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Disc brakes on road bike
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10-10-2014 9:23am#1
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To help answer another question you haven't asked: aero.
http://www.bicycles.net.au/2014/04/rare-insight-wheelset-design-swiss-side-hadron/Swiss Side wrote:Our goal for the Hadron was clear… To produce the world’s most aerodynamic efficient wheel set. At the same time we were well aware of the introduction of disc brakes to the road bike market. So as part of the Hadron aerodynamic development investigations, both in CFD as well as in the windtunnel, we evaluated brake disc wheel designs, even if we were sure they would be inherently draggy. The aerodynamic drag penalty of the larger hub required for the disc brake, together with a 130mm brake disc was confirmed to be in the order of 10%-15% across the yaw range which is quite significant. Therefore for this Hadron wheel, a disc brake configuration was ruled out. However we are currently working on a Gotthard Disc wheel model right now and we will definitely look at producing a Hadron Disc in the future.0 -
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My new supercommuter arrived last night, haven't ridden it yet except round the estate.
It's a Cannondale Synapse Ultegra Disc 2015 with an Ultegra Di2 transplant. There is a factory Di2 version but it doesn't match my club kit so I had this one built up by Epic Cycles in the UK who got stock in December and I trusted not to screw it up.
It weighs 8.5kg before pedals and cages which is OK for its intended purpose.
Reasoning for this specific purchase...
I wanted through-axles but there isn't enough choice in the market yet when accounting for other preferences. Most of the road disc bikes have endurance geometry, and typically have very short top tubes and ridiculously tall head tubes, and/or slack angles. This one isn't too bad in that respect, it's clearly not a race bike but seems to fit me OK.
One advantages of QR skewers is that I can fit my existing dynohub wheel.
I chose Di2 for less frequent maintenance and hydraulic discs for consistent braking in all conditions. The discs should make wet cycling in heavy traffic safer-for-a-given-amount-of-stupidity with shorter reaction times possible (don't need to clear water from the rims).
Internal cable routing makes sense with Di2 and hydraulics as the wires and hoses don't need to be changed routinely, and the lack of internal routing put me off bikes like the Genesis Equilibrium Disc Ti that have cables hanging off the frame.
The brakes are clearly much better than cable discs, though there's still much more lever travel than rim brakes the free stroke isn't too bad. I'd still take rim brakes every time in the dry.
It doesn't have any fittings for mudguards - neither the fork crown nor seatstay bridge are drilled, so I might get an ass saver. My winter boots have made a front guard unnecessary.
I'm not fussed about carbon fibre but in this build it keeps the weight down a bit - titanium would be another half kilo or so.
IMO disc brakes on road bikes are still hard to justify. On a recreational bike e.g. weekend/sportive bike there shouldn't be any need to brake hard and fast in the wet. For the same money you could get a rim braked bike that's easier to maintain and at least a kilo lighter.
But this isn't a recreational bike, it's fast urban transport. Ultimate MAMIL commuter, if you prefer.
Anyway here it is. The steerer needs a chop when I've ridden it a bit and the cages will change. I might get some fancier wheels when my credit card has cooled down.
Other bikes I considered:
- Focus Cayo (boring paint job, not available yet)
- Cannondale CAAD10 (SRAM only)
- Stoemper Darrell (availability? price? weight?)
- Specialized Tarmac Pro Disc Race (too expensive)
- Bianchi INFINITO CV Disc (too expensive)
- BMC Granfondo GF01 (even uglier than the Synapse)
- Giant Defy (too compact-looking)
- KTM Revelator Sky (odd geometry)
- Storck Aernario Disc (wasn't confident about sizing, 399mm chainstays a bit of an unknown, lack of availability of Ui2 version)
- Rose Xeon (C)DX (too endurancy, bit ugly)
- Simplon INISSIO GRANFONDO (geometry too CXey)0 -
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That's a lovely bike Lumen, I even like the paint job (even though it would clash horribly with my club colours!). I was looking for an audax bike for my wife a few months back and I stumbled across the Synapse Disc. I've never been a Cannondale fan, for no particular reason, but the Synapse seemed on paper to be a good quality bike at a good price. I was looking at the stock (aluminium) builds, I might have got one if it wasn't for the fact that they were as rare as hen's teeth in the shops at the time - I wasn't convinced that an aluminium frame would be best for audax mind you, but that's very subjective at best and I read various reviews which raved about the comfort of the Synapse over long distance. I've got some lingering Synapse envy ever since, I'd be interested to hear how you get on with yours.
Some thoughts on road disc brakes:
* I've been using a Kona Rove for over a year now as a commute bike. I've moaned about the Rove on here before, I'd recommend it to no-one, but it is fitted with Hayes CX-Expert 160mm discs and these have been fine. I've never used discs before mind you so I've nothing to compare against.
When they are working well they are comparable to well-tuned v-brakes, when they are not working so well they are a little less effective than poorly-tuned v-brakes. I'm using stock cables (SRAM Apex) which is definitely a factor, stock sintered Hayes pads, and Apex levers whose shape I don't like. Actually those Apex levers are becoming a real problem, they just don't suit my hands and I think they are responsible for a constant feeling of strained ligaments in the fingers of both hands. I'm going to adjust their reach to see if that helps, but more generally this bike is my first exposure to SRAM and will probably be my last, give me Campag any day and Shimano as my next choice.
In an ideal world I'd buy a Campag Chorus 2015 groupset for my winter bike and swap its existing Chorus 9sp groupset onto the Rove. I've no idea though whether the old Chorus levers would be compatible with disc brakes, must look into that.
* I've seen it suggested that using SwissStop organic pads in the Hayes CX-Expert calipers transforms them into fantastic brakes. Seems a bit optimistic based on my experiences to date but I'll get to find out soon as my sintered pads might be in need of replacing - I don't maintain my Rove very well, we don't like each other much, so stuff gets changed on it grudgingly.
* I went the self-build route for my wife's audax bike. It has an Ultegra 6800 groupset and I had trouble finding an 11sp rear disc hub for it. At the time all I could find was a Chris King (lovely, but very pricey) or a Novatec. I went with the Novatec. The Novatec seems like decent quality in the hand, it hasn't seen any use yet (I've not finished the complete bike build yet, it's a wonder I'm not divorced!) so can't say for sure whether it lives up to the promise. It built into a wheel well though, using an Open Pro 32h rim - in contrast to the Son 28 Disc front hub which was a right pain to build onto an Open Pro.
* Over time I've been well and truly sold on the benefits of *good* QR skewers. The wheels on my Rove are rubbish and their stock skewers are rubbish too. I've had minor issues with crap skewers on my road bikes, the same kind of problems are more significant on my Rove. With the very odd exception I think that skewers with an external cam are a bad choice and particularly bad with disk wheels where a slight shift of the wheel is more problematic.
I already have replacement (internal cam) Mavic and Shimano XT skewers to put onto the Rove wheels, apathy and an allergy to the bike have prevented me from actually swapping over to them. I'm planning on replacing the wheels anyway, though my hopes that living with the issues with the rubbish wheels will motivate me to build the new wheels have proved unfounded so far - that bike brings out the worst of my apathy 0 -
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