Originally Posted by
Hermes
Trying to be helpful and not snarky... what is the availability of a replacement brain, collarbone, shoulder, wrist, elbow and etc? Speaking for me, those parts are unavailable as exact replacements or not at all. A ride in the ambulance to the ER to get checked out is expensive and many times not covered by insurance or out of network.
IMO, the race bike selection should be the bike that you are most comfortable and confident on that delivers the highest degree of margin in races. Replacement of a racing bicycle, even and expensive one, is small potatoes compared to getting you repaired.
What I do is race the best equipment I have where I have the most confidence in. Having said all that, having a great backup race bike is perfectly fine.
point taken. I've been fortunate to have not been part of a crash bad enough to be seriously injured. I think that's largely attributed to when I fall, all my processing power goes into how to protect me, not my bike. For me, having some bad stuff happen to the bike is a lot more likely.
also, disc brake has clear advantages over rim brakes in terms of rider comfort during training, but not necessarily in racing. rim brakes are still marginally faster.