Road bike with disk brakes - the future?

pprendeville

http://www.volagi.com/bikes

IS this the way forward. Having never used disc brakes is that claim about braking performance in all conditions the same unlike rim brakes in the wet.

nomadic

No

GTDolanator

disk breaks do not belong on a road bike,its just wrong.however i see a bike on me daily travels with hydro calliper breaks,dont no the brand but i would assume they work pretty well

kenmc

GTDolanator wrote: »

disk breaks do not belong on a road bike,its just wrong.however i see a bike on me daily travels with hydro calliper breaks,dont no the brand but i would assume they work pretty well

Yeah but how about disk brakes? :pac:

mfdc

Disk brakes are the dogs, I had them on my old hybrid (Avid BB7 mechanicals) and they were amazing. Even in the snow they had great stopping power, when combined with studded tyres anyway

In theory I'd love to have disk brakes on my road bike - great stopping power, no rim wear. In practice though I believe they're a fair bit heavier and I wouldn't fancy being in a bunch full of disk-equipped bikes when there was a crash, the rotors would be lethal!

Coronal

Probably not. I've had very little problems descending at 60 kmph and stopping. It's certainly possible to throw yourself over the bars with rim brakes at that speed, and disk brakes would be no different.

Also, the BB7 brakes are used on some long distance touring bikes, possibly some CX bikes as well, but since they're disk brakes, you won't have universal spares available around the word. Also, I suspect that the cable element may remove some of the stated advantages as there would be a hell of a lot of stress on that cable to haul a bike from 60 - 0 any faster than rim brakes.

Holyboy

Air brakes are the way forward! Take that as you wish:)

kenmc

mfdc wrote: »

Disk brakes are the dogs, I had them on my old hybrid (Avid BB7 mechanicals) and they were amazing. Even in the snow they had great stopping power, when combined with studded tyres anyway

In theory I'd love to have disk brakes on my road bike - great stopping power, no rim wear. In practice though I believe they're a fair bit heavier and I wouldn't fancy being in a bunch full of disk-equipped bikes when there was a crash, the rotors would be lethal!

I'd love to have disk brakes on my commute road bike, especially in winter when it's wet and slimy. During the snow I commuted on my MTB with disks and the stopping power is just incredible. No rim wear as you said, and a doddle to set up, since buckles don't affect them. Was hoping for more CX disk braked bikes to come onstream since UCI legalised them, but haven't seen many/any really. When my commuter dies I think I'll build up a OnOne or PX cx bike for disks.

patrick151

mfdc wrote: »

In theory I'd love to have disk brakes on my road bike - great stopping power, no rim wear. In practice though I believe they're a fair bit heavier and I wouldn't fancy being in a bunch full of disk-equipped bikes when there was a crash, the rotors would be lethal!

Yeah, disk brakes have a habit of being all or nothing when braking so imagine sitting in a pelaton and having to tap your brakes to avoid the next wheel, then BAM from the rear cause you just slowed 10kph

I'll stick with my v brakes on my road bike thank you very much

serendip

There's little point having more breaking power than there is traction between the wheels and the road.

That being said, perhaps if ABS were available ...

Vélo

kenmc wrote: »

Yeah but how about disk brakes? :pac:

That really gets on your nerves:D

langdang

kenmc wrote: »

Yeah but how about disk brakes? :pac:

Don't loose the head over it like ;););)

As said already, many disc brakes have poor modulation and feel. They are fine for off road with big dirty tyres and a surface you can dig into.

Slick tyres on tarmac don't need that much power to exceed the available traction. Descending the Alps on a road bike at pro speed in the hands of a pro, or on a tandem or tourer, but not on your average road bike (IMO)

studiorat

There was a mention of similar in one of the cycling magazines recently. However they said hydraulic brakes were being worked with by one of the big manufacturers, not disc brakes specifically.

There's much more control to be had with hydraulic brakes than cables, so yeah I'd say it'll go that way whether the calipers are on discs or on the rims.

langdang

studiorat wrote: »

There's much more control to be had with hydraulic brakes than cables

More power, but not necessarily more control in my experience. The worst of hydraulic brakes are almost digital (fully ON or OFF).

columbus_66

Can you imagine the stresses on the superlight 300g carbon forks around the crown if you had disc brakes? the forks and front ends of racing bikes would have to be re-engineered.

studiorat

langdang wrote: »

More power, but not necessarily more control in my experience. The worst of hydraulic brakes are almost digital (fully ON or OFF).

The worst of any brakes is either on or off, usually fully off I use both regularly on my road bike and my mtb both sets are performance components. Give me the modulation on the hydraulic any day. There's also the maintenance issue, much less maintenance with hydraulic brakes.

Tenzor07

Once the pro's start using them i can see more and more road bikes with hydraulic disc brakes!

