Quick release and disc brakes

Bluejuice

Think Ive settled on a giant contend sl1 disc for my first road bike.

The only thing putting me off is the use of quick release with disc brakes.

QRs with discs were a pain in the arse on my old mtb, thru axle made it much easier to make sure the disc sat in the right place.

Im new to all thing road biking....is this a non issue?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

bbrap

Unfortunately you will get both sides of the argument plus the disc haters. As you have experience of discs with QR and were less than happy I would say go with your gut. I have Thru and as you say the wheel goes back in the same place every time and does not rub. I can live with the extra 10 seconds it takes to get the wheel off and on compared to the QR on my rim bike. Plenty of choice out there for bikes with thru axles.

donboogie

I have a 2015 Giant Defy with QRs front and back and disc brakes. Never been an issue. I have found that the rotor position does not vary when you open/close the QRs, so once you centre the rotor in the caliper, you're good to go.

I also have a TCX with a 15mm TA up front, which I find to be a pain to deal with. There is tight clearance between the axle and the space in the fork.

I am a bit sceptical of the move to TAs for road bikes.

cookeeemonster

So I got a bit of disc rub when I first got mine 2 years ago...then didn't after a couple months for some reason. Been fine since.

Might just have been a case of resetting the brake pistons (might not have been done properly when I got the bike) but can't remember.

Bluejuice

Thanks for the replies, appreciate all the comments.

Bbrap - I will take a look at what else is out there, but the contend sl1 disc tickes lots of boxes for me, disc, 105's and a quality frame for a price that hits the sweat spot of a cycle to work voucher plus a small contribution.

kajjal

In my experience slx or better disc brakes on mountain bikes are fine with QR, the cheaper ones can be problematic. My road bike has r785 disc brakes which are reworked xt m785 and the rear is QR which is fine.

ayjaycee

I know it's not a road bike but I have got a Specialized Crosstrail (hybrid) with QRs and disc brakes and have never had any such issues.

frisbee

I find through axle quicker than a QR at the front, you don't have to faff around with the lawyer lips.

cycleclinic

Q/R is easier than thru axle to get wheels in and out. I have Q/R on all my disc brake bikes and it is never an issue. There was something wrong with the brakes on you MTB.

paulmon

thecycleclinic wrote:

Q/R is easier than thru axle to get wheels in and out. I have Q/R on all my disc brake bikes and it is never an issue. There was something wrong with the brakes on you MTB.

Easier yes, but chances of rubbage are significantly higher as with QR you cant guarantee you will get the alignment right every time. Through axle solves this issue as the wheel goes back in the same place every time. If I was buying a disc road bike I'd get through axle for this reason alone.

bbrap

thecycleclinic wrote:

Q/R is easier than thru axle to get wheels in and out. I have Q/R on all my disc brake bikes and it is never an issue. There was something wrong with the brakes on you MTB.

I would question whether it is easier or harder, it is just different. On the front the QR lawyers lips as previously stated makes it more of a faff getting it off. In either case you put the wheel in, then tighten the QR or slide in the axle and do it up. Not difficult in either case. However, where you have a thru axle that requires a separate hex key to remove, then I agree that is more of a pain to do, not hard, just an extra tool not normally needed to get wheels off and on.

ZMC888

I've had loads of bikes (MTB's and CX) with QRs and disk brakes, and a few more with thru-axles. I agree that I'd always prefer thru-axles but I've never had a issue with QRs not being seated properly or rubbing that wasn't user error. Lean on the bike squarely as you are tightening any QR and you should have the wheel sitting square in the drop-outs. Make sure you tighten the QR to that same fairly tight but not too much level. Most of the time I had trouble the bike wasn't seated in the the drop-outs properly or I had over or under-tightened the QR.

I have had plenty of annoyances with disk rotors that are out of true, even from new, but that is going to be a problem with whatever axle you have.

Personally I'd prefer to save up or longer for a Defy Advanced 3.

meanredspider

QR on the Volagi and never an issue. I simply don't get this "brake rubbing" thing - the issue would be exactly the same on a rim brake with a misaligned wheel. I'd also happily race someone on removing and replacing a front wheel. A rear wheel would be no contest.
I've also never seen any evidence that TA has any significant impact on fork stiffness.
What you will find is that you probably need adaptors for a turbo (£20-£50 range) and some bike racks and bike stands will need potentially two sets of adaptors for TA.
I have TA on the Renegade and just find it a PITA and of no added value. I also have QR on my MTB and have never once questioned it.

