Disc Brakes on Road Bikes?

Johnsqual":qcn6zydu said:

The most interesting argument was something along the lines that mountain bike tyres are able to absorb the power of disc brakes without skidding, but
that it's been found that 'cross and road tyres are too narrow to absorb the power of the brakes without skidding. Does this make any sense?
Seems like an interesting point: in short, disc brakes are likely to skid when used on road bikes.

Johnny

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I've built my own 700c rims onto mtb disc hubs on my winter road bike, and have no problem with the brakes being too powerful for road tyres - in fact, it is easier to control the braking power right up to the point of loss of adhesion because the disc brakes modulate better than calipers. I wouldn't go back to rim brakes now - it is a similar feel to the difference between discs and drums on a car or motorbike, you just have so much more feel. Plus I don't have to replace my rims every few years due to the braking surface also being structural!

aren't wheel rims the biggest possible disc?

I can see the future of disc brakes now. We'll start off with powerful but heavy calipers operating on small discs. Then some bright spark will think, I know, how about we make the disc bigger and the caliper lighter? In fact, why don't we make the disc the same size as the wheel - I know, we'll use the wheel rim itself and save the weight of having a separate braking surface - then the caliper can be super light and we don't need the heavy and complicated hydraulics. And we can have beautiful radial spoked front wheels. And lighter front hubs. And...we're back in the 1980's where bike design belongs ha ha

I'm voting for some 21st century Campagnolo Delta brakes, electronically actuated with automatic brake pad clearance optimisation and moisture sensitive force modulation...imagine the acronyms!

Johnsqual":1pynzeyc said:

I was just reading an interesting article on the introduction of disc brakes on road and 'cross bikes, in the Belgian-Dutch magazine Grinta.

The most interesting argument was something along the lines that mountain bike tyres are able to absorb the power of disc brakes without skidding, but
that it's been found that 'cross and road tyres are too narrow to absorb the power of the brakes without skidding. Does this make any sense?
Seems like an interesting point: in short, disc brakes are likely to skid when used on road bikes.

A further point was that disc brakes have not caught on in 'cross yet, because of the weight problems, and also because true 'cross riders hardly use their brakes anyway :twisted:


Johnny

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I read in the Cyclist this month that Colnago use a smaller 140mm rotor on their new bike for the same reason.