Disc brakes on road bikes.......what advantages/disadvantages are there ?

[Dave7]

My present carbon road bike has standard callipers and my hard tail has hydraulic discs.
High end road bikes seem to be offering discs.........but at a premium price.
On my road bike I don't recall ever being in a situation and thinking "if only I had disc brakes". But then again I rarely exceed 25 mph and normally plod at 12-15 mph.
To my (limited) knowledge disc brakes add weight.
So..........why would/do people spend and extra £??? on discs.
This is not a critique.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Because we can.

 

[ianrauk]

This was covered in depth in a thread just recently HERE

 

[Spiderweb]

My present carbon road bike has standard callipers and my hard tail has hydraulic discs.
High end road bikes seem to be offering discs.........but at a premium price.
On my road bike I don't recall ever being in a situation and thinking "if only I had disc brakes". But then again I rarely exceed 25 mph and normally plod at 12-15 mph.
To my (limited) knowledge disc brakes add weight.
So..........why would/do people spend and extra £??? on discs.
This is not a critique.

Better stopping power most noticeably in the wet and no rim wear as the usual breaking surface remains unused.

 

[jowwy]

Because some of us exceed 25mph and 17st...........

 

[kiriyama]

Pros. Bit better in the wet. No rim wear, better modulation.

Cons. Bit heavier, bit more of a faf to set up/align/swap wheels, bit less aero, 2 extra sharp spiny things to cut yourself on in a crash.

I personaly prefer a decent set of rim breaks on a road bike. More than enough power in my experience. The conditions discs excell in arnt usually the conditions a road bike has to cope with very often. But discs are a good option on a winter commuter/training bike where you mightbe faced with constant wet/mucky/snowy/changing Conditions.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Pros. Bit better in the wet. No rim wear, better modulation.

Yep.

Bit heavier,

Nope

bit more of a faf to set up/align/swap wheels,

Not really

bit less aero, 2 extra sharp spiny things to cut yourself on in a crash.

? https://goo.gl/photos/f1c5SMemDw6qgbtJ7


A hattrick of misconceptionshttps://goo.gl/photos/f1c5SMemDw6qgbtJ7

 

[kiriyama]

A hattrick of misconceptions

Fair enough the better ones don't weigh much. (Iv never worried about a few grams anyway)

Definitely more of a faf in my experience...

And last i heard the jury is still out on the cutty spinny disk thing.... not something im personal concened about when riding my cross bike!

 

[Kajjal]

The tyres are the same rim or disc brakes. The difference is alot more marked in the wet or over looser surfaces. Also the heavier you are the greater the difference.

Hydraulic Disc brakes are more powerful, have greater feel and are more consistent. For me at about 16 stone hydraulic disc brakes work very well. I am now much faster downhill due to having better brakes. They also take alot less effort to use. The downside is they are different to rim brakes and need to be more accurately setup. Once setup they are fine. If poorly setup or especially with contaminated pads they can have poor braking power, catch all the time making a ticking noise and squeal severely in use. In continious heavy rain they work fine but can be very noisy.

Rim brakes are adversely affected in the wet, lack power, suffer from cable stretch and so have alot less control . The upside is they are cheaper and people are used to them. If you ride slowly in flat terrain rim brakes can be fine. If you commute in all weathers they are not so good.

On the bike this means you can brake harder, later, with more control using disc brakes even on the same tyres. Some people don't get on with them and prefer rim brakes.

 

[screenman]

I have discs on 3 of my bikes how come I have never once had a faff with them, I feel like I am missing out.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I'm always faffing around with the cable discs on the Tricross, especially the rear one. The hydraulics on the Sirrus I never have to touch. Next road bike I get is definitely having hydraulic discs

 

[gavintc]

A disadvantage; you can't ride them on this year's edition of the etape and similar events in France.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...banned-letape-du-tour-french-sportives-221663

 

[lutonloony]

I asked a very similar question about 2 weeks ago, check the thread "disc brakes, are they the DBs" very helpful and informative answers (as always)

 

[jowwy]

Been riding disc brakes for 2yrs.....never crashed or cut myself on any sharp spinny things.

And if your clever enough to read the report on the movistar rider and form your own opinion on what happened. He never cut his leg on a sharp disc spinny thing either.......i also live in the UK so have no care for french or spanish sportives

 

[fossyant]

They are fugly on a road bike.