prj71

They add about 300 grams. And when everyone in TDF or other bike races is using disc brake bikes, that puts everyone on the same playing field.

prj71

Those are nice articles and what not, but just know that all of major bike manufacturers will be offering nothing but disc brakes on their road bikes soon. Go look at Trek, Specialized, Giant...95% of their bikes are disc brakes.

Germany_chris

There are a couple really good cable disk brake calipers out there (yes I know the hydraulic folks are going to argue) but the problem really isn't disc v. rim is hydraulic v. cable.

==edit==
I think most of the arguments here could also be made with square taper v. external bearing BB's

smd4

I've heard that at Shimano, all research on rim brake technology was halted at least a year or two ago.

bocobiking

Yep, until everyone owns disc brakes. Then they will need to invent the next big thing to keep the profits rolling. Or, maybe rim brakes will again be touted. Just as long as everybody will need to buy a whole new bike.

tomato coupe

A lot of us had forgotten that disc brakes are just a Big Bike conspiracy. Thanks for reminding us!

Kapusta

Disc brakes are a Big Bike conspiracy to sell bikes with better brakes.

rsbob 

Selling bikes is a conspiracy to kill the automotive industry which in turn is a conspiracy to kill the gasoline industry which in turn is a conspiracy to kill air pollution which is a conspiracy to reduce childhood asthma. Any questions?

Jeff Neese

Of course most of their bikes are disc brakes - they big three have been marketing the hell out them for years. How do you get people to buy a new bicycle when they have a perfectly good one already? Convince them that something is "new and better". Marketing 101.

sjanzeir

Well, there's always Aliexpress...

Atlas Shrugged

How do you know you are not a victim of the grand rim brake conspiracy? Everyone was perfectly happy with their rod brakes and coaster brakes. Then big bike executives took Marketing 101 as part of their VA education grant post WW2 and unleashed rim brakes on the unsuspecting innocent masses.

In fact we need to band together and stand up to this never ending progress and greed. Let’s abandon all brakes and begin dragging our shoes on the ground as was initially intended.

sjanzeir

All anyone ever needed was Ashtabula cranks and a band brake on the rear wheel. There was absolutely nothing wrong with walking the bike up and down a hill.

tkamd73 

262 posts on this topic, wow! Lamenting something that will never happen.
Tim

tomato coupe

Marketing 101:

sjanzeir

By telling them what it is that they don't know they need and that that's what they ought to be wanting to have.

tomato coupe

It's remarkable how everyone that likes disc brakes has been bamboozled by the bicycling manufacturers, but those rim brake guys are all immune to the siren's call.

sjanzeir

Just one of my five bikes (a folding bike, of all things) has disk brakes. And the one with the disk brakes used to be the worst one for stopping power until I upgraded that one with hydraulic binders. All of my rim brake bikes - including an early-1990s, entry-level, gas-pipe roadie that I recently hybridized - can stop on a dime. Only one of those rim-brake bikes I felt a need to upgrade with better rim brakes, and it wasn't because it lacked raw stopping power.

tomato coupe

Yeah, that doesn't really interest me, because Big Bike said I shouldn't listen to people that aren't on board with their marketing pitch. They also said that whenever someone buys a set of rim brakes, a kitten dies.

rsbob 

We should all be riding coaster brakes and not rim or discs. So let the debate stop.

There are a couple of minor issues with coaster brakes though. First if you drop the chain, you have no brake. Second, on very long descents, they can overheat and possibly fail. Have not read about spontaneous combustion though. Coaster brakes do wear and require periodic servicing as well as suffer, just like all brakes, from fade when used on long descents. And one other thing, they take longer to stop since they only slow the rear wheel. But other than that, they are wonderful and will be the next big thing, again. Maybe.

sjanzeir

Those issues are indeed minor, but the major issue with the coaster brake is that it employs the metal-on-metal friction method, which is not only unnecessarily complex, but also inefficient. Everyone knows that the best braking method is the common-sense, scientifically proven, tried-and-trusted shoe-sole-on-tire-tread friction method. Not only is it effective, but it also is simple and fool-proof.

Sonofamechanic 

Oh, Tim…now that’s not really fair…at least 50 of those posts were on the related topic of steam locomotives and their explosive power, particularly if t-boned by a potato truck….

AlgarveCycling

Disc vs Rim will be a debate that continues until all us oldies who have ridden mostly rim are long gone.

Thing is, there really is no debate when it comes to which stops sooner and which is faster for racing bikes - there is a clear winner overall.

I read the second link and I wouldn't disagree with any of it. I really enjoy riding my rim-braked Wilier and plan on keeping it forever and it benefits from all the good stuff highlighted in the article.

However, my disc-braked bike's stopping power outweighs all the negatives vs rim and so I'm equally happy to see that tech become the norm, which it is doing. Overall, I much prefer discs now albeit I still ride rim too.

Naturally, the argument that a good, optimised rim brake is better than a cheap mech disc should go without say but anything from, say, Shimano 105 up and comparable on road bikes, for example, will stop better than high-end rim - I know, first hand, don't need to read any theoretical articles about it and so does anyone who regularly rides good-quality in both.

The two biggest drawbacks for disc in my own personal use are the need for greater maintenance - disc's are far more prone to rub due to tighter tolerances and therefore tiny amounts of grit can cause issues - and added weight.

Both of these sound problematic but aren't really. The maintenance issue is actually really easy; I can remove the pads and have them and the discs cleaned and replaced pretty quickly. The extra weight is no problem either: you can get 6.1kg road bikes with discs if you are a true weight-weenie. The Trek Emonda is 6.8kg and many other Pro level bikes are sub-7kg. Light enough. Obviously, aero bikes and less costly bikes are heavier but then, they always have been. The point is, weight reductions elsewhere on the bike have made the added disc weight less of an issue.

Rim brakes have decent stopping power, we have used them for decades, but anyone who still thinks they are as good as discs must ride very slowly. Which, is fine, for slow recreational cruising the differences will be far less noticeable than higher speed stuff. But, if you are someone who rides quickly, then discs are hands-down winners. And that's a tried and tested fact.

Just this morning I rode down a 7km climb at over 55km/h average, hitting over 80km/h in places. I was on my rim bike and being very wary on the S-bends and, ultimately, a lot slower than I would have been on my disc-braked bike where it instils much more confidence, brakes sharper etc and allows me to brake later and less. But again, this is at speed. I get that cyclists who just pootle about won't see the same degree of difference. The Market will cater for those who do want to go faster, however.

prj71

Having grown up riding bikes in the 80's...There is nothing that would want to make me go back to riding bikes with rim brakes. When something is better, the companies don't need to convince anyone. They sell themselves once you use them.

Atlas Shrugged

There is a promising “Steel is Real” thread starting over in road cycling so as this one starts to thread down so to speak the Luddites will have a place to go.

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...our-frame.html

bocobiking

Thinking about it a little, I don't think people are being bamboozled. Instead, I think there's a synergy between the marketers' need to push new things and the public's insatiable desire for something new. What comes after this synergy is a list new "scientific," "objective" reasons why the new thing is "better." So what drives what? It seems to me that all the rationales for a new product are created afterward to justify our thirst for a new toy. And the marketers are happy to help come up with these rationales.

I don't want to argue with anyone's choice of products. I just think it's silly to invent objective reasons why, for example, electronic shifting is objectively better than downtube friction shifters. The reasons why one rider would choose the former are not important for another rider who chooses the latter.