deepakvrao

Serious question.

I have 2 caliper brake road bikes, a carbon and a titanium, and a disc brake gravel bike. Looking to buy a new bike. Why? No real reason . Well, other than the fact that my carbon is an older Pinarello, which is about 8.2kgs.

Looking at Canyon. The disc brake bikes are all about 500 grams heavier [even with the lighter framesets], and of course, more expensive. The Ultegra non disc, weighs in at 7.2kgs.

This bike will see only fair weather riding, on decent tarmac. If the new Ultegra caliper brakes takes 28mm tyres, and this frame can also do that [have to ask them], I don't see myself riding wider tyres.

So, any obvious reason that I am missing?

Also, I will travel with this bike, and the rotors are an additional issue. Will have to remove them for transport. I use a Pika soft bag.

Fox Farm

My caliper brake bikes can throw me over bars if I really hit them hard. But I would say that disks are not a bad idea if you are using carbon wheels. I have experiments with many different brake pads and although they get close, non are as strong when it comes to braking with the carbon wheels as they are with the aluminum rims. Where I live, there are some seriously steep hills so that could be an argument for disks but again, not enough to make me buy a new bike. I have been toying with the idea of a gravel bike in the future and would likely consider a disk version of this as I would likely not be using my regular road wheel sets on that bike so compatibility is not an issue. All of that said, when I went to a disk brake mountain bike in 2003, it was a huge improvement over the V brake bike that it replaced.

ridelikeaturtle

Functionally, two things that stick out to me are: 1) performance, if you're doing anything off-road or mucky, getting the brakes away from the wheel will be better; and 2) longevity, if you're commuting or working (courier?) and doing a lot of miles every day in city traffic, and go through standard pads every 3 months, then maybe discs are better.

Might be nice to get experience of them w/no pressure for them to perform flawlessly, it's always nice to fully understand new technology, maybe you'll absolutely love them for whatever reason; but for the recreational road user, I don't think there's a strong need or advantage.

WhyFi

After getting the gravel bike (with discs, obv), it made sense to me to go road disc as well, so that I could swap wheelsets, and other parts, between the bikes more easily. That and I just liked the braking performance more (this is with hydro).

If you need to remove the rotors for transport, def get some Centerlock hubs/rotors.

Campag4life

Purely for on road riding, the only reason IMO is if you do a lot of hills with high speed descending. I would own a disc brake bike in a heartbeat in these conditions and as mentioned, this removes the brake track from a carbon rim which is desirable to reduce weight for climbing.

But I live in flat country so prefer the simplicity and lower cost of rim brakes.

I am therefore in the horses for courses camp. Some are more dug in with either or than me but I see the virtue of both brake types depending on riding terrain. Off road including gravel bike, disc every day.

u235

You know your equipment and experience, If you don't see a need than you don't need it..

mcours2006

Correct answer: you don't.

You're welcome

deepakvrao

Thanks guys. Done. Will get the Ultegra rim brake bike. 500 grams and more than 500 Euros saved ;-)

Not ever planning carbon wheels. No riding in dirt and muck, and I would rather have interchangeability with my other road bikes than my gravel bike.

Adonis72

If you don't need it then you don't need it. Only reason I see to have them for me is it allows me to run larger tires. I have no problem with rim brake performance and only have rolling hills near me. I have both, road bike has rim, endurance/gravel bike has disc.

Psychocycles

I think that's a good choice. You already have the disc gravel bike for wet commuting/wet rides and if this bike won't see any carbon rims or wet riding & will be purely tarmac and you don't live in the Dolomites, I think rims are perfectly ok. Not to mention that as the entire industry shifts towards disc, you may get some good deals on rim brake wheels!

Marcus_Ti

Oh boy...here we go again...

thehammerdog

Same can be asked about needing a carbon bike or power meter or 11 speeds or any upgrade not about NEED but NEWER Better or just because. The industry seems to cater to I WANT NEW but that being said DISC = Better

Seattle Forrest

If you don't even need the bikes, then for sure you don't need it to have any specific type of brakes.

datlas 

Agree. I know not everyone feels that way. You may wish to test-ride a road bike with hydraulic disc brakes sometime to see what you are missing, but I think you will be happy with your choice.