The issue isn't so much ultimate stopping power, its that rim brakes on carbon rims, even very good rim/pad combos, tend to lack modulation, particularly in the wet. Its way to easy to go from nothing to sliding at the same amount of lever pull as the rim surface clears of the slime.

Discs would eliminate this to a large extent, as would using alloy rims in the wet.

TOC coverage has to be the worst I have seen in many years. Australia only has Tour Down Under and it's coverage is usually excellent.

Yeah, but TdU is the ONLY international sporting event watched anywhere outside Australia.

*tongue in cheek*

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My only (100% subjective) complaint AGAINST disc brakes on the road: I have 5 wheelsets (ultralight, aero, training etc) which I regularly swap around my 3 bikes. To switch them all to disc brakes would demand an investment I'm in no way ready to make. That way, I'm going to avoid disc brakes as long as I can (just as I've managed with 11 speed drivetrains so far...) Eventually it might happen, but definitely neither in 2015 nor in 2016 or even 2017.

I'd agree that there are still lots of aero questions, but the one direct comparison I have seen - Cuprit's head to head windtunnel of their own bike with both types of brake - does not look good, even if it's not a full answer.
Disc brake model testing with 80g-200g more drag depending on yaw.
The same sort of difference between a good mid depth carbon clincher and a box rim wheel

http://road.cc/content/feature/83327-di ... -more-aero

Maybe the UCI is actually trying to slow down road races, hence less aero...

Like they did in F1? Smaller engines, less downforce and all that jazz led to the 2004 records still stand to this day.

I'd really hate to see cyclists limited like this(i.e. raising the weight limit) by the UCI.


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I imagine you could be somewhat more adventurous with rim profiles when there was no need for a braking surface of any kind.

i averaged the yaw data for -10, -5, 0, 5, and 10 deg for the road bike (larger yaw is relatively rare at race speed except on exposed sea shores, or handling becomes a bigger issue than raw power/drag). I then adjusted from 30 mph to 45 kph, which is more relevant to me.

The result was 12.7 watt difference between the disk brakes and the rim brakes.

So the conclusion would be if you care that much about brake modulation why not go to a metal braking surface on the rim? There's a significant weight penalty for the disk brakes anyway. Comparing carbon-to-carbon isn't a fair comparison: should compare at the same net weight. I never ride on carbon wheels unless I'm racing (which is mostly uphill these days, where brakes aren't of much use anyway).

The curious thing is I was up at the top of Mount Diablo on Saturday and I was surprised to see around 40% of the bikes I saw there were carbon rims.

The Road.cc article does say there's room for improvement in aero design of disk brake systems.

In any case, this discussion makes me want to try a disk brake system. Maybe my friend will let me give his Salsa Vaya a quick spin.

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Niels Albert retiring Great rider, pity for him.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/niels-a ... t-problems

Seems that there's been a bit more in the news regarding cardiac arrhythmia which is probably a good thing as more health checks are discovering problem before they could become fatal.

Life is too short, I ride my carbon wheels all the time. Whats the fun in locking the nice shiny things up?

one thing: classic brakes are easier to maintain. why further complicate what works so flawlessly? for amateur users, like myself, i absolutely don't see any justification to go hydraulic. better stopping power? thanks, i don't think i need anything 'better' than DA.

it's a bit like with phones - who really uses all the functions and features of, say, an iphone? producers throw in more and more, because they can, not because we really need them to.

as for pros racing/training on them - i bet most of them don't give a damn what they ride. they use whatever their teams provide them with, whatever they HAVE TO use, might as well be electronics, hydraulics, or whatever comes next. UCI will eventually legalize them, but it's the customers who'll vote with their wallets.

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If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a.... clean cyclist!

Former 2 times world champion Niels Albert quits CX as a result of heart disease, discovered during pre-season testing.



The sport and I will miss him dearly!

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Exactly tymon. I have no problem locking up my wheels if I need to. Stopping power isn't an issue with classic brakes. Now, if they some how are able to design ABS into disc brakes, now that might be something. But then it becomes more expensive and more complex.

you guys are forgetting one important thing. normal brakes on road bicycle looks the ILLEST. Life is too short to build and ride ugly bicycles. Doesn't matter how a bicycle performs in real life. Only internet picture performance matters.

buying an iphone cuz it's the fastest processor or most flawless design? heck no, bought it so that when I walked into my starbucks after with my 10mi bike ride wearing rapha pro team brevet stunting, that baristas making my mocchiattos will be like, dang dat iphone 5s chrome case big gucci mane baller.

disc brakes do not make me wanna turn pro. It's dat all white specialized sworks shoe custom leather ratchet instep lyfe that appeals to me.

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