We'll probably see 130mm discs unlike mtb ones which are typically 160/180mm.... Makes sense, less heat build up on the standard brake pads affecting performance....

Would surely mean lighter rims as you no longer need a tough braking surface, plus less replacing of your expensive wheel rims...

xxyyzz

langdang wrote: »

More power, but not necessarily more control in my experience. The worst of hydraulic brakes are almost digital (fully ON or OFF).

I found that at the start on my MTB but you get used to them very quickly and now I find it very easy to gradually slow down using them. It's probably not necessary to have all that stopping power on the road though.

The other advantage of hydraulic disc brakes is that there is very little tweaking needed - they are pretty much self-adjusting and they are not affected by buckled rims. IMHO it makes more sense to have the breaking done on the rotor rather than the rim.

blorg

Utterly unnecessary on a road bike and I doubt we will ever see them, not in the next ten years anyway. Could be good on a commuter, or on short tours. The problem on long tours is the relative complexity and problem finding spares.

Discs do work a lot better in the wet and good ones are easy to modulate. They are not on/off at all, just more powerful with less finger pressure, so you need to get used to that.

Tenzor07

blorg wrote: »

Utterly unnecessary on a road bike and I doubt we will ever see them, not in the next ten years anyway. Could be good on a commuter, or on short tours. The problem on long tours is the relative complexity and problem finding spares.

Luddite! ::D:

Finding spares? Like what? The pads are small enough to be carried in a saddle bag, and the brakes require little more than an allen key to make any adjustments...

langdang

blorg wrote: »

Discs do work a lot better in the wet and good ones are easy to modulate.

They'd want to be very very very easy to modulate for slick tyres on wet tarmac.... :-)

blorg

I have met a couple of tourers on long tours with discs that were having major problems, they both went through their pads quicker than expected (a few thousand km) and were finding it impossible to get more. I am over 12,000km in on my first set of brake pads, with several thousand km left in them. I have two spare pairs but if I need more I can pick them up literally anywhere in the world.

I've also had more issues with the (delightful when working) Shimano XT hydraulics on my MTB than I have ever had with any rim brake.

I wouldn't be without them on a MTB but unnecessary on a road bike IMO. I could see the benefit on a tourer but would be wary of the complexity/spares issue on longer tours only. I wouldn't ride 700c wheels outside Europe/US either, if I had a choice, for the same reason. No spare parts.

tomasrojo

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Luddite! ::D:

Finding spares? Like what? The pads are small enough to be carried in a saddle bag, and the brakes require little more than an allen key to make any adjustments...

Look at blorg's location. It's been consistently exotic for months now.

xxyyzz

blorg wrote: »

I have met a couple of tourers on long tours with discs that were having major problems, they both went through their pads quicker than expected (a few thousand km)

Is it possible that they were using organic pads? These wear out very rapidly in wet conditions. You need to use sintered pads for Irish conditions.

thehamo

kenmc wrote: »

mfdc wrote: »

Disk brakes are the dogs, I had them on my old hybrid (Avid BB7 mechanicals) and they were amazing. Even in the snow they had great stopping power, when combined with studded tyres anyway

In theory I'd love to have disk brakes on my road bike - great stopping power, no rim wear. In practice though I believe they're a fair bit heavier and I wouldn't fancy being in a bunch full of disk-equipped bikes when there was a crash, the rotors would be lethal!

I'd love to have disk brakes on my commute road bike, especially in winter when it's wet and slimy. During the snow I commuted on my MTB with disks and the stopping power is just incredible. No rim wear as you said, and a doddle to set up, since buckles don't affect them. Was hoping for more CX disk braked bikes to come onstream since UCI legalised them, but haven't seen many/any really. When my commuter dies I think I'll build up a OnOne or PX cx bike for disks.

Most of the new focus cx bikes have the disc brakes. Seen them in eurocycles a while back

niceonetom

There are advantages beyond just adding stopping power. Road rims could be made both lighter and more aero if they no longer need to have brake tracks and be crush-proof. That would make engineering carbon clinchers much easier. No more heating the glue on long descents for tubs either.

Most top level bikes are sub 6.8kg these days anyway so weight wouldn't be an issue at all after an iteration or two of R+D gets callipers and rotors down to road proportions.

There's no real need for it, but you could say that about electronic shifting and yet that is gaining ground and will probably be completely standard at race level in a decade.

ciotog

mfdc wrote: »

Disk brakes are the dogs, I had them on my old hybrid (Avid BB7 mechanicals) and they were amazing. Even in the snow they had great stopping power, when combined with studded tyres anyway

+1 I have a disk brake on the front of my hybrid (Kona Dr. Good) and wouldn't go back. Galway rain and mucky roads no longer hold fear for me There's a lot to be said for being able to put your trust in the brake stopping you every time regardless of rain or mud.

