Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
BTW: I've ridden the Defy Advanced. Carbon frame, discs and 105 components. 32mm (fat) tires. Anyway, the bike was around 20 pounds with porky heavy wheels, and it all rode like a farm tractor. I thought that the wide tires would make this bike super stable, but it was still sketchy above 20mph on the gravel in the Yukon. The crappy chip-seal roads were almost as jarring as riding on my other bike with 25s. And this performance coming from a $3k bike.
Anyway, here is the point: current road bikes are sluggish pigs due to weight burden of discs, and especially the heavy rims and tires. Plus the high-Q of the current cranksets are biomechanically inefficient, as are wide 142mm chainstays. But if you have to shove 13 cogs plus discs in the rear stays, then I guess you have to go wide in the rear. Plus thru-axles are an unnecessary PITA.
My $1,500 Allez with rim brakes allowed me to travel everywhere that the Defy did. It was also lighter and felt much more responsive.
That's quite a sweeping generalization, and without much merit, considering it's based your experience with one bike that had "porky heavy wheels." I hate to break it to you, but there are many, many disc brake road bikes that would make your Allez feel like a "sluggish pig."