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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@Gianni Heresy, blasphemy!!
Are you deliberately trying to get sacked as a keeper so you can enter the VSP and have a crack at the prizes? (or are you already entered as @island Bike?)
In all seriousness, go for it, we need a Guinea Pig. I can see discs becoming mainstream pretty quickly once the UCI allows the pros to race on them. The noise is only an issue if they're poorly set up and looked after which shouldn't be a problem for any self respecting Velominatus. The downside will be that lightweight, low spoke count wheels will be trickier to build in such a way that they don't collapse when the hub stops going round.
@tessar
Why is it then that the pro peloton eschews clinchers? If they offered an actual speed advantage, the kings of marginal gains would be all over them, and yet they are still rolling tubs. There is also the issue of high speed cornering: a tub is going to corner better and more safely than a clincher every single time.
Besides, with those gossamer clinchers, the chances of a flat on anything but a manicured course approaches 100%. So much for any advantage they might provide when a teensy shard of some asshole's beer bottle takes you out. I've rolled my Pavés over entire liquor bottles' worth of smashed glass, picked the big bits out of the rubber, and kept rolling. Try that on a TT clincher.
I think the disk will win in the long run, manufacturers can make lighter wheels, braking is better, less brake fade on long descents, more freedom with fork crown/seatstay design no de-laminating on carbon wheels and in the future there will probably not be much of a weight penalty.
@antihero
Because if you're blowing a few grand on a carbon wheelset which you want to use as much as possible (i.e. not keep for race only) then clinchers are the better option for day to day use.
@Gianni and anyone... just interested in the rationale behind going for front disc if you were going for one only. Wouldn't it run the risk of putting far too much stopping power compared to the rear with the result of heading over the bars.
I understand it on a car and maybe a motorbike where stopping as quickly as possible is the prime function. But on a bike I would have thought a rear disc would be safer and easier to modulate.
I ask this as one who hasn't used them at all so it's genuine puzzlement.
@ChrisO
I suspect the logic of this is with the retro fit in fitting a disc fork in an existing frame - bar the tapered steerer issue that is mentioned. Otherwise I would agree with your logic.
This setup of disc front, caliper rear is vaguely reminiscent of the mid 90's with a DT shifter for the FD, and a STI for the RD. As far as switching to full disk brakes, I'll not be doing that until I absolutely have to. I live in a place where there's almost no way to ride without having some steep fast descents. To date, that hasn't caused me to melt carbon rims, or tear up Al rims faster than normal wear n tear. Matter of fact, I have a set of Mavic SUP Al rims that are tip top some 20 years after I bought them, and who know's how many 1000's of Km's I have on them (on my wet weather bike, which means water n grit).
Currently having a steel bike built by an excellent and reputable builder.
Di2, disc, all internal.
Some function is good sometimes.
The Eggtimer Fondo has a few crazy steep descents of 12-14 % where you are basically falling off a ridge and into a creek or the ocean. That's where the carbon rims were getting cooked. The problem is that carbon doesn't efficiently conduct heat, unlike aluminum, so it builds up rather than dissipates if you have to stay on the brakes.
@Teocalli
My feeling about this is the front brake is still the prime brake for a bike. You should be wearing out your front brake pads before your rear pads. That would be why Campagnolo front brake has a dual pivot for more power and the rear is a single pivot. And as far as a retro-fit, the only one possible to adapt to a preexisting frame.
@ChrisO
Also, yes the rotor gives one a huge leap in stopping power and potential over the handle bar flying but it's like mtb riding now, one finger on the lever is all one needs. Brake levers on mtb bikes are shorter so you can't get a fist full of lever, two fingers max. And once you launch yourself, you remember to ease up.