seypat

Kool Stop is making disc pads now. I guess that means discs are indeed, mainstream.

Rides4Beer

Of course I can't find a picture of it now, but the new Fuji Transonic disc has a nice lil flare/fairing built into the fork, and a recess in the rear triangle for the rear caliper. Some thought def went into the design.

Sy Reene

Are they salmon colored?

noodle soup

SwissStop also makes disc brake pads.

seypat

Here you go:

Kool Stop International - High Performance Bicycle Brake Pads Since 1977

noimagination

In my case, you're right, I don't care, much.

The aesthetics bother me a bit, I find the appearance of a bike with discs somewhat jarring, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I've (mostly) gotten used to sloping top tubes, bulbous head tubes, big diameter frame tubes, aero rims, etc.

Personally, my single bikes have rim brakes and I've never had a problem stopping, but I don't ride huge mountains, I don't have carbon wheels, and in the wet I just slow down and I start braking earlier to compensate for wet rims.

I do like the mechanical disc brakes I have on our tandem. There was a learning process entailed in changing the disc brake pads, but even the first time didn't take any longer than changing/adjusting the canti brakes on my tourer.

Seattle Forrest

The most surprising thing about this entire thread is how many cyclists ride in flat places. Apparently we're talking flat like a pancake, not flat like a waffle. That makes me sad. All of you need to come out here and ride across the North Cascades this summer. After Washington Pass you get a 45 minute descent into wildflowers and great restaurants.

Atlas Shrugged

How about the propensity for people to ride much smaller frames than in the past followed by extended seatposts, plenty of head tube spacers and riser stems. I have gotten used to Disc brakes but not the small frame thing. So many times I see people posting glamour shots of their bikes on this forum with stems cranked to the moon and I need to accept this is the new pretty.

seypat

I agree. It's very hard to look at over a foot of seatpost.

noodle soup

You won’t find that look accepted here.

eduskator

Agree. Pros also ride similar setups, which makes me believe that there is an advantage somewhere (most likely in performance).

On my end, I opted for a ML frame instead of a L for reasons of availability. According to the sizing chart, my height and inseam, I was in between the two sizes. My seatpost & stems are raised, but not as much as other cyclists I meet on roads.

Cypress

S l a m m e d

eduskator

Gotta love that SL frame's integrated seat-post! Your stem is definitively lower than mine, but the seat-post height looks similar. Probably just the angle of the picture

Cypress

I love the ISP...now. I didn't love it so much when I had to take a hacksaw to my brand new top-shelf frame module on three separate occasions to get the seat height set correctly

eduskator

This was one of my concerns when I saw it at my LBS. I mean, it's not that bad if you don't cut enough, but it's another story if you cut too much of it...

Is there any adjustment on the seat clamp or is it a hit or miss kind of thing?

Cypress

The frame comes with a bunch of aluminum ISP spacers of every thickness. The idea is you cut it close to where you want it, then shim the ISP under the mast topper. I ended up cutting mine so close to where I wanted it that I sanded about 0.25 mm off of the post itself, covered the exposed carbon it in clear nail polish, and run it with no spacers. I'd say a person could make up about an inch with the spacers before it reaches the max-spacer mark. The topper is meant to rest on something, as the tiny pinch bolt on the topper is only meant to keep the topper and seat from flying off of the ISP or jiggling around when you hit bumps.

seypat

It needs to be said. Those 2 bikes posted above don't look like Giant bikes at all. They both look average size, at best.

I know, don't quit my day job.

Cypress

A friend of mine was in the Navy many years ago. Whenever he'd get new orders, he'd have to make an itemized list of valuables for the moving company to cover potential losses/damage and to get an idea of what kind of container they'd need to request. At one point he put his "Giant bicycle" on the list and got a phone call from the moving company asking "exactly how big is this giant bicycle???"

seypat

That's funny! On a serious note, how is the word "Giant" when referring to the bicycle company actually pronounced? I've heard something on the lines of "Gee-aunt" with a hard G.

Cypress

"Hee-yain't"

seypat

Got it.

noodle soup

too many spacers for it to be "Hot".

Half that is acceptable.

DaveSSS 

I buy the size that gives me a 10cm saddle to bar drop, with a -17 stem and no spacers. If I find the drop to be too much after I'm in my 70's, I can change to a -6 and get the bars 2cm higher.

GreenAnvil

And three days ago Adam Yates blew the doors off of everyone at Jebel Hafeet on a disc-equipped Scott...

tomato coupe

That explains the stock market crash ...