This winter Shimano showed up on Maui with a flotilla of Colnago C-59s set up with disc brakes. The lucky Shimano people tested the bikes on some of the nicest routes on the island, including some descending down the Haleakala volcano. Unbelievably they didn’t invite me along (!?). If they had I would have suggested a different place to ride, one that is usually wet and full of descending corners. Any brake system and any tire works well on dry roads, maybe Shimano was here for the riding, not the testing.
Haleakala’s windward coast road is a sinuous mostly two lane magic carpet ride through rainforest. The road gains and looses elevation as it dives in to cross a river then climbs up out around the next headland, again and again. And it is often wet. If you want to find out if you trust your tires, this is the place.
I already know caliper brakes on machined aluminum rims are nearly worthless when it’s raining on this route. I have a theory that brake pads here get hardened by heat on steep dry descents and then they become hard grit holders, not good for braking when wet. Shimano should have done this ride in the rain.
There is a 10km section of this route that is mostly all down, 3-4% grade and there are many corners, a few a little off-camber. Two of us have lost it in different corners here. Both were the result of wet brakes, too much speed and a little inattention. The point is, caliper brakes suck in wet twisting descents.
To remedy this, the grand master of this ride, @mauibike, put on an ENVE road disc front fork on his Madone. His bike deserves its own article but suffice it to say his bike has some north shore Maui terroir. He is the only old school racer I know who never switched to clincher tires after his racing license expired. He is also now all carbone wheels, all the time. He has a bike that has been adapted to the terrain and it’s very cool.
I’m thinking about this because I would like to go all carbone wheel, all the time too. If Cancellara can race Milan-Sanremo, the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix all on the same carbon wheelset, I’m already persuaded. But carbon clinchers on Maui seem like a bad idea. There are a few steep descents with ninety-degree corners where one can’t help but get on the brakes long and hard. I foresee bad things happening to my front wheel and my beautiful face. I’ve used sew-up tires for years so I don’t fear them but I do like the simplicity of tire patching not involving sutures and a field operating theater. I think carbon tubulars are better for Maui but road disc seem much smarter. Why involve the carbon fiber rim in the braking at all? Steel seems like the material we want, it won’t wear and it conducts heat beautifully. Rain would only cool it down and improve its braking.
As a rider of SMP saddles and now Bont shoes, I’m clearly going for function over form and I don’t think I have large aesthetic issues with disc brakes. I do have a problem if they violate any principles of silence. No one needs to hear that screech on a road ride.
In my continuing series of “endorsing things I’ve haven’t used yet” (see tubeless tires). I’m liking the idea of a terroir bike, a bike that speaks to the roads it rolls on, and for Maui, that could include a front disc brake.
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So good when you wax poetical about your adopted exotic land Gianni. Shrouded in mist but dry, mountainous but rolling, perfect roads interspersed by crap roads, these are what I imagine when I think of riding with you in paradise. It must have something to do with our PPP (practical, Puritan, Protestant) New England roots but I am so with you on this. I have always embraced new fangled things if they work, seven speed and Look, to name a few. So why not a disc or two? Me thinks they are ready for prime time and I will pony up next time I upgrade.
Here is another hazard on the road to Hana. Bud the Birdman! Phil and Scott from Canada had a meeting with Bud.
@Teocalli
@mauibike just uses his regular road lever and cable actuated disc. It works just fine, I believe.
@RedRanger
Don't let your heart heart too much. I haven't done it and can't do it with my present stable. Neither of my road bikes will take a tapered steerer. So I'm facing N+1 to solve that, sometime in the future. But nothing like crashing in a corner to make you rethink your equipment.
@Rob
Yes, I must get you out here for your Maui 101 classes. You will lose your mind. Two years from now it will be interesting to see where road disc has gone. Look at motorcycles, once they went disc in the front, they never looked back.
@Tobin
Homer and I are pissing like race horses, thanks you very much. That f'ing saddle rules! And yes, it it one messed up looking thing too.
Redrangering: the act of posting without proof reading.
Horses for courses, so to speak, eh @Gianni. None of this "run what ya brung " for you i suspect.
What next, mudguards hanging off seat posts ala Maarten Tjallingii in MSR. There is indeed merit however in what you say.
Better to have a disc front and enjoy the ride and be at the forefront of trend than plunging over a cliff to your death because your Carbone brakes failed to launch.
Beautiful picture BTW. More please
@Ccos
Yes. The Principle of Silence is an absolute must to even begin to consider adopting discs. So to with no drag and being compact.
What is this "brake" you speak of and what function does it serve?
In all seriousness, @Nate and I saw too many melted carbone wheels at Eggtimer's Gran Fondo last year that I'm convinced discs are the future. I, however, plan on not being part of that future as long as possible.
@EricW
You say , melted, Not having ridden full carbone before, do the carbon specific pads make a difference to long descents and the possibility of "melting" said rims?