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Does the bike industry really want to force you on to disc brakes?

With Ineos Grenadiers switching to disc brakes, we fact-check a theory that just won't go away

Team Ineos Grenadiers’ announced earlier this week that it is switching from rim brakes to disc brakes, the final UCI WorldTeam to do so; have the pros made the change as part of a cynical ploy by the bike industry to get more money out of you?

Why do we ask that question? If you look on social media you’ll see accusations that the bike industry is promoting disc brakes on road bikes simply to increase profits and that forcing pro teams to use discs is all part of the plan. This is an idea that has been rolling along for years and doesn’t seem to go away, so we thought we’d do some fact-checking. We’re not going to go into technology or performance here, but into what’s driving the market.

Of course, there are those who’d have you believe that road.cc and the rest of the cycling media is in on this disc-brake conspiracy too. If that’s you, you might as well stop reading because, well, what's the point if everything here could be a tissue of lies?

First off, are disc brakes being forced on a reluctant pro peloton? There was certainly some opposition in the early days with several riders claiming that injuries had been caused by rotors back in 2016, and Chris Froome provoked headlines much more recently when he said, “I don't think the technology is quite where it needs to be.”

It’s hard to judge pro riders’ opinions because they usually talk positively about sponsors’ products for obvious reasons, but we’re certainly not hearing as many doubts expressed about disc brakes as we once did. Either most pros are now cool with them or the sponsors have managed to convince them to stay shtum.    

Top-level pro teams started shifting over to disc brakes five years ago, so what has prompted Ineos Grenadiers finally to make the shift now?

2021 Pinarello Dogma DiskBrake Grenadiers PRBX_04104

“We are always looking at ways to improve our kit, technology and bike setup to ensure the riders have the very best options that are available,” said Carsten Jeppesen, Ineos Grenadiers’ Head of Technical Partners.

“Our relationship with Pinarello has always been grounded in a love of racing and innovation, and their work on the Dogma F Disc should enable our riders to race to their maximum.

“Working closely with Pinarello and Shimano, we will continue to develop the all-round disc package, optimising weight, the integration across Dura-Ace, and improvements in the quick release system.”

Let’s be honest, that’s a pretty vanilla statement that doesn’t explain much.

The more cynical might say that until the Dogma F Disc was launched earlier this year, Ineos couldn’t get a disc brake Dogma to an acceptably low weight, so it was forced to stick with slightly lighter rim brakes.

2021 Filippo Ganna's Pinarello Dogma F12 Giro d'Italia maglia rosa  - 1

The Dogma F Disc frame kit (including seatpost, headset, fork, and Talon cockpit) is said to be 265g (21%) lighter than the disc brake version of the F12, and Pinarello reckons that a size 53, built up with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (R9100, not the recently launched R9200 version) and DT Swiss ARC1400 wheels, weighs 6.8kg (no pedals) – 6.8kg being the lowest permissible bike weight for racing.

What about the idea that the bike industry would rather have you using disc brakes rather than rim brakes to make more money out of you? Well, if a brand convinces you that your current bike is out of date and you need to buy a new one they’ll make cash, but do they get more money by persuading you to opt for a disc brake model?

A contact from the British arm of a major global bike brand – who didn’t want to be named for commercial reasons – said, “More money comes in when we sell a disc brake bike than a rim brake bike simply because, if they’re an equivalent spec, the disc brake bike costs more. It’s the same as in the mountain bike world comparing a full-suspension bike with a similarly specced hardtail because the retail price is higher.

“However, on the flip side, a disc brake bike takes longer to build. Routing hydraulic hoses internally, attaching them, bleeding the system… all this means that the assembly time is much longer for a disc brake bike, and we only have so many production lines and man-hours.”

In other words, according to our source, it's not as black and white as you might think because a manufacturer can assemble fewer disc brake bikes in a given amount of time.

Wilier’s Kevin Izzard makes a similar point.

“In terms of manufacture, there are no advantages to the factory in building disc brake bikes,” he said. “Disc brakes with hydraulic hoses and the requirement for bleeding etc are far more difficult and time-consuming to instal onto a frame than rim brakes.

