One to Make the Retro-grouches Happy

[ptourkin]

http://jralong.blogspot.com/2016/02/forget-mechanical-doping-tech-story-of.html

[Cicli]

What are we looking at?

[zap]

What are we looking at?

Preference for canti brakes.

[Michael Maddox]

Hardly a retro-grouch story, but an interesting look at pro-cx folks sticking to discontinued models and canti-brakes.

I wonder if it comes down to simple preference?

[sandyrs]

Maybe this isn't getting discussed because it isn't a very interesting story?

Euro pros can crush on cantis, we know this. They are, as a rule, so good at handling their bikes that they can consider things like the weight penalty of disc vs. canti.

Cat 4 local racers are as a rule bad bike handlers and might get helped out by discs in ways that Euro pros don't need.

Why is it surprising to people that the racers at the top of the sport and the untalented masses don't need the exact same equipment?

[Bruce K]

More, I think that the manufacturers are not willing to continue to offer the option as there are those who would want to ride what the pros ride no matter what

BK

[thwart]

There could be any number of reasons, though equipment and sponsor limitation it almost certainly isn't just about everyone on a cantilever-equipped bike was riding a brand that also offers discs.

Some folks will claim that racers aren't the smartest knives in the block. That may be, however the criticism cuts both ways.

Some folks point to weight as the culprit, and that a lighter bike on a climbing-heavy course with lots of speed changes is advantageous. Could be.

But the course was also wet and slippery. And for all the uphill running and steep rises, there were also several slippery steep descents with sharp turns at the bottom, the kind of places where speed control is important. Observing the riders flying down these drops didn't reveal the disc-brake bikes to be any better.

If the lighter weight is an advantage that is valued higher than the alleged improvement in the slowing of the bike for the fastest pro's in the world for their most important single race in the year, does that tell us something?
I don't know, and don't have a dog in this fight... but watching that race in Madison a few yrs ago... some braking power beats 'crap, no brakes' every day.