tomato coupe

The other thing to keep in mind is that Froome made his infamous video after riding disc brakes for a few weeks while training in California. The rest of his team was in Israel and/or Spain (?) at the time, so his bike was not getting worked on by his team mechanics. Does anybody know if Froome is any good with a wrench? (Some pro cyclists are, but many are not.)

kingston 

I ignore the braking performance because it's irrelevant to me. I've ridden fifteen-thousand miles on road disks The only thing I can do to keep them from squealing is change the pads after I ride them in the rain, and there's nothing I can do to stop them from rubbing. So there are two of us. Me and Chris Froome. That's it. Everyone else's disk brakes are apparently silent and maintenance free.

PeteHski

I can't help noticing that most people who have an irrational hatred for disc brakes on road bikes actually have little or no experience of them. Is there anyone here who has actually owned a modern hydraulic disc braked road bike hated them so much that they have reverted back to rim brakes? Genuine question.

PeteHski

IME with mountain bike disc brakes, they evolved quite significantly from around 2004 (when I first started using them) to the present day. Not so much in terms of weight or form, but certainly in terms of reliability, consistency and ease of maintenance. I remember in the early days having to do regular brake bleeds and had various niggles with sticking pistons, rubbing and resonance. Today they are pretty much fit and forget and pad wear is much better. My first experience of road disc brakes (Shimano 105) has been great. I think Shimano already had the experience from mtb development to make them effective out of the box. I honestly expected them to have teething troubles, but they didn't. They will only continue to refine these designs now they are totally mainstream.

kingston 

I suspect it's very rare because modern hydraulic road disks haven't been around that long. Anyone who bought one in the last couple of years is an early adopter by definition. Not the kind of person who would be interested in reverting back to old-tech. I've also noticed anecdotally, not the kind of person who does their own maintenance. I know lots of people who have both with no intention of getting rid of their rim brake bikes.

terrymorse 

"Buyers decided" -- all by themselves, completely rationally, based on perfect and unbiased information.

<eye-roll>

PeteHski

Yeah well braking performance is important for me as I do alpine endurance events and sone of our local hills are extremely steep (25%+ steep). I also don't have 10 year old cable BB7s without auto-adjusting pads. I do get it that you don't need disc brakes, but I don't think you would actually have any issues with a set of modern Shimano hydraulic brakes either. Chris Froome actually prefers the performance of his disc brakes, but for whatever reason he is having some niggling issues that people are making a huge deal about. People who usually have no personal experience of disc brakes but have decided to hate them and the whole bike industry!

PeteHski

The ones who have both probably like both right? They probably don't hate their disc brakes. We all know that rim braked bikes are fine (I had them for decades without any problems) so it's hardly surprising that they might keep their favourite bikes that happen to have rim brakes. All perfectly sensible.
It's the irrational hatred of disc brakes without even trying them that I don't get. IME they do offer significant improvements in braking performance. Modulation, weight, feel, consistency.

I even do my own maintenance, not that there is much with these. Haven't had to touch my road disc brakes yet in 2 seasons. I'm wondering when the pads will need changing.

kingston 

Yes. I agree that's generally true. Other than the noise and rubbing, I even like my old BB7's. My objection is to the claims that modern hydraulic road disks are silent and maintenance free. It's just not true.

terrymorse 

I don't hate disc brakes. I've ridden them, they work well enough. As do rim brakes.

I hate the fact that the industry has taken away my options, obsoleting my favorite frameset.

The clock is ticking, and soon you won't be able to find a decent wheel set that supports rim braking. That sucks.

PeteHski

I didn't realise that cyclists were all brain-washed by marketing of inferior products.

PeteHski

Mine have been silent and maintenance free for 2 long seasons. All my current mtb disc brakes are silent and maintenance free (other than trivial infrequent pad changes). Fact.

PeteHski

So you are saying that all future road bikes will be inferior to your favourite frameset. I very much doubt it. My prediction is that in 5 years time you will have a new favourite frameset with disc brakes.
I've seen all this before when mtb disc brakes first came on the scene. Guys saying it sucked that rim brakes were disappearing. Huge arguments on mtbr etc.

Here's a typical thread from 2010 (not even early days of mtb disc)

https://www.mtbr.com/threads/v-brake...brakes.611792/

terrymorse 

I don't recall mentioning anything about an inferior product.

However, I did cite the avalanche of marketing hype around a different (and incompatible) product.

Marketing hype, brain-washing. Potato, potato.

terrymorse 

No, I am not writing anything remotely close to that. "all future road bikes will be inferior" is wholly your invention.

I'm writing that my current favorite frameset will soon be functionally unusable, as decent wheels for it will become unavailable. At which time I will be forced to find a replacement bike.

A very convenient situation for bike manufacturers. A considerably inconvenient situation for the consumer.

WhyFi

I was so brainwashed that, after two years of experience with hydro discs, I bought another one of those inferior products.

... and then I bought another one two years after that!

The nefarious marketing of Big Bike obviously has their hooks in me.

PeteHski

Were you really expecting the whole bike industry to stand still forever just to prevent YOUR favourite frameset from becoming obsolete? Not that it actually will become unusable. I'm sure you will be able to find wheels for it as long as you live.

kingston 

Genuine question. Do you ride in the rain a lot? I'm curious if my hypothesis that oil from the road grime contaminates the pads carries any weight. My friend with the loud brakes only uses that bike in the rain. When the weather is nice he uses his other bike with rim brakes.

terrymorse 

Nice hyperbole, but it doesn't deserve a response.

PeteHski

Not by choice, but I often get caught out in the rain. I did a century event recently that was wet. No brake squealing, except the odd chirp when braking the first time after a long climb. I tend not to clean my discs or pads, I just leave them alone. What I don't do is ride in muddy winter conditions, which tends to cause issues with everything on bikes! When I used to ride in the winter mud with my mtbs, I remember the discs would rub and the brakes would get noisier, but still work fine. I find organic pads are less prone to noise than sintered pads too, although they wear much faster in the wet (Shimano stock road pads are organic).

PeteHski

What, like your "big-bike" marketing hyperbole?

WhyFi

Discs can make noise after being contaminated by oils (which necessitates cleaning) or if they pick up road grit in wet weather (the noise goes away on its own after conditions improve). The latter is much more common than the former.

PeteHski

I suspect this is the main problem for people having consistent noise problems. You do have to be careful to keep all oil based products well away from discs/pads. Even a little oil contamination can effectively write off the pads.

WhyFi

With the organic pads, at least, I've been able to clear them up just by sanding them (sandpaper with a flat backer, like a quartz or glass slab) and cleaning the rotors of any residuals.

PeteHski

To be honest it's a long time since I had to do anything like that with either road or mtb pads/discs. They just seem to work. I have noticed that the pads are generally larger now than they were in the early days (mtb at least), so maybe they are less sensitive to noise/vibration.