2021 Team TotalEnergies Wilier Filante - 1

“This is especially true with modern fully integrated frame/handlebar designs. Although discs are more expensive than rim brakes, the purchase price is also higher so, together with the extra assembly costs, there are no benefits in terms of profit margin when assembling disc braked bikes as opposed to rim.”

Everyone we’ve spoken to in the bike industry has argued strongly that the shift towards disc brakes has been driven by consumer demand rather than by marketing plans. Of course, you could argue that they would say that, wouldn’t they?

Shimano has just launched new versions of its two top-level road groupsets, Dura-Ace and Ultegra, and although both are Di2 (electronic shift) only, they’re each available with disc brakes and rim brakes.

2022 Fairlight Strael 3.0 Dura-Ace - 11.jpeg

“If you’re talking about business benefits then it’s about offering a wide customer choice,” said Shimano’s Ben Hillsdon. “The reason for both disc brakes and rim brakes within our product line up is to support current customer demands. We offer bike brands the components to match what they feel is the best bike for their customers’ cycling preferences. Consumers are making choices with their components (eg their brakes) to fit their cycling goals and our product developments reflect that demand.”

That’s the official line – changes to the market are consumer-led, according to Shimano.

2021 Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc - riding 1.jpg

Giant says that it could have made the TCR road bike disc-brake only when it redesigned the platform last year but figured there was still enough demand to make a rim brake option viable, especially given that there are fewer models out there from other manufacturers. Specialized’s Tarmac SL7 is now disc brake only, for example, as is the latest Trek Émonda. There are plenty of other examples.

2021 Colnago_V3Rs_Ice&Fire_front_whiteback.jpeg

On the other hand, many high-end road bikes are still available in both rim brake and disc brake versions, including the Ineos Grenadiers’ Pinarello Dogma F and the Colnago V3Rs ridden by 2020 and 2021 Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates colleagues, allowing consumers to choose between them directly.

Giant’s David Ward said, “We will continue to offer rim brake bikes as long as the demand is there. If we thought we could sell 10 different rim brake TCR models, that’s what we’d offer, but demand has shifted over the past few years.”

In model year 2020, Giant offered seven rim brake TCRs and two framesets in the UK, and nine disc brake TCRs and two framesets. However, a massive reduction in demand for rim brake bikes meant that it offered only two rim-brake TCRs and one frameset in the 2021 model year. Meanwhile, the number of disc brake TCR models in the range increased to eight complete bikes and one frameset.

The swing will continue for the 2022 model year; there is just one TCR complete bike with rim brakes – the Shimano 105-equipped TCR Advanced 2 at £1,999 – and one rim brake frameset – the TCR Advanced SL at £2,549. The rest of the range is disc brake.

2021 Giant Propel Advanced 2 Disc

Moving on to the Propel aero road bike, Giant decided to bring only disc brake models into the UK in 2021, even though the Taiwanese brand had a rim brake version available globally, simply because that’s what the market demanded. The fact that Giant has spent a lot of R&D time and money on a rim brake Propel and still doesn’t feel it worth importing into this country probably tells you something significant.

First ride: Wilier Zero SLRSimilarly, when we went to a Wilier bike launch in 2019 the brand’s Claudio Salomoni told us, “We have already designed a Wilier Zero SLR with rim brakes, and started a pre-production version for our internal tests, but it looks like today's customer wants to buy disc brakes so there will probably be no market for the rim version.”

Although the Wilier Zero SLR Rim has been approved by the UCI, it has never come to market and, according to Wilier, isn’t likely to.

“Wilier was initially a somewhat reluctant entrant to the disc brake market, but has developed the new products purely in response to customer demand,” said Kevin Izzard. “In a remarkably short space of time, Wilier saw the market for rim brakes plummet and customers switched to ordering almost exclusively disc brake-equipped bikes.

wilier cento10 ndr 2.jpg

“Wilier still produces some rim braked bikes, but to give you an example, the Cento 10 NDR is a frame that was designed to be built with either rim or disc brakes on the same frameset. Currently, only around 2% of sales are for the rim braked version, all the others are disc. This split is purely dictated by customer choice.”

