Disc brakes on road bikes.......what advantages/disadvantages are there ?

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SpokeyDokey

68, & my GP says I will officially be old at 70!
Moderator
Been riding disc brakes for 2yrs.....never crashed or cut myself on any sharp spinny things.

And if your clever enough to read the report on the movistar rider and form your own opinion on what happened. He never cut his leg on a sharp disc spinny thing either.......i also live in the UK so have no care for french or spanish sportives

I too couldn't work out how it was definitely the disc that caused the injury.

This seems (to me) a reasonable article/discussion on the event.

http://road.cc/content/tech-news/186146-have-disc-brakes-really-led-injuries-peloton

I much prefer discs to rim brakes - the things simply work whatever the weather.

If the Pro's don't want to use them then so be it - I don't take my riding cues from them anyway. Whilst they are marvellous athletes their group riding is hardly the last word in safety - hence the numerous pile-ups they suffer. Maybe if they sacrificed a little aerodynamic advantage by not riding so close together and used brakes that work well in all weathers then the sport would be a little safer.
 

jowwy

Can't spell, Can't Punctuate....Sue Me
I too couldn't work out how it was definitely the disc that caused the injury.

This seems (to me) a reasonable article/discussion on the event.

http://road.cc/content/tech-news/186146-have-disc-brakes-really-led-injuries-peloton

I much prefer discs to rim brakes - the things simply work whatever the weather.

If the Pro's don't want to use them then so be it - I don't take my riding cues from them anyway. Whilst they are marvellous athletes their group riding is hardly the last word in safety - hence the numerous pile-ups they suffer. Maybe if they sacrificed a little aerodynamic advantage by not riding so close together and used brakes that work well in all weathers then the sport would be a little safer.
Yeh i have read and posted that article previously. Theres no way a disc caused that injury. He even lied about the ettix riders injury........
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Disc brakes don't cause more injuries. I mountain biked for 21 years, during which time disc brakes arrived on the scene. I must have gone from XTR V brakes to my first Hope Minis around 1998. Between then and 2009 when I went over to road cycling, I fell off my mountain bike dozens and dozens of times and I must have seen a hundred low speed tumbles and the occasional nasty high speed crash and I can honestly say that I never suffered and never saw anybody suffer an injury that was attributed to a brake rotor. The rear rotor is protected by the chainstay and seat stay and the front rotor is within the envelope of space that's defined by the front tyre in a tumbling OTB fall.

Come to think of it I HAVE heard of disc brakes causing injuries - when careless people fiddling with bikes have stuck a finger into a rotating brake and nipped off the end.
 
They require heavier stiffer forks, that will vibrate your teeth out!
That's why on MTB they come with dampers, or shocks!
The reason is you are braking not on the rim at the top of the forks
at the strongest place, but at the bottom of the forks on the hub.
The Inertia of the wheel rim and tire when braking cause the
wheel rim to out turn the hub causing the wheel to go egg shaped,
on the road ahead. This can stretch and pop spokes, or even lead to
cracks spreading along the rim, resulting in catastrophic failure of the
wheel.

They were design for off road MTB and are fine on slippery mud.
Also may be best option for carbon-fibre road bikes, if I had one I would
use them.
On a road bike carrying weight or a tandem; best have Talisman handy.
 

outlash

also available in orange
They require heavier stiffer forks, that will vibrate your teeth out!
That's why on MTB they come with dampers, or shocks!
The reason is you are braking not on the rim at the top of the forks
at the strongest place, but at the bottom of the forks on the hub.
The Inertia of the wheel rim and tire when braking cause the
wheel rim to out turn the hub causing the wheel to go egg shaped,
on the road ahead. This can stretch and pop spokes, or even lead to
cracks spreading along the rim, resulting in catastrophic failure of the
wheel.

They were design for off road MTB and are fine on slippery mud.
Also may be best option for carbon-fibre road bikes, if I had one I would
use them.
On a road bike carrying weight or a tandem; best have Talisman handy.

That's a late shout for biggest load of gibberish in a single post this week. Congrats.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
They require heavier stiffer forks, that will vibrate your teeth out!
That's why on MTB they come with dampers, or shocks!
The reason is you are braking not on the rim at the top of the forks
at the strongest place, but at the bottom of the forks on the hub.
The Inertia of the wheel rim and tire when braking cause the
wheel rim to out turn the hub causing the wheel to go egg shaped,
on the road ahead. This can stretch and pop spokes, or even lead to
cracks spreading along the rim, resulting in catastrophic failure of the
wheel.

They were design for off road MTB and are fine on slippery mud.
Also may be best option for carbon-fibre road bikes, if I had one I would
use them.
On a road bike carrying weight or a tandem; best have Talisman handy.


What a cock of crap.....
I still have all my teeth thanks.I haven't stretched or popped any spokes. The wheels are as true now as when I first got them and they have done over 15000 miles including fully panniered and loaded up and down mountains.

Either you really don't know what you are talking about (which is what I think) or you are on a wind up.
 

screenman

Squire
I read somewhere that the heat created by discs on road bikes contributes towards the ice cap moving south, which is the reason we have snow in April.

Also that stopping a wheel rotating and slowing the bike places forces around the dropouts, regardless of where you apply the friction.
 
What a cock of crap.....
I still have all my teeth thanks.I haven't stretched or popped any spokes. The wheels are as true now as when I first got them and they have done over 15000 miles including fully panniered and loaded up and down mountains.

Either you really don't know what you are talking about (which is what I think) or you are on a wind up.
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In the Cold Light of Dawn it's imperative that we see reality as it is warts and all:
not as we wish it to be.
 
I read somewhere that the heat created by discs on road bikes contributes towards the ice cap moving south, which is the reason we have snow in April.

Also that stopping a wheel rotating and slowing the bike places forces around the dropouts, regardless of where you apply the friction.
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To hot new disk
 
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