Worried by industry pro disk brake propaganda filtering through cycle media

[wwnick]

what I think about disk brakes is, that, it is great to see more choice.
what I don't like about disc brakes is that very soon they may be the only choice.

[Rush]

or a 2 wheeler, nobody will stop you

For people that want to ride a bike fast on a sealed road, we should all be riding carbon fibre monocoque. From an engineering and cost point of view it's the most efficient and elegant solution.

The UCI has a lot to answer for. I predict the first manufacturer to take on the UCI with mass-produced monocoques will cause a revolution, similar to Giant and 'compact' frames and hydro discs for racing.

That Lotus bike was a great example of where 1990's engineering design from a blank sheet of paper arrived at the optimum bicycle. 20 years later and we are still farting around with two triangles FFS.

For the record I have a custom titanium 'two triangle' bike as by go-fast roadie but if I could buy a proper carbon monocoque tomorrow I would.

[Calnago]

what I think about disk brakes is, that, it is great to see more choice.
what I don't like about disc brakes is that very soon they may be the only choice.

This. I don't know about "very soon", but definitely this.

[kytyree]

kill it with fire

And launch the ashes into the Sun!!

[gewichtweenie]

Fatal lack in understanding of normative social influence there gewichtweenie.

so what is it that you want that is not available ?

maybe todays bikes are merely a jazzed up version of early 1900s tech because the ethos of bikes havent changed - elegantly simplistic devices. belt drive and direct drives and internal hubs and have come and gone or come and petered out. not because they didnt get the UCI push. because they proved to be less effective.



i mean, are we going to blame (or praise) the FIA for the state of automobiles today?

[maddog 2]

27.5 is better than 26, if that's relevant. And discs are better than rim brakes too.

[Lewn777]

27.5 is better than 26, if that's relevant. And discs are better than rim brakes too.

Yes 27.5 is better than 26 over the right 2km course by 2 seconds with a pro rider. Disks are better than rim brakes in the wet. Questions are, are you riding in the wet or are you a pro rider?

If you ride MTB and you bought into 27.5, you sucka. Now all those wheels, all those spares all those tires will be phased out and you'll be forced to get inline with the 29er program, from XC to DH. And 29er there's nothing wrong with that if 1. You already have a 29er 2. You work in the cycle industry and get free bikes to ride/test whenever 3. You're a noob rider with no preference other than the salesman told you it was the best.

Problem comes when you are a veteran rider with thousands of $$$$ invested in other standards and wheel sizes, you've been had.

[MoPho]

I'm really pissed that the television industry forced plasma and LCD screen TV's on us, CRT was good enough and now all my TV's are obsolete. Bastids are just out to make money!

[MoPho]

Problem comes when you are a veteran rider with thousands of $$$$ invested in other standards and wheel sizes, you've been had.

.... Or you can just keep riding what you have and not worry about it


(and disc brakes are better in the dry too)



.

[AJS914]

The thing that might save rim brakes is the wheel change problems for the pro peloton. Even if they decide on a thruaxel standard, you still have rotor alignment issues. There's no way to open up a caliper on the fly to free up a binding/rubbing rotor.

[Vjl]

Been on carbon clinchers since they came out. Been on S-Works Venge disc for last 6 months, I will never go back to non-disc.

[BeeSeeBee]

It would be great if some publication would conduct some decent brake testing, especially now that we've got the big three road group manufacturers with disc designs.

Throw some HED Black, Mavic Exalith, Campy/Fulcrum PEO (all actual modern rim brake technology), along with some carbon clinchers and a standard aluminum rim in there so we actually have a frame of reference.

How many brake track revisions have we gone through now, without any clear hierarchy?

but nah, I want more quick tips, clickbait articles, and parroted PR statements, as is the cycling journalism standard!

[TonyM]

Problem comes when you are a veteran rider with thousands of $$$$ invested in other standards and wheel sizes, you've been had.

.... Or you can just keep riding what you have and not worry about it

No, you can worry because you always need some spare parts of you ride a lot (by this I mean all year long and by all weather conditions etc...) but after a few years you can't get spare parts for the top models.
This is the case for example for "old" Dura Ace parts, they are not available to buy anymore, you just get a standard spare part.
And for old Campa parts that's even worse I heard.

Now this is a common situation but the OP is pointing out that this situation may arise sooner than in the past because the industry is changing the standards more often - yes it is marketing. The more often you change the better for the $ industry. That's the game

[MoPho]

No, you can worry because you always need some spare parts of you ride a lot (by this I mean all year long and by all weather conditions etc...) but after a few years you can't get spare parts for the top models.
This is the case for example for "old" Dura Ace parts, they are not available to buy anymore, you just get a standard spare part.
And for old Campa parts that's even worse I heard.

Now this is a common situation but the OP is pointing out that this situation may arise sooner than in the past because the industry is changing the standards more often - yes it is marketing. The more often you change the better for the $ industry. That's the game

By the time you won't be able to get spare parts, you likely won't care anymore. Are you still complaining about moving on from friction shifters, 5-speed cassettes, etc? Should bike companies just cease to innovate then? Or is it only innovation when it is something that you (et al) have "deemed" as being worthy?
Unless you are some small niche builder with a waiting list that will keep you going for years, it's innovate or die, that's the way it works for most businesses, whether it bikes, cars, electronics, appliances, etc., it is not some nefarious plan to screw people out of their money.
And having thousands of $$$ tied up in spare wheel sets and other standards is not a problem a lot of people have, silly to think bike/component manufacturers should abandon innovation to appease a minority of people. If there ends up being a demand for rim brake spares, and there likely will, it will be supported.
And up until about 6 years ago I rode the same bike for 16 years and I can still find parts for it. Several bikes later and I now have a disc brake TCR and love it, have not found any of the "issues" people like to go on about to be true and like the commenter above I will not be going back

[maddog 2]

Here we go... if you want to think that rim brakes are as good as discs (dry wet whatever) then go for it. I won't be able to persuade you.

Same goes for 27.5 vs 26.