Disc brakes on road bikes / hybrids.

[clid61]

Theres nothing like brakes that work the same way every time you pull the lever either. Nothing like the feeling of riding through muck grime and wet days knowing that usable life of your wheels isnt an issue, when pads/discs are cheaper to replace

No fun though !

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

No fun though !

Stopping is fun though

 

[MichaelW2]

Disk brakes are advantageous on road bikes for every application except elite racing, where the advantages are small and the disadvantages can be serious.
If you commute, tour, train in winter, ride CX, or generally arse around on a bike, disc brakes are good.
If you crash in a crowded peleton amidst very hot rotors, it will hurt even more than usual.

Bike companies are wedded to the concept of trickle-down technology. Disk brakes need to be trickle-up, from midrange to pro level.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Disk brakes are advantageous on road bikes for every application except elite racing, where the advantages are small and the disadvantages can be serious.
If you commute, tour, train in winter, ride CX, or generally arse around on a bike, disc brakes are good.
If you crash in a crowded peleton amidst very hot rotors, it will hurt even more than usual.

Bike companies are wedded to the concept of trickle-down technology. Disk brakes need to be trickle-up, from midrange to pro level.

The hot disc thing is a bit overdone now. My real world,actual experience of disc brakes on a road bike is that discs don't get "red hot", they get warm to touch, but nothing like the "red hot" OMG GLOWING that is oft said.

 

[Smokin Joe]

If you crash in a crowded peleton amidst very hot rotors, it will hurt even more than usual.

QUOTE]
What a load of cock. The discs are inside the forks and the stays, unlike chain rings and pedals which are unguarded yet how many injuries do you here of them causing? Everytime a new piece of cycle technology comes out people are queueing up to give scores of reasons why it won't work, yet a few years down the line it becomes a standard fitment few people would buy a bike without. Oh, the horror stories I heard about clipless pedals (Break yer ankle when you crash with them things on mate), low spoke count wheels ('Ave yer bleedin' arm off, they will), aluminium frames (Weakening with every pedal stroke, they'll break in no time), carbon fibre (Wouldn't catch me on one of those, it will explode without warning).

 

[puffinbilly]

Seems more than a little scaremongering - more and more of the pro teams are going for disc brakes.

Have to agree about the hot rotors bit though being dangerous - mine glow bright red in the dark when braking from 70mph plus.....thinking of changing to ceramics.

 

[mrandmrspoves]

Presume 130mm is a typo? its a cyclocross standard I believe, and has bled out into road bike territory. Most suspension forks run 180mm, and one of my forks won't fit smaller than 203mm.

Yes, my memory is not what it was and my days of mountain biking are well behind me (and although we have some steeper hills than most people ever give Norfolk credit for, we don't have any mountains)
Standard was 160mm, 180mm quite large and anything over 200mm probably came off a motorbike.

 

[StuAff]

Read that article (a full CTC member gives me his copies of Cycle when he's done with them) and though he made some good points, much of it was overstated or plain irrelevant to road cycling. Where are all these reports of people being injured by disc rotors then? Reminded me a bit of Tour (German) magazine's video featuring a Stevens bike fitted with Di2 & hydraulic brakes, where the test rider wore a heavy rucksack taking his weight to 100kg, they strapped a load of sand in a metal box to the frame, and then went down an mountain road braking heavily before complaining they damaged the rotors…no **** Sherlock.

 

[Newman8]

I built up another bike this spring & was really really close to going for disc brakes: What changed my mind was a couple of 'emergency-high-speed-braking/stopping incidents' where my rim brakes massively out-performed the ability of the tyres to actually stop & grip the road along with them - so stopping the wheels turning is not the issue so much as controlling the skid?

 

[mrandmrspoves]

I built up another bike this spring & was really really close to going for disc brakes: What changed my mind was a couple of 'emergency-high-speed-braking/stopping incidents' where my rim brakes massively out-performed the ability of the tyres to actually stop & grip the road along with them - so stopping the wheels turning is not the issue so much as controlling the skid?

Modulation......ability to control the amount of pressure applied so you don't lock up. Some disc brakes have better modulation than others - but in my experience most have better modulation (in rapid deceleration circumstances) than rim brakes.

 

[Newman8]

Modulation......ability to control the amount of pressure applied so you don't lock up. Some disc brakes have better modulation than others - but in my experience most have better modulation (in rapid deceleration circumstances) than rim brakes.

Thanks - I accept your point & keep an open mind.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Thanks - I accept your point & keep an open mind.

Back in the days when drum brakes were standard on cars it was quite common to lock the front wheels under harsh braking despite the system being inherently weak compared to disks. As mrandmrspoves said, the better modulation on disk brakes makes controlled stopping much easier because far less effort is required.