The bike industry has been pushing disc brakes for road bikes for some time now - lobbying the UCI to allow them on professional race bikes, and doing everything they can to convince the rest of us of their unparalleled greatness. Seriously - the hypesters would have you believe that if you aren't buying a new bike with disc brakes, you're a danger to yourself and others.
Back in April, the UCI finally set up a timetable for approving disc brakes in the pro ranks - starting with the current "trial period" to run through August and September of this year, with another trial period in the 2016 season, then a planned full adoption in 2017.
Trek Factory Racing will have a rider on Shimano disc brakes at the Vuelta a España. The team's press officer, Tim Vanderjeugd, has said, "The goal is to find out what disc brakes bring to racing. We don't know if disc brakes are really an advantage in a race situation. . . We'll cherry pick some stages and try to find answers."
Apparently, one of the difficulties in applying disc brakes to the pro peloton is getting the bikes ready for the discs. Most of the sponsoring bike manufacturers have disc-brake models in their lineups, but they often are "endurance bikes" that have different, less-aggressive geometry than the racing bikes that the riders typically use for competition (another example of the increasingly narrow-segmented niche marketing the industry has been moving into). The other issue is that some of the disc brake wheel systems use proprietary hub spacing -- some are as wide as 142 mm in back in order to accommodate 11 cogs and the brake disc. Then there is the whole quick-release vs. thru-axle question. And even with the thru-axles, there are questions about 12 mm axles vs. 15 mm axles. All of these various incompatibilities make the issue of neutral support wheels a real headache.
While the response to the current trial period seems tepid so far, I have no doubt that we'll see more of this nonsense next year. Will someone wake me up when it's over?
Incompatibility issues with bottom brackets are gonna be multiplied by incompatibility issues with different brakes. Each big brand is heading the way of making proprietary components, dividing and segmenting what is already segmented into pieces. Big names are already making incompatible rim brakes, the same you'll see with discs too very soon.
ReplyDelete120, 126, 130, 142... You try to buy 7-speed cassete these days...
I don't like where it goes.
When three quarters of the bikes in the world (and probably 95 percent of those actually ridden daily) have either rod or coaster brakes, this seems even more like a tempest in a teapot. My rim brakes work just dandy, thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteI recently bought a fairly spry touring bike with mech disc brakes, because the used bike was a good deal and I figured I'd learn how to service them and develop an opinion. I can think of no good reason to use them in road racing situations except maybe something having to do with tubeless composite rims beyond my understanding. I'm getting more fond of the discs than I expected for my own use, primarily because I'm so dang heavy and ride in a hilly town in traffic, but even there my cantis were and are just fine. And if you ride narrower tires, disc brakes feel almost exactly like a decent set of in-line canti/V brakes. I'm enjoying learning something new, but I still think there's nothing like the sweetness of Kool Stop pads on a clean rim. Of course, if I didn't, I wouldn't read this blog.
ReplyDeleteI do think rod and coaster brakes are best in flat locales. A bit too mushy for comfort otherwise, at least for those of us heftier than 200 lbs.
Just an FYI 142 is the axle width so the spacing stays the same.
ReplyDeleteGot me there, Fred. Though, to say it "stays the same" is kind of open to interpretation. I mean, same as what? 135 (which was MTB territory), not 130. And it is still another new "standard" that is incompatible with others that are out there. Anyhow, thanks -- I learned something new.
DeleteSorry, Brooks, I should have clarified. With 12x142 the axle gets wider (and thicker 12 > 10) but the dropout spacing remains the same, this means that with the wider 11 speed freehub the flange spacing stays just as narrow as with a 135 QR rear. This opens the door for a new "standard" called Boost 148. Disk brakes do offer incremental improvement but spending big $ on a disk brake road bike right now seems risky as there is no way of knowing if a new "better" system won't come along next model year. Bikes have improved a lot in the past 30 years, but at the end of the day it's all about the engine :-) plus old bikes just plain look better :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to keep all the new "standards" straight, isn't it? I'd be so hesitant about buying any big-dollar new bike today with all the latest tech - knowing that a lot of it could be rendered obsolete in another year or two.
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