2024+ Rim brake vs Disc brake catch-all

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by benb

That was always a joke. And it's obvious it was all a sham cause nothing has really significantly changed and none of the Pro riders seem to be concerned about getting cut on discs anymore.

If sharp objects on bikes was really a big issue the UCI would have mandated some kind of guard/cover over the chain rings decades ago.

Same thing with getting rid of all sharp corners/edges on pedals, skewers, TAs, derailluers, etc..

Chainrings and pedals IMO are the big ones that made the whole thing a joke, so many of us have/had cut ourselves on those in races.

They radiused (chamfered) the edges of the rotors so they are much less of a cut hazard. Those other parts do not pose the same level of hazard as a sharp rotor.

[benb]

Originally Posted by MikeD

They radiused (chamfered) the edges of the rotors so they are much less of a cut hazard. Those other parts do not pose the same level of hazard as a sharp rotor.

I have never seen a rotor as sharp as a chainring.

Maybe they solve that with only having a bunch crash where all riders are in the big ring.

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by benb

I have never seen a rotor as sharp as a chainring.

Maybe they solve that with only having a bunch crash where all riders are in the big ring.

Cassettes are pretty sharp. If they have tubeless tires maybe they ran over a nail and it sealed and then a rider crashes and hits the nail. I’d imagine hitting a shift lever head on the pointy end at 40mph could be pretty dangerous too.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

Cassettes are pretty sharp. If they have tubeless tires maybe they ran over a nail and it sealed and then a rider crashes and hits the nail. I’d imagine hitting a shift lever head on the pointy end at 40mph could be pretty dangerous too.

Yes, all these things.

One of my worst injuries was getting hit in my hand by a tire/wheel from a bike that was cartwheeling and smashed my finger between my lever & the tire. I was proud of myself for not going down, but then I ended up having to go to the ER.

[flying]

Originally Posted by El Chaba

Agreed. I can only add that the introduction of disc brakes meant that the wheels and bikes no longer shared inter-compatibility with their counterparts equipped with rim brakes. In the view of the industry, this rendered all rim brake bikes obsolete. This aspect was no doubt discussed in the various offices of Bike Industry, Incorporated. The incompatibility may not have been the main reason for implementation, but it was definitely not looked at as a disadvantage.

I wonder if they now look back & see firing so many customers may have been a disadvantage

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by flying

I wonder if they now look back & see firing so many customers may have been a disadvantage

I don't understand what you mean by this. Can you clarify?

[MikeD]

A new discussion on Roadbikerider.com https://www.roadbikerider.com/need-disc-brakes-road/

[flying]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I don't understand what you mean by this. Can you clarify?

Simply that when the industry decided that rim & disc would not share inter-compatibility going forward..Nor would they support/produce any further rim brake frames etc etc . that they basically were also firing their customers that had no desire to be on their bleeding edge version of cycling. Thus firing some of their customers.

[benb]

I had one MTB that could be run as rim or disc. IIRC it was a frameset only option that they had just for a couple years. The team riders asked for it and they basically wanted to build the bike with V-brakes for some flatter races and discs for other races.

It was a bit weird, the posts for the rim brakes were removable, but it basically had all the rim and disc reinforcements and weight in order to support either option... there is no way roadies would have tolerated that. And that was a F/S bike, so the penalty and design constraints on the fork compared to a rim-only design was minimal compared to the way rigid rim road racing bikes were designed. That was at the very end of aluminum MTBs at the point end of racing. I have never seen a carbon bike like that, and maybe a year after I got mine they introduced the carbon version as disc only.

I don't think a frame like that would have sold at all on the road. It would have been a total non starter as it would have come in halfway between a rim-only bike and a disc-only bike in weight. And switching was basically a PITA. I only did it once. I used V-brakes on my MTB for like a season cause I had them and then the next year I put discs on it and never looked back.

They did what they needed to do. They just would have lost money if they made some weird bikes that supported both, at least for any kind of performance bike.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by benb

I had one MTB that could be run as rim or disc. IIRC it was a frameset only option that they had just for a couple years. The team riders asked for it and they basically wanted to build the bike with V-brakes for some flatter races and discs for other races.

It was a bit weird, the posts for the rim brakes were removable, but it basically had all the rim and disc reinforcements and weight in order to support either option... there is no way roadies would have tolerated that. And that was a F/S bike, so the penalty and design constraints on the fork compared to a rim-only design was minimal compared to the way rigid rim road racing bikes were designed. That was at the very end of aluminum MTBs at the point end of racing. I have never seen a carbon bike like that, and maybe a year after I got mine they introduced the carbon version as disc only.

I don't think a frame like that would have sold at all on the road. It would have been a total non starter as it would have come in halfway between a rim-only bike and a disc-only bike in weight. And switching was basically a PITA. I only did it once. I used V-brakes on my MTB for like a season cause I had them and then the next year I put discs on it and never looked back.

They did what they needed to do. They just would have lost money if they made some weird bikes that supported both, at least for any kind of performance bike.

I also had a Trek aluminum MTB Cross-Country hardtail with fittings for both disc and cantilever mounts (I think it was a 9300?), from about 20 years ago, when MTBs were still in transition from rim to disc brakes. But I agree with benb above, most customers wouldn't tolerate such a frame, because it looks too awkward with unused frame fittings. Heck, some customers today won't tolerate exposed cables at all, let alone visible fittings for both cables and hoses.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I also had a Trek aluminum MTB Cross-Country hardtail with fittings for both disc and cantilever mounts (I think it was a 9300?), from about 20 years ago, when MTBs were still in transition from rim to disc brakes. But I agree with benb above, most customers wouldn't tolerate such a frame, because it looks too awkward with unused frame fittings. Heck, some customers today won't tolerate exposed cables at all, let alone visible fittings for both cables and hoses.

Sounds like exactly the same time period, mine was a Giant.

[MikeD]

I have a Cannondale HeadShok hard tail with both disc and V brake mounts. I set it up with V brakes. These bikes were pre thru axle. Unless the front fork has a decent counterbore, you probably won't want to go with discs because the front wheel could eject on hard braking.

[benb]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I have a Cannondale HeadShok hard tail with both disc and V brake mounts. I set it up with V brakes. These bikes were pre thru axle. Unless the front fork has a decent counterbore, you probably won't want to go with discs because the front wheel could eject on hard braking.

Mine had counterbores on both the fork and the rear dropouts. (Actually I had a Marzocchi fork)

I never had any issues the entire time I had that bike, 17 years.

The stupid thing is my son has a Trek Marlin, and it's like a 2022 bike, and it doesn't have a TA but is disc only and the rear dropouts are not counterbored and it has had issues with the rear brake pulling the wheel out of alignment. We have mostly been able to manage it, but it's super dumb on a 2022 bike.

The new Marlins have something called ThrewSkew which is basically a weird thru axle that looks kind of like a QR but the wheel can't fall out with the QR released. Strange stuff, but it will hold the wheels in place properly like a regular TA but without the increased stiffness of a TA.