Disc brakes in the Pro ranks.

smoggysteve

If a rider deliberately nudges a rider into a tree or off the track that's not "just racing" they are likely to get reprimanded and probably disqualified. If a coming together happens cos of a racing incident that was non deliberate then that's different. But in those cases in sprints it's usually from riders trying to get into non existant gaps and again their own decision to take up that position. No one deliberately decides to push others into static obstacles, well I seriously hope not anyway.

meanredspider

Yeah - I didn't say it's deliberate but it happens and happens pretty often. I don't bike race but I car race and we rely entirely on each other to prevent potentially fatal and certainly very expensive accidents. That doesn't mean they don't happen because, even as club racers, we are, by definition, competitive. Our competitive spirit is nothing compared to professional cyclists.

My point is that there are loads of accidents in professional bike racing and plenty of real hazards. If we accept that neither pro race "disc incident" wasn't caused by discs (which seems certain in one case and highly likely in the other) then there are hazards significant enough for people to think that they were "lethal discs" that were nothing to do with discs at all. And, unless I'm mistaken, there haven't been many disc races. So, there are plenty of "lethal" hazards out there.

But we've got away from the point. We already know that there are plenty of external hazards in bike races. Yet everyone wants to point at discs when there's no evidence they're even a hazard. It's a funny old world.

flasher

meanredspider wrote:

But we've got away from the point. We already know that there are plenty of external hazards in bike races. Yet everyone wants to point at discs when there's no evidence they're even a hazard. It's a funny old world.

Of course there are hazards that you have no control over, the races are on roads, discs are a potential hazard that riders can control.

apreading

I like the video here:

http://www.velonews.com/2017/02/video/v ... cut_431182

but more importantly here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-p5WPanJXA

Most of the videos I see have a wheel spinning but no momentum to simulate the force keeping it spinning on the road. Having someone continue to pedal is more realistic.

Note he has to hold the meat against it with some pressure for a significant amount of time to do any significant damage. Then the shoe takes some serious deliberate effort to do more than just scuff the surface. When it does eventually cut, its not a clean cut, its quite ragged.

Even though more proof was not needed for those looking with open eyes, more proof has pretty well been supplied here.

And if there are added risks, and even though they are clearly not as significant as suggested in light of videos like this, surely any assessment should also take into account that they reduce risk significantly under braking, especially on long steep descents and even more so in the wet. I would suggest they improve safety, not decrease it.

gweeds

http://road.cc/content/news/218214-tom- ... -newspaper

yorkshireraw

Gweeds wrote:

http://road.cc/content/news/218214-tom-boonen-says-he-can-stop-disc-brake-rotor-60kph-his-hand-so-belgian-newspaper

That's great Tom, but your biggest challenge at the moment appears to be remaining upright on your bicycle, disc brakes or not.

kleinstroker

Are we there yet?

Mad_Malx

Will today be the first yellow jersey with discs?

kleinstroker

Mad_Malx wrote:

Will today be the first yellow jersey with discs?

Looks like. Gaviria was riding a disc bike yesterday wasn't he & Sagan will be on discs for every stage except the cobbles

Vino'sGhost

i still find discs on a road bike fugly with the exception that the lack of brake cable at the front looks better.

looks like theyre here to stay though

larkim

And as we all know, the most important thing about brakes is that they look good.

kleinstroker

Gaviria's Venge for Stage 2

gweeds

Interesting that they’re still using Pioneer PM’s and DA chainsets over Specialized’s own ones.

ben@31

Gweeds wrote:

Interesting that they’re still using Pioneer PM’s and DA chainsets over Specialized’s own ones.

Pioneer must pay the team more ?

FocusZing

DeVlaeminck

A few years on still lots of rim brakes in the peloton. Given lots top end bikes are disc only now and pretty much all at least have the option is it riders, mechanics or DSs that are choosing rim calipers. I know Lotto see the weight as an advantage but surely pretty much all could hit the weight limit easily enough?

rick_chasey

DeVlaeminck said:

A few years on still lots of rim brakes in the peloton. Given lots top end bikes are disc only now and pretty much all at least have the option is it riders, mechanics or DSs that are choosing rim calipers. I know Lotto see the weight as an advantage but surely pretty much all could hit the weight limit easily enough?

Not sure they always can to be honest.

Hence rim brakes.

I think @dish_dash rides a pretty top end Bianche and he’s got a kilo or so to lose before he hits the minimum weight limit, for example

50x11

Considering they have to ride unpainted frames to keep the weight down, I don't think they could use disks. Also look at the best recent example, Trek ruined their lightweight climbing bike by making it disc only. Over 7kg lightest build.

zest28

Disc brakes are terrible. Obviously the marketing teams paid Ineos and Jumbo-Visma with their rim brake bikes to let Alaphilippe win today and take the yellow jersey.

webboo

zest28 said:

Disc brakes are terrible. Obviously the marketing teams paid Ineos and Jumbo-Visma with their rim brake bikes to let Alaphilippe win today and take the yellow jersey.

You really are a lot of a tw@t you are not supposed to put results in anything but the spoilers thread.

First.Aspect

webboo said:

zest28 said:

Disc brakes are terrible. Obviously the marketing teams paid Ineos and Jumbo-Visma with their rim brake bikes to let Alaphilippe win today and take the yellow jersey.

You really are a lot of a tw@t you are not supposed to put results in anything but the spoilers thread.

Yes that's saved me an hour this evening.

fenix

Yeah me too. Thanks Muppet.

david37

zest28 said:

Disc brakes are terrible. Obviously the marketing teams paid Ineos and Jumbo-Visma with their rim brake bikes to let Alaphilippe win today and take the yellow jersey.

Proof if it were needed that discs are for twats.

bobmcstuff

DeVlaeminck said:

A few years on still lots of rim brakes in the peloton. Given lots top end bikes are disc only now and pretty much all at least have the option is it riders, mechanics or DSs that are choosing rim calipers. I know Lotto see the weight as an advantage but surely pretty much all could hit the weight limit easily enough?

I would have thought that the speed of wheel changes would be the biggest issue for pros.

If you watch any of the GCN pro bike videos they never weigh in close to 6.8, or even below 7 - regardless if it is a disc or rim bike. 7.2-7.5 is common, there are a few over 8.

Obviously as an amateur the wheel change speed is not really an issue since compared to changing the tube etc... and the other benefit of not wearing out your expensive carbon rims by rubbing bits of grit into them doesn't apply to pros either.

DeVlaeminck

I guess aero frames, cockpits, electronic groupsets and wider deep rims has added a bit of weight to your average top end bike as it's not that many years ago some teams were actually adding weights to bikes to keep them above the limit.

m.r.m.

Correct. Currently it's hardly possible to get to 6.8 kg without sacrificing aero.

yourpaceormine

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned (CBA trawling through 28 pages), how are the pro peleton disc wheels fixed skewerwise? I'm still very much a rim brake user with QR skewers.

Watching today's Tour stage I've noticed a couple of wheel changes with the mechanic using a cordless drill type affair. But it looks like Cousin's wheels (Total Direct Energie) have QR levers.

Matti66

Qr Through axels?

yourpaceormine

D'oh!
Forgotten about thru axles.

wongataa

yourpaceormine said:

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned (CBA trawling through 28 pages), how are the pro peleton disc wheels fixed skewerwise? I'm still very much a rim brake user with QR skewers.

Through Axle.