Ribble/Campagnolo disc bike. A die hard rim braker's first disc brake build!

[c60rider]

im From the Uk too......round here disc brakes are known as horse scarers......

Oh crap I hadn't even considered that one yet it's bad enough sneaking up with rim brakes!

[c60rider]

A minor thing but I don't like how the front brake cable goes down the same side as the rear but this was about as neat as I could get it

Another option was to leave enough of extra front hose so it goes along the FD housing, but it might rub the head tube. Here's how mine used to look.

Looks good that one but a bit too late for me now. I happy with the look for now but maybe if the hoses ever need to be replaced, and I'm hoping not the outrageous price of them, let's hope some 3rd party ones come onto the market

[c60rider]

I feel for you with your QC issues, but also perhaps you came to this from a position of not wanting to be impressed with the discs? The noise notwithstanding. You wrote that you can get similar braking performance with carbon rims to alloy by braking sooner and squeezing harder. That isn’t similar performance! You’re braking earlier and putting in more effort to do it. I wanted to be super impressed with disc brakes and everything I'd read over the past couple of years had heightened my expectation. Reality for me is that I have seen little perceptible benefit. When I refer to similar performance, I'm meaning purely on braking sensation and stopping power, not the feel of the lever or the effort you have to put into it. Yes disc brakes levers are much lighter for the equivalent braking power you get. But you adjust your riding accordingly. If you grab alloy rims brakes hard there is a surge of stopping power that comes in quickly. For carbon rim brakes I found out you needed to pull hard on them to get good braking power. If you brake the same as you would with alloy rims you won't get the same stopping power. Disc brakes you have a different feel again. Braking hard to me doesn't seem to give any kind of surge it's all much smoother. Is this what they mean by modulation? Is it better? That's just down to personal choice what you like. Ultimately braking ability is down to how well the tyre grips on the road, along with where your weight is positioned amongst many other factors that many on here are far better qualified to explain, but I haven't noticed any perceptible improvement in braking

However I still find your write up of real value.

On the front mech, sometimes you find this and it is usually when the bike has been designed around other components with different geometry (like a shimano front mech). It’s down to the testing the company does or doesn’t do.

I am in agreement with you throughout though - sort of. I have disc on a wet weather bike for 5 years. They are cable actuated hydraulics. They are really good. No rubbing, easy to adjust and great feel. They squealed a lot to begin with, but a switch to metallic pads as good as cured that. Stopping is far better than alloy rim brakes in the wet.

I don’t have any bikes with alloy rims and daul pivots anymore. My summer bike has carbon rims and dual pivots. Braking is fine, not as good as the wet weather bike (in any condition) but perfectly good. I have, however, delaminated a carbon rim in the mountains using carbon clinchers. So it is a system I’m wary of on longer prolonged braking efforts. Yes I've read a lot about this one and that was another reason to go with disc brakes as I might like to do some mountain riding and I wouldn't be confident doing that with carbon rim brakes

[c60rider]

Another one here that prefers rim brakes for road bikes. Boras with Campag dual pivots just work as good as I need them to work and it’s a simple and light system, spot on for the application.

Said that, your problem with Campag discs is strange as what you have there is the best disc system money can buy right now. Try changing pads and cleaning the discs with isopropyl alcohol or acetone.


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I haven't had the chance to ride in the wet, now I've done what I do with car brake pads and that's with the anti seize on the back of the pads. I read somewhere in my searching that it worked for someone so I'm optimistic it will help. The thing with the brakes when it's wet is if I have to brake for more than a few seconds, and hard, resulting in enough heat generated in the discs then the noise will go away so it seems to be the wet that the issue is with.

[Mr.Gib]

Great write up and impressive effort to overcome so many problems.

But what at total piece of shit. Shit frame, shit seatpost, and extra shit service from Ribble. You have a lot more patience and tolerance than most. Karma seriously owes you a good turn for this nonsense. Glad that it rides well.

About the lack of braking power. With some more time and some super hard braking efforts, you may find that the power eventually comes on big time. I've had that with all of my disc bikes when new and whenever I have changed pads. Depending on brake, caliper, rotor combination, the bedding in process may take more that a few stops. And FYI, if you only ever apply the brakes lightly they may never get to full stopping power. The pads just sort of get polished or glazed when used like that. My 110 lb cautions wife has this problem.

[wheelbuilder]

Great write up man....... you did lots of problem solving which is always fun to read about when written well. Nice work!

[spdntrxi]

Great write up and impressive effort to overcome so many problems.

But what at total piece of shit. Shit frame, shit seatpost, and extra shit service from Ribble. You have a lot more patience and tolerance than most. Karma seriously owes you a good turn for this nonsense. Glad that it rides well.

About the lack of braking power. With some more time and some super hard braking efforts, you may find that the power eventually comes on big time. I've had that with all of my disc bikes when new and whenever I have changed pads. Depending on brake, caliper, rotor combination, the bedding in process may take more that a few stops. And FYI, if you only ever apply the brakes lightly they may never get to full stopping power. The pads just sort of get polished or glazed when used like that. My 110 lb cautions wife has this problem.

I totally agree.. op has alot of patience.

[c60rider]

Great write up and impressive effort to overcome so many problems.

