Miles2go

I posted an article/story, that IS generating a lot of discussion.

79pmooney

Regarding the spokes - was there any chance he was riding non-metallic ones? The resin of carbon fiber spokes might not be high temperature stuff if it was going on a non-rim brake wheel and no one thought of disc temps.

WhyFi

A lot of discussion? The thread just limped in to a second page and more than half of the posts are clumsy devil's advocacy attempts or responses to them. Larry could flatulate and the resulting discussion would run laps around this.

Miles2go

You assumed I was speaking about here on this forum; I wasn't.

indyfabz

Like that never happened before—for good reason.

seypat

I thought we just had a thread about this within the last month or two. The sad part about it is, every time one starts now, I'm thinking sock.

cyclezen

This
not doubting he had some wheel issues/broken spoke; but blaming it on overheating rotors, seems about as far fetched as can possibly be.
To have some degree of metal failure, at the very extreme of the hub flange, without affecting any of the other aspects of the hub function (like sealed bearings) seems ... not likely.
The amount of heat would certainly cause other failures well before.
Not doubting there was a wheel issue - but likely one of poorly built and subject to unbalanced stresses - wheel.
Considering what the team mechs need to do for every bike, wheel, and backup bikes, wheels, everything else, one can;t expect a full detailed inspection of everything...
And spokes are known to break...
he wasn't the only rider who had a bad/tough day on BlockHaus, especially Tesfatsion - also rotor overheating ?
Ride On
Yuri

cxwrench

At the pro level, especially Pro Tour EVERY last thing should be getting checked after every stage. There are 8 riders and most teams have 5-6-7 mechanics for Grand Tours. Every bike, including spares, and every wheel get cleaned and looked at every day. Some of the GC guys have their own dedicated mechanic that only has to worry about their bikes. This **** gets taken very seriously.

Chuck M 

I like my Domane with disc brakes, a pro bike racer would hate it. I like my Honda Civic, a pro stock car driver would hate it. Why would the average person eschew either one based on a pro's opinion when it suits the use of the average person?

GarageAlwaysFul

In the great words of coach Ron Washington "That's how baseball go" and I feel like that applies here.

Seattle Forrest

You started this thread on this forum to stimulate discussion somewhere else?

Miles2go

Yeah, right. Might want to focus a little more, or not post, something.

Seattle Forrest

Well I already broke all my spokes by using disc brakes so what else am I supposed to do?

PeteHski

How much heat from the brake disc do you think actually conducts it's way through to the spokes? If you think about it for a few seconds you should realise it's a ridiculous notion that the spokes are going to get hot from braking. I would say the rider just didn't think enough before opening his mouth. He obviously had a spoke failure (spokes fail occasionally as we know) and made an uneducated attempt to link this failure to disc brake heat.

A more plausible theory (if we insist on linking this failure to disc brakes) is the extra torque applied to the wheel (more specifically through the spokes due to the load path) under braking with disc brakes vs rim brakes. The wheel should be designed with this increased braking torque in mind (along with the fork), but these are likely to be super-lightweight wheels riding a bit closer to the limit. Even so, we don't appear to be having a peloton wide issue here. Just one guy who had an unexplained spoke failure at a critical time. It's not like spokes have never failed before disc brakes appeared.

Miles2go

My guess is that there's a range of braking habits across the field, and perhaps those who practice very hard late braking, transfer more energy into the brakes, or at least put that heat into them in a more concentrated, and repeated fashion.
I wouldn't know if it's enough to fatigue the wheel, but it certainly might push the limits of the brakes, and occasionally send some riders off the road when they cannot slow enough for an upcoming turn.

Seattle Forrest

Today I learned the problem with disc brakes is people can't slow down in time to turn.

Miles2go

Really. Which people? Wilco?

Polaris OBark

What is the physical mechanism by which heat is transferred from the pad/rotor interface to the spokes?

Polaris OBark

0.0000001 J/spoke

Miles2go

Osmosis?

Polaris OBark

So in other words, you are just promulgating what you clearly realize is total nonsense to troll. Well done.

tomato coupe

The heat is carried by pheromones. That's why this problem only affects young, virile pro riders and not old guys on Internet forums. I break several spokes per week, because I'm a veritable pheromone factory.

Miles2go

In other words, you are trying to put other words in my mouth. I shared a story and posed one of many possible viewpoints, for fun. Que the minions!!

I don't believe disc wheels cost a pro significant time across a race route, don't believe disc brakes transfer any significant heat to spokes, where did I say anything like that.

Koyote

You provided implied or explicit support for the idea in posts 1,4, 40, and 45.

aplcr0331

After his switch to rim brakes Wilco was able to get 4th on todays stage!

Rim brake for life!…

<whispers>

oh? Still rode those blades of death?

nevermind…