Originally Posted by
surak
By "degenerative," do you mean dropping cash on a structural component -- the brake track -- that wears out?
The lack of clearance on road rim brakes also means you have to run pretty narrow tires to actually get the most aero benefit out of the wheels, meaning less comfort and potentially higher rolling resistance if you can't run lower pressure due to risk of pinch flatting.
Yeah exactly, the brake track will wear out and the entire thing may run the risk of delamination.
I think with variable mainline rim brakes like Shimano 105, Ultegra, Tiagra etc. clearance shouldn't be a major issue if reasonably sized tires are used.