But what at total piece of shit. Shit frame, shit seatpost, and extra shit service from Ribble. You have a lot more patience and tolerance than most. Karma seriously owes you a good turn for this nonsense. Glad that it rides well.

About the lack of braking power. With some more time and some super hard braking efforts, you may find that the power eventually comes on big time. I've had that with all of my disc bikes when new and whenever I have changed pads. Depending on brake, caliper, rotor combination, the bedding in process may take more that a few stops. And FYI, if you only ever apply the brakes lightly they may never get to full stopping power. The pads just sort of get polished or glazed when used like that. My 110 lb cautions wife has this problem.

Thank you I know a lot of the issues have now gone and was related purely to the build up of it, but it's the noise of the brakes more than anything where the problem is. I did spend quite some time following the Sram bedding in process amongst others. I even did it on my rollers with the brake held on for periods to melt pad substance onto the disc (as that's basically what you're trying to do as with new car discs/pads). It's noticeable that there was a slow change to the surface so I will just do this a bit more. It does seem like deglazing the discs is something that will help.

[tarmackev]

When discs work well on the bike is good they are phenomenal. My CX bike 6800 disc brakes I can lock up using my little finger.

When they don’t work it’s a nightmare, I had issues with Rival hydro disc brakes, eventually sorted.

Regardless of the performance when it comes to fine tuning and working out quirks rim brakes are incredibly easy compared to discs.


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[Leviathan]

Great write up and impressive effort to overcome so many problems.
About the lack of braking power. With some more time and some super hard braking efforts, you may find that the power eventually comes on big time. I've had that with all of my disc bikes when new and whenever I have changed pads. Depending on brake, caliper, rotor combination, the bedding in process may take more that a few stops. And FYI, if you only ever apply the brakes lightly they may never get to full stopping power. The pads just sort of get polished or glazed when used like that. My 110 lb cautions wife has this problem.

I agree, and would add that as disc brakes (or mine, at least) "just work" without perhaps the same level of feedback as rim systems, sometimes youve got to trust the process more. Ive an alloy-rimmed-braked bike, and a disc brake one, and ride them both.
My mechanic when giving me the disc bike said "now go to sa Colobra and do the 10kms descent as fast as you can" to really get what the brakes felt like, but I had to give it more time to really trust them. And even now, when I like disc brakes and happily use them, Im not convinced they are worth the noise when they get wet, hassle, and lack of easy "fixability" in comparison to my Fulcrum zeros which stop like a Geordie in front of a free bar.

[Mep]

Appreciate the honest review. Nice to see your candid reactions to all kinds of situations! How much of your frustration do you think stemmed from being unfamiliar with disc, and how much of it from a realization that it's not what you wanted/needed?

Seems you've missed my question, so I'll ask again. Genuinely curious to hear your thoughts.

[bm0p700f]

Surely ribble has a responsibility to provide the frame with the mounts faced. One reason why I stopped selling bikes and frames is the amount of time i had to spend sorting out build issues.

If its any consolation c60rider my disc brake bike squeal in the wet too. Some pads though are more prone to this. EBC pads squeal less. If the mounts have been faced then the only other thing apart from the pads would be the frame itself. It is possible the when braking your frame and fork cant dampen the vibration and rotors then start to sing. It may not be the brakes fault.

As for braking, disc brakes dont seem to offer the same sharp bite but you stop as quickly. They feel different and that's what probably you have noticed.
The lack of rim wear will be nice though. I can chew through rims in 4000km during the wet months.

[c60rider]

Appreciate the honest review. Nice to see your candid reactions to all kinds of situations! How much of your frustration do you think stemmed from being unfamiliar with disc, and how much of it from a realization that it's not what you wanted/needed?

Seems you've missed my question, so I'll ask again. Genuinely curious to hear your thoughts.

Sorry I did see that one earlier and missed the reply. I think if the brakes had been as good as my expectation had been lead to believe by all the reviews and feedback by disc brake users then it may have been an acceptable end outcome. But the lack of any significant benefit up to now was just the icing on a crap cake but certainly during the build there was incredible frustration which was totally to do with disc brakes that would never have been present with rim brakes. I don't think it was just to do with my unfamiliarity with discs just that they were incredibly fiddly to set up and still have a tendency to rub on the rotor after just taking a wheel in/ out. I've found getting a plastic tyre lever in between the pads to open them up a bit more seems to sort that. Another thing I forgot with this build is when coming to mount the calipers I couldn't find the rear bolts. Only to discover you purchase these separately with the length determined by the thickness of your stays. Again it's totally my fault but not something you'd ever think about before hand unless you had built one before.
I think if the discs bed in better and I can eliminate the howling then the bike as a whole will grow on me in time and do what it was intended which was to have a top end wet weather bike.

[c60rider]

Not sure how I missed this critical piece of information but the weight.... 8.6kg which I'm somewhat disappointed with. Mudguards are bluemels which account for about 500g then it's the discs that add the rest of the bulk. I was expecting nearer 8kg seeing as my c60 is 7kg with a similar spec and frame weight.

[Mep]

I think if the discs bed in better and I can eliminate the howling then the bike as a whole will grow on me in time and do what it was intended which was to have a top end wet weather bike.

Good answer, makes sense now that you have it anyway, fingers crossed that the noise will go away and the pain would've been worth it. Thanks for the response!