Enduro

pprendeville wrote: »

http://www.volagi.com/bikes

IS this the way forward. Having never used disc brakes is that claim about braking performance in all conditions the same unlike rim brakes in the wet.

Oh I like that! Each year loads of punters are looking to buy the ideal bike for multi-sports challenge races such as Gael Force. I think that those bikes might very well be optimal... a somewhat ruggedised road bike with much better braking power. I'd love one. My ideal commuter bike as well.

IMHO there are huge advantages to disk brakes, but to get them you need to have good bike control. It took me a while to acquire the necessary skills when I switched from rim brakes to discs on my MTBs. You do need to be able to modulate the braking power yourself, irrespective of the quality of the brakes. Proper ABS style pumping of the levers rather than just grabbing a handful of brake, etc etc. I really miss having the power of disks when I'm on my road bike.

kenmc

thehamo wrote: »

Most of the new focus cx bikes have the disc brakes. Seen them in eurocycles a while back

Not true.
http://www.focus-bikes.com/gb/en/bikes/bikes-2011/category/cyclocross-6.html
Focus had one model in 2010, the Mares Disc. None of the 2011 bikes have discs and the site is not showing the 2012 bikes either. Looking at the Eurocyles site, they are all the 2010 bikes, not 2011 (Mares, Mares Disc, Mares Comp vs Mares [C|A]X [1|2|3])

mfdc

kenmc wrote:

Not true.
http://www.focus-bikes.com/gb/en/bik...locross-6.html
Focus had one model in 2010, the Mares Disc. None of the 2011 bikes have discs and the site is not showing the 2012 bikes either. Looking at the Eurocyles site, they are all the 2010 bikes, not 2011 (Mares, Mares Disc, Mares Comp vs Mares [C|A]X [1|2|3])

True, but they just announced their 2012 range and have introduced an entry level cross bike with disks which is (for me) basically the perfect commuter - http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/focus-unveil-2012-road-mountain-and-cyclocross-range-31342 If they'd done this 4 months ago I'd have been all over it instead of getting a road bike to replace my hybrid.

Tenzor07

Once the UCI relax there rules on disc brakes for road bikes then expect to see every bike manufactuer have disc brakes across there full range of road bikes..

kenmc

mfdc wrote: »

True, but they just announced their 2012 range and have introduced an entry level cross bike with disks which is (for me) basically the perfect commuter - http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/focus-unveil-2012-road-mountain-and-cyclocross-range-31342 If they'd done this 4 months ago I'd have been all over it instead of getting a road bike to replace my hybrid.

Announced yesterday just! Nice. Yay! once I see it on wiggle, I'll "accidentally" rub a hacksaw against my top tube. Repeatedly

John_Rambo

I have a hybrid commuter with hydraulic disc brakes. Aside from an initial problem with the front pads bedding they are excellent for the daily hazards of city commuting in traffic. The pads are about €13 to buy, small to carry in my bag and easy to change. I'd say they last ages too.

I can see some people here are very aware of gear, clothing, nomenclature and how they look, but, I don't care if it's unfashionable or not cool! I want the back wheel lifting when braking and they do the job very well. The only problem I can see for someone like me is not building enough heat on the pads to keep them clean and properly bedded to the rotor.

I don't know if they are the way forward for people racing road bikes, I would imagine if they were, the professionals would be using them now? However, for commuting road bikes they would surely be a welcome improvement?

Tenzor07

John_Rambo wrote: »

The only problem I can see for someone like me is not building enough heat on the pads to keep them clean and properly bedded to the rotor.

I don't know if they are the way forward for people racing road bikes, I would imagine if they were, the professionals would be using them now?

Low friction pads means you dont need to build up a lot of heat...

- They would use them however current UCI rules don't allow disc brakes for road..

kenmc

kenmc wrote: »

Not true.
http://www.focus-bikes.com/gb/en/bikes/bikes-2011/category/cyclocross-6.html
Focus had one model in 2010, the Mares Disc. None of the 2011 bikes have discs and the site is not showing the 2012 bikes either. Looking at the Eurocyles site, they are all the 2010 bikes, not 2011 (Mares, Mares Disc, Mares Comp vs Mares [C|A]X [1|2|3])

I have my eye on this Boardman too:

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_777735_langId_-1_categoryId_212536

blorg

Does anyone have the specific UCI regulation banning discs in road racing? There was a specific ban in cyclocross (now overturned) but I am not 100% sure they ever were banned in road racing, rather than the teams just not wanting to use them.

John_Rambo

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Low friction pads means you dont need to build up a lot of heat...

- They would use them however current UCI rules don't allow disc brakes for road..

Ah, it's all making sense now!

studiorat

This could be the future : http://www.factor001.com/the-factor-001

Integrated data collection.
Elimination of fork crown.
Carbon Ceramic Discs.