Whether disc brakes offer a significant performance benefit on road bikes is a different – although related – discussion that we're not covering here, but our conversations suggest the idea that disc brakes are being forced on a reluctant bike buying public is a complete myth.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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98 comments

Avatar
jacknorell | 3 years ago
1 like

This topic never fails to bring out the cranks...

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Mungecrundle replied to jacknorell | 3 years ago
3 likes

Oh you bad, bad person. Don't get them started on cranks.

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MattieKempy | 3 years ago
6 likes

Disc brakes are the devil's work. Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have bikes with disc brakes. Disc brakes are magnetic and contain microscopic trackers. It's all just a cycling industry conspiracy to control us. Britain would be better if we left the European Disc-Brakers.

Stone the heretics who say otherwise.

(edited to further annoy those without a sense of humour).

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tony.westclassi... | 3 years ago
0 likes

Two things, you have to have new bike if you want disc brakes, new frame, wheels and the disc,s, Ofcurse it generats more money for manufacturers, Tony Martin has just retired, stating safty issues, discs are so fast & efficiant, in the peloton when accident starts, riders brake so fast the rest cant react fast enough, so mass crash, it was seen on TV one of the last one week tours, a rider nearly lost rear wheel on wet road becuase brake was too affective, wait till the amateur comes unstuck on ice road.

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pasley69 | 3 years ago
1 like

My bike for loaded touring is fitted with cable-operated disc brakes - best of both worlds in my opinion. My MTB has hydraulic disc brakes.

My road bike has caliper brakes. With the latter I can quite happily descend the steepest decline in the district, a category 2, and the brakes work just fine. And I have never yet worn out a rim.

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JVN01 | 3 years ago
3 likes

The other thing nobody has mentioned is the big advantage of disc brakes when you pop a spoke - especially on low-spoke-count wheels, losing a spoke can result in a wheel that (even with a spoke key) can't be persuaded to pass thru the rim brake caliper. A disc wheel will take an immense level of pringleisation and still work well enough to get you home. I've been on group rides where a rider with fancy lightweight rim brake wheels has had to bail out miles from home due to a broken spoke and not being able to get the wheel to move thru the caliper...

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JVN01 | 3 years ago
1 like

Anyone like me who came to road biking from years of MTB simply expects the same level of braking you get from disc brakes and anything else just feels inferior. It's true disc brakes are more faff to install and setup but the results are worth it. I can't help feeling that the current shift toward acceptance of disc braking in the pro peloton has more to do with the fact that the top riders (who are bossing it in all disciplines) have come from MTB and/or cyclocross, and their unquestioning adoption of disc brakes on their road bikes has resulted in a wider acceptance of the inevitable....

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wtjs replied to JVN01 | 3 years ago
0 likes

It's true disc brakes are more faff to install and setup

No it isn't, with cable discs. Twin moving piston with independent pad adjustment = dead easy

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Txirrindulari | 3 years ago
0 likes

So many apologies to the bike industry. If one choses to go with disc brakes... the industry makes money off the new frame and new wheels you have to purchase, its not just the brakes. And the industry is forcing riders to buy new frame and new wheels. Try to find carbon wheels for rim brakes, Mavic used to make them but they are no longer available. They are also forcing riders get new groupsets, phaseing out 10 speed, 11speed by not keeping cassettes and chains supplied. Shops must love disc brakes and electronic shifter as riders need maintence more frequently. These are great for pros whi have mechanics, but regular folks who try to do their own work are being taxed.

 

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Hirsute replied to Txirrindulari | 3 years ago
4 likes

With disc brakes the wheels will last longer, so how does that help the industry?

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JL77 replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
2 likes

There is no such thing as 'the industry'. Every participant has it's own goals.

(For example, Shimano & SRAM & others want to make as much money as they can from selling components. But bike brands want to make as much money as they can from selling the bikes they build. So they want cheaper parts and ease of first installation. ... )

There are other means to make people want to buy new stuff (e.g. wheels)

  • incompatibility with newer tech (f.i. standards!) & obsolescence (no longer easy to buy parts, etc.)
  • perceived benefits from innovations
  • ...

