So many new road bikes, still non-disc

[Racing roadkill]

I prefer rim brakes for their lighter weight, simplicity and ease of maintenance. I dont do big miles, so rim wear isn't an issue to me.
Although, i do get the advantages of discs, especially on mountain bikes being used in wet muddy conditions.

That’s it in a nutshell.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I think quite a few riders favour contining to buy rim braked bikes because they like the ability to switch wheelsets between bikes.

Another good point.

 

[MichaelW2]

I really would have thought that rim crud would be the biggest driver, with mid-end bikes commuter type bikes starting to feature disc brakes on aluminium rims. But it is the other way round - disc brakes are coming from the top down, where carbon wheels are the primary driver.

Trickle up is not a concept the bike industry can deal with. Just because year round commuters and winter training cyclists would like disk brakes to ride in the wet is not reason enough to provide them. Only when professional superstars ride to victory using disks will we be worthy to feed off the trickle down crumbs from their high table. Pro riders have the least to gain from disk brakes, hence the long wait.

 

[confusedcyclist]

I hope it stays that way. Eventually people may start to cotton on to the fact that disc brakes are a poor ( and completely unnecessary ) idea on a road bike, and the simple economics will dictate how the manufacturers react. Hopefully they’ll leave disc brakes where they belong, on CX, Gravel / adventure bikes, Hybrids and MTBs. I don’t think the fact that disc braked versions of ‘Halo’ models often cost hundreds of pounds more, for not much benefit, and a whole load more potentially complicated and expensive trouble, helps either.

I beg to differ, performance in the wet is my main reason for chosing discs, even if they are slightly more complex to setup and expensive, however you save on wheel rim replacement in the long run. Once you know how to look after them, they are no more trouble. In fact I think I spend less time fiddling with my BB7 calipers than my old 105 5800 rim brakes.

 

[Drago]

BB7s are great. This idea that some hydro brake fans like to trot out that cable discs take hours of setting up and adjustment every time the day ends in a Y is utter guff.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Another good point.

I have MTBs with disc brakes and I've never not been able to swap out wheels or borrow a wheel unless the disc was a different size. On road bikes there's no need for a wide range of sizes (only 140 and 160mm are available in anyway) and if you have more than one bike in your garage, you may as well standardise on disc sizes.
There's nothing inherent about a disc brake wheel that makes it incompatible with another disc brake wheels. The hubs are ISO.

 

[Mugshot]

Out of interest, does anyone on here buy kit because the professional riders use it.

Only my Dogma, it's not ideal for the granddaughters tag-along but it great on the commute.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I discovered a very interesting thing on a 50 miler last weekend. I was running a very light summer type tyre on the front, with a slime tube.The tyre got absolutely peppered with all sorts of pointy cr@p after only a few miles. Unsurprisingly I got a loud ‘pop tsshhhhht’. The tube self healed with only a small loss in pressure, so I hooked out the offending object, only to realise the hole left behind was over about 5mm in diameter. I carried on riding having just topped up the pressure, but within about 20 miles I got another ‘pshhhht’ it was the hole that was causing the issue, but again the tube survived, and I carried on, another few miles later, another Pshhht, another survival, the tube self healed again. Then about 3 miles from home, yet another intrusion through the hole, and again the tube survived, and I got home with another top up. Now had that been a tubeless tyre, without access to a worm, that would have been a messy pain in the rump to sort out. I could have stopped, taken the tyre off, and put a gel wrapper or something in to patch the hole, but because it was a slime tube, I got away with out having to, a tubeless tyre would have been a nightmare in that situation.

Why do you think tubeless would not seal in the same situation your slime tube half did?

 

[Racing roadkill]

Why do you think tubeless would not seal in the same situation your slime tube half did?

The hole in the tyre would have been curtains without the tube being there. I’ve been there, done that.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I have MTBs with disc brakes and I've never not been able to swap out wheels or borrow a wheel unless the disc was a different size. On road bikes there's no need for a wide range of sizes (only 140 and 160mm are available in anyway) and if you have more than one bike in your garage, you may as well standardise on disc sizes.
There's nothing inherent about a disc brake wheel that makes it incompatible with another disc brake wheels. The hubs are ISO.

You still need the wheel to be a discer though, it’s much more likely that some one will have a rim braker to hand than a discer, in an emergency. A couple of months ago I had some prat pile into the back of me with a car whilst waiting in an ASL Box. I had to find a LBS with a rear wheel, or it was a pain in the backside 75 mile trawl home with a broken bike. I found a place pretty nearby, and he did have a rear wheel. He did ask if was rim or disc, and said it was a good job I wanted a rim braker, as he didn’t have a discer. That’s another good reason not to go to discs on a roady just yet.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The hole in the tyre would have been curtains without the tube being there. I’ve been there, done that.

Why? That is wnat the sealant plugs just as the slime plugged your tube.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Why? That is wnat the sealant plugs just as the slime plugged your tube.

The tyre took the brunt of the damage, the tube wasn’t damaged enough to stop the sealant working, the tyre on its own, wouldn’t have sealed with that sized hole.

 

[screenman]

Never had a puncture that stopped the ride on tubeless, never swapped wheels between bikes and never needed to borrow a wheel, I must live a sheltered life.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Never had a puncture that stopped the ride on tubeless, never swapped wheels between bikes and never needed to borrow a wheel, I must live a sheltered life.

Nah that is the typical experience.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The tyre took the brunt of the damage, the tube wasn’t damaged enough to stop the sealant working, the tyre on its own, wouldn’t have sealed with that sized hole.

Fix the hole in the tyre and carry on that rare occurance. No biggie.