Don’t worry about the covid threads or International Politics, this is the TRUE controversial thread. Leave your kid gloves at the door…
What’s the merit of disc brakes on road bikes?
I’m a bit sceptical - as the contact patch on the tyres is tiny anyway and the brake pad coefficient of friction is way higher, then feels like you are going to get a lot of snatch-lock-ups (which i do on my mountain bike). Maybe you get used to it though? I duno.
What do you think?
Better control on wet surface, that’s about it. Instead of replacing the rim you now replace the discs. Plus 400g more or so. Carbon rims can make up a bit of that weight difference.
Way more important on a Mountainbike.
is the change sufficient enough to warrant basically every road bike on sale now having disc brakes? Seems odd that rim brakes aren’t even common anymore.
I was thinking rim design as weell. I could see, given the speeds and rain in taiwan, that they might be far better. Im not a roadie, prefer mountain bikes. But i personaly far prefer disc.
with the amount of dust, rain and grit your wheels are exposed to in Taiwan, disk brakes have some clear benefits: much less wear on your rims and better braking. during and after the rain. and you don’t need to spend time cleaning rims and brake pads.
in the UK, that idk.
The merits of disc brakes, for me, is that I can set them up pretty easy. Rim brakes, for some reason, are a f’ing Rubik’s Cube trying to set up and keep tuned.
Is it normal for a front brake disc to feel like it’s pulling the bike to the left, slightly? Due to the outboard offset from the disc compared to the wheel?
Check the spoke tension.
Have you ruled out the headset?
Thanks, didn’t think of checking those. It’s a fairly cheaply made bike so I’ll check that when I’m there next (it’s in storage)
make sure your axles are tight too.