by Dan Gerous on Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:27 pm
I don't remember where I read this, might have been when the disc only Scott Foil or Giant Propel were released or when all the latest tri bikes went disc only... but, apparently discs (rotors and calipers) are in an area where the air is already pretty 'dirty' so adding them supposedly doesn't hurt too much... and then the seatstays and the fork crown areas can be made much slicker to offset any drag penalty from discs. So from the front, bikes with discs can be made as aero as with rim brakes. There's probably a slight penalty in full side wind due to the rotors, perhaps more regarding stability than aerodynamics...
Also, discs add weight, but aero bikes are already not super light and they are used more on flat terrain so discs hurt less than on lighter climbing or all-around bikes. But then, better breaking is more important in the mountains...
Gotta get used to discs guys, most high-end bikes going forward will be designed with discs only.
Last edited by
Dan Gerous on Wed Feb 28, 2018 5:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.