Bandera

Bicycle Quarterly #53 :

"Are Disc Brakes a Mature Technology?" Article

Summary after these topics are discussed:

Test Bikes
Larger Discs Needed?
Wheel Ejection
Stiff Fork Blades
Carbon-Ceramic Rotors?

"For performance oriented riders who tend to use their brakes hard, rim brakes apparently remain the best choice."
-Bicycle Quarterly Autumn 2015 #53 Vol. 14 #1 pgs 69-70

fietsbob

if mature technology there would be no need for annual 'improvements', touted at the Trade shows and advertised in magazines

Bandera

bob,

What's a "magazine"?

-Bandera

fietsbob

another place to sell advertising space .

BQ sells Jan's stuff. another cult following

svtmike

By that measure, not a single part of the bike is "mature technology".

fietsbob

Some stuff has not needed much... like the S-A 3 speed .

Roadies are a open market for Gadgets , as seen on the Pro's Bikes who are There to market stuff as much as race.

Lazyass

Disc brakes rule. Some love them so much they get them burned onto their skin to look cool.

svtmike

And others have a deep, lacerating love of their big chainring.

And yet others seem to despise just about everything about bicycles. Especially new or different things.

Lazyass

And some people believe anything that's new or different is always better just because it's new or different. They usually vote democrat.

redfooj

next year's brakes feature 5% more stopping power, 3W aerodynamic saving, and 7% increased resistance to brake fade, and 10g saved




the calipers are also stiffer, yet more compliant

svtmike

And then there are other people who make broad, sweeping, generalizations at a specific target and are simply wrong. They are usually too lazy to vote.

Darth Lefty 

Someone better warn the SAE

gsa103

A retro-grouch publication came out against disc brakes. The great irony is that the cover article shows disc brakes for an off-road bike...the one place where the debate is firmly settled. They're of minimal advantage on a road racing bike.

Bandera

Perhaps you should read the article, the bike on the cover is one that was tested with interesting results and it's not strictly an off-road machine.
BQ doesn't seem to have a bias "against disc brakes", they seem to be reporting from test ride observations riding a variety of machines and disc brake types in their home terrain and usage which is not road racing.

-Bandera

Doctor Morbius

I'm not getting into this argument/debate/whatever, but a technology does not have to be mature to be superior. For example, when quantum computing arrives it won't be "mature" for decades. However, it will still be able to squash anything else that has existed up to that point, especially if it's still based on the Von Neumann architecture.

Bandera

Bicycle hardware must have superior performance in the interim or it's just another early adopter fad that may/may-not prove plausible.

Once again the summary from BQ:

"For performance oriented riders who tend to use their brakes hard, rim brakes apparently remain the best choice."
-Bicycle Quarterly Autumn 2015 #53 Vol. 14 #1 pgs 69-70

-Bandera

GlennR

Have them on my MTB and wouldn't ride without them. On my road bike, don't need them and the rim brakes are just fine.

No debate for me.

You're welcome to use whatever you like.

Doctor Morbius

My example wasn't about disc brakes or anything related to cycling. It was just to show that sometimes an immature technology is better than a mature one. Things don't always come about in linear fashion.

I may be somewhat of an anomaly on this forum, but I actually have no interest in the disc brake vs. rim brake discussion. I find it completely uninteresting. It's less exciting than another thread on chain lubes.

Bandera

How interesting.
Did you know that the reproductive cycles of the Snowy Petrel are also unrelated to anything cycling?
What a coincidence......

-Bandera

Doctor Morbius

What do you mean? An African or European Petrel?

smarkinson

Wheel ejection?

Does using disk brakes mean that your wheels are randomly ejected from your bicycle? Sounds very Wile E Coyote like.

DinoShepherd

Well, that all goes without saying.

Canker

sure if you grind your lawyer lips completely off and leave your quick release skewer loose or ride around with your quick release skewer completely removed. I was an idiot this weekend and after taking my front wheel on and off to mess with something before a ride I must not have got my QR on as tight as I thought and rode around for 3 miles off road with a 203mm BIG rotor up front before I noticed my wheel was a little loose. No death, just tightened the QR up and kept riding. Most newer disc brake equipped bikes are going for a through axle now anyway and solves what little issue there really is.

Disc brakes on my mtn bikes and rim on my road bike because I don't care about my road bikes brakes, they work, and do really care about the brakes on my mtn bikes. If I were in the market for a newer ride bike and saw a good deal on a road bike with disc brakes I wouldn't hesitate to buy it.

elcruxio

Is 160mm large? I don't see the need to go bigger on road. Off road I use 180mm.
This doesn't happen in reality. Seriously who thinks this stuff?
This can be a bonus in some cases. Not in generic road riding but try being a bigger dude and add a bit of luggage and you'll see the advantage.

Why?

But this somehow only applies to road? I knew MTB'ers or other non road riders weren't actually using their brakes hard! It must have something to do with loose surfaces, the need for extremely precise braking to keep front traction and enough power not have cramping hands after every small hill... I guess if I wanted to brake hard on my MTB i need to go back to Vee brakes...

catgita

My BQ hasn't arrived yet, but knowing Jan's typical point of view, I understand it. I have road oriented bikes both with Compass center pulls and hydraulic MTB brakes. I hope that road disks will be quieter and smoother than MTB disks, but the one thing that won't change is the need for stiff fork blades.

When seeking perfection, compromise is part of the picture. For a Jan type bike, I agree with his preference.