performance. That alone was huge to me, and it was quite noticeable. I had good 'wet' rim brakes, but their performance never came close to the performance of discs. My bikes are 99% used for commuting. By the time I put a rack, lights, panniers, etc., the extra weight is a non-issue.

noodle soup

There's a member of the forum that always states that discs add 1-2lbs. to the weight of the bike. At one time that was a slight exaggeration, but now it's total BS.

I'm surprised he hasn't made a comment here yet.

Cypress

Most racers I know (including myself) want the lightest stuff we can trust and can afford to replace. I won't run uber light stuff because I don't want dive into a corner and wonder if saving those extra 50 grams is going to put me in the ditch with a broken collarbone. Weightweenie crap won't get you on the podium if you're sitting in the team car with a shattered aftermarket derailleur cage because you suddenly needed to crosschain at 1300W to hold a wheel. Doubly more for training. Any time I spend fixing/replacing lightweight stuff is time spent off of my bike.

I went through a rough patch with a wheel sponsor a while back. I kept cracking their zooty high-end wheels (I corner hard) so I "downgraded" to a higher spoke count with heavier rims and immediately stopped having issues.

phrantic09

Anecdotally, I’m not any slower up big climbs with a heavier disc bike than I was on my lighter rim brake bike.

We have a good climb near me that rises 1300 over about 1.3 miles and I didn’t notice a difference after switching to a disc bike that was about a pound heavier. What I did notice was coming down the backside I didn’t feel like I had to brake as early or hard and could make the descent a lot faster where my average speed was in the low 40s vs mid 30s on the old bike.

I like disc, modulation and performance in the wet is great and more confidence inspiring