Bianchi Infinito

[Dogtrousers]

I could well be wrong but I had you down as a naysayers re discs in previous posts.

Am I thinking of someone else?

If it wasn't you then my apologies.

No, not me. This was my first experience of them. I'm generally open to new things but as I don't buy new bikes very often I don't get to play with new stuff if I can't fit it to my bike, which is the case with discs.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Ardiden Velos by any chance?

Very nice shop. I'd brushed up on my French vocabulary for bike parts and so on, but it turns out it's run by English people, so the transaction went smoothly.

My wife dropped her leccy bike and, because it weighed a ton, it bent the derailleur. I bodged it back to being workable but I guessed it might cost €50-100. Say €40 for the derailleur plus workshop time. But after looking at it in the workshop they only charged me €20.

They also do a nice line in overpriced tourist tat, for which I'm an absolute sucker. I bought a Tourmalet jersey for €70 and a little "borne" milestone ornament with Tourmalet on it. Maybe that's why they charged me so little for the bent mech

https://www.ardidenvelos.com/

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

All my bikes are hydro disc with the exception of my Wobble which has cable discs, and they're equally effective at hauling up my 120kg from speed. They don't feel as nice or as progressive as the hydro ones, but their retardation abilities are easily equal.

I've no doubt plenty of people have had good experiences, I may have been unlucky. I had two bikes with them some years back and both sets of brakes were really poor. To be fair modern kit is probably much better.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The only thing that really concerns me about discs is that they would be a whole new set of skills for me to learn. Or not learn and rely on my LBS.

 

[Drago]

I've no doubt plenty of people have had good experiences, I may have been unlucky. I had two bikes with them some years back and both sets of brakes were really poor. To be fair modern kit is probably much better.

Bed the pads in and all is rosy. Leverage is leverage, clamping force is whatever it is - they don't change. But poorly bedded in pads are a big issue.

 

[oldandslow]

Those Infinitos aren't the most inspiring to ride. They're good and stable but still fairly heavy and a bit sluggish. If you tried a lightweight carbon bike with proper race geometry you'd notice quite a big difference again.

That's interesting. This winter, I bought an Infinito C2C (so far from the latest model, about say 2011) that was on offer on another forum. I'm a fan of steel bikes, but I have to say I've enjoyed riding it. I'm not convinced that different bikes make quite as much difference as all that. Maybe someone would lend me one to try - I'm not likely to shell out for the latest model just to find out :-)

As far as I know, the Infinitos are really well thought of. Here it is with a friend at a recent sportive, although I've been racing it too.

 

[Alex321]

The only thing that really concerns me about discs is that they would be a whole new set of skills for me to learn. Or not learn and rely on my LBS.

There really isn't anything significant to learn.

Changing pads is a 5 minute job.

Bleeding is new, but something you actually very rarely need to do. I've had my current Cube with hydraulic discs for nearly 4 years, over 12.5K miles, and have bled them once.

No other maintenance at all apart from changing pads.