Bluejuice

Thanks for all the comments, appreciate it. Good to hear most dont have an issues with QR and disc.

Ive got a half decent hardtail with hydraulic brakes, the clearance between the pads is very tight which makes it hard to get the disc in the right place after removing the wheel. For blasting around a trail a bit of rub is fine too much other noise to notice it, but out on the road I think it would drive me nuts!

Maybe its just my setup.

ZMC - I'm fighting to keep this close to the £1k mark, but its a struggle, the defy advanced 1 has a great paint job.

Man Of Lard

Another here with QRs and discs without any rubbing (or any other) issue on either the MTB (currently mounted on the turbo ) or the "adventure road" bike

meesterbond

Either way, aren't you looking at a handful of seconds difference, at most. Hardly an issue unless you're racing.

I've got QR on the road bike with discs and have actually found they seat better and more accurately than I found my mountain bikes used to. Thru Axle on a mountain bike does seem to make a bit more sense as it does stiffen the whole front end up. On a road bike, I'm not so sure it makes as much of a difference.

stueys

Not much to add really, I've a disc road bike that I ended up putting my best QR on (shimano DA) as the cheap ones it came with did give me a bit of disc rub mid ride. The shimano QR's on tight make this less of a problem. If I could I would chose a road bike with thru axle, logically it seems a better bet for disc, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.

rolf_f

meanredspider wrote:

QR on the Volagi and never an issue. I simply don't get this "brake rubbing" thing - the issue would be exactly the same on a rim brake with a misaligned wheel.

No, it isn't. The clearances are far tighter between disc pads and the discs than caliper pads and the rim. I've often found on my MTB that I need to loosen and retighten the disc caliper on replacing the wheel - it is an intriguing issue as logically it shouldn't really happen but it does and there you go! Maybe it can happen if just a bit of dirt gets between the dropout and the axle though my MTB is normally embarrassingly clean! The equivalent problem with calipers is more down to dirt causing the arms to not spring back as far as they should. But of course that only occurs when the caliper is dirty or relatively tired - the disc issue can occur any time.

veronese68

I'm another one that's not had an issue with QR and lining the brakes up. I'd have thought making sure the axle is fully engaged in the dropout would do the job. But Rolf is no numpty* so I'm sure he does this. The issue may be exacerbated by cable discs as hydraulics auto-adjust. But MRS had cable for a long time and equally is no numpty*. Maybe the quality of frame and fork have some impact. A poorly aligned frame or fork may be more susceptible to problems in this respect.
But anyway, not a problem I've experienced.

* Apologies if making assumptions about levels of numptiness based upon your posts.

rolf_f

I may be a disc numpty! The brakes are SLX which are noticeably tighter in clearance than the Avids they replaced. Frame alignment ought not to be a problem as the post mounts have a substantial amount of slack available when loose - you certainly can take the rubbing out but the oddity is that having done so, I so often have to re-adjust next time I replace the wheel (maybe I under-torque the caliper and it gets moved when replacing the wheel). I should probably have a close look at the axles and dropout cleanliness but, like I said, the MTB is clean as a pin! Shame I have no spare wheels to compare and contrast with.

meanredspider

Rolf F wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

QR on the Volagi and never an issue. I simply don't get this "brake rubbing" thing - the issue would be exactly the same on a rim brake with a misaligned wheel.

No, it isn't. The clearances are far tighter between disc pads and the discs than caliper pads and the rim. .

Of course the clearances are tighter but the wheel is 4.5x the diameter. An angular misalignment has 4.5x the effect at the rim than at the disc. At the rear, I'd also expect you to be getting shifting issues with a misaligned wheel. Maybe all geared rear wheels need TA....?

But then I've had no issue with either brake system being misaligned.

meanredspider

Veronese68 wrote:

* Apologies if making assumptions about levels of numptiness based upon your posts.

I've no doubt, based upon the attention I get from them, that there are folk on here that don't concur with your assessment, V68