 

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Hirsute replied to JL77 | 3 years ago
0 likes

You are replying to the wrong person, as I did not introduce the phrase 'bike industry'.

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thedarkhamster | 3 years ago
3 likes

I'm a complete convert to disc brakes and have bought a new frame to enable me to have discs on my second bike. Performance is better in the dry and the wet, yes they are a bit more fiddly to maintain but worth the extra hassle.

To those who say slowing down faster doesn't make you faster, see how much later you can brake on discs then accelerate back up to speed after a corner and see how much further ahead of your rim brake friend your are!

Then factor in the joy of jot having to listen to my expensive rims being ground down by my brakes in the wet and mud, worth every minute of that extra hassle!

I don't care what the bike industry thinks, I've tried it, I love it and won't go back - but I won't buy a new bike JUST because I want disc brakes, I'll wait until I've ground my way through another set of rims!! 🙂

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Hirsute | 3 years ago
6 likes

Rim brakes are no good for commuting as the rim wears down too easily. I swapped to swiss stop, used the special rubber to clean the rims (2 hours a time) but they still didn't last as long as they should.

Performance in the wet is much better too with disc.

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Steve K replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
6 likes

Yep.  I've just got my first disc brake bike, and one of the main reasons I wanted to make the change was I was fed up of wearing out rims commuting all through the winter.  (Although I'm not commuting as much now, so not as big an issue.)

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PRSboy | 3 years ago
9 likes

I think this topic has been beaten to death now.

If I wanted to buy a new bike, it would be a disc version as I can see the advantages.

I don't, and as its not possible to upgrade an existing bike, I will remain happy with rim brakes.

That is all.

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RobD | 3 years ago
1 like

My question is, how many road/race bikes that are bought each year are actually used for racing? Discs are a better technology for the majority of casual riders, especially those new to riding. With the increase in popularity of cycling in the last decade, there's more and more people willing to buy a fairly high end bike as a first or second bike, so haven't necesarily spent a long time learning the skills of using rim brakes, discs are much more intuitive for someone who drives and is new to bikes.

As for companies pushing buyers onto a technology, surely the ideal for them would be for people to be on rim brakes, the technology is old, cheap to produce, can be claimed to be lightweight etc and probably costs them a lot less to utilise.

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JL77 replied to RobD | 3 years ago
3 likes

RobD wrote:

With the increase in popularity of cycling in the last decade, there's more and more people willing to buy a fairly high end bike as a first or second bike, so haven't necesarily spent a long time learning the skills of using rim brakes, discs are much more intuitive for someone who drives and is new to bikes.

True, it took me 6 months and 2 exams to master the skill of using rim brakes. Disc brakes was just seconds.

 

RobD wrote:

As for companies pushing buyers onto a technology, surely the ideal for them would be for people to be on rim brakes, the technology is old, cheap to produce, can be claimed to be lightweight etc and probably costs them a lot less to utilise.

Of course, for that same reason the Flintstones mobile is making a come back next year. Profits will go through the roof!

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horrovac replied to RobD | 3 years ago
2 likes

You've got that wrong. There's no intuition to disc brakes. If you ask me, they're more demanding and require more knowledge and skill to use. Rim brakes are stupid simple, cable-operated and operate using something with a huge thermal mass and surface area to brake with (i.e. the rim), and if something goes wrong, you can bodge something out of sticks and leaves and mud. Disc brakes can be overheated and may suffer from fading, both in the pads and the hydraulic system. You need a lot of skill and knowledge and tools to maintain them - bleed, set up, retract the pistons, adjust the caliper etc., while rim brakes are something that most of us have been servicing since we were kids. Forget to put in a distancing block when you take the wheel out, operate the lever and pop out the pistons. That's your ride over, you sure ain't fixing that on the side of the road, and probably you can't do it yourself either. And you have an oil spill. I case of DOT fluids, a highly corrosive. Hook the disc under something and bend it, that's either the ride over or pinging and rubbing and pumping to brake until you get a new one.

Just because cars have disc brakes doesn't mean that new cyclists are better off with discs. The car brakes are proven, maintenance free (for the user) and pretty much bombproof. Bike discs aren't.

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MattieKempy replied to horrovac | 3 