I've so far hesitated joining this thread. First, let me be perfectly clear: I speak only for myself. Nothing I say should be construed as representing "Rivendell Policy" or "Rivendell Opinion". I prefer rim brakes 99 to 1 over "disc" brakes. I put "disc" in quotation marks because, of course, rim brakes are disc brakes, with a much larger radius. And that makes all the difference. A front disc-brake wheel is heavily dished (uneven spoke tension, left to right). The proximity of the braking surface to the hub increases the stress on the pulling spokes, relieving the "pushing" spokes -- the flex on the looser-side spokes can work-harden the bend in the spoke elbow at the hub, and it will eventually break. Same thing with the rear wheel (only here the lower-tension spokes are on the non-drive, left side). These spokes are already prone to breaking over the long haul, as they flex more, and will work-harden more quickly. This increased stress would still be problemmatic on a non-dished disc-brake front wheel, as well, because of the increased stress all around, at the hub. Admittedly, replacing a broken spoke is easier, and less costly, than replacing a worn rim. Nonetheless, a dished front wheel presents additional problems -- as the primary braking instrument, the front wheel, when unevenly tensioned (side to side), can, under severe stopping conditions, become unstable, provoke an accident, or even "figure-8". Not good.
Additionally, disc brakes present a safety hazard to other riders. That spinning, thin disc can easily become a buzz saw when presented with a fallen rider's limb. Hence the ban on disc brakes by the UCI. This should be an alarm bell, at least. Full disclosure: I use a disc brake as a "drag brake" on my tandem, so far with no problems. That's why is "99 to 1" as opposed to 100 to zero! On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 7:19:47 AM UTC-7, Will wrote: > > Might be nice to push back to GP and encourage more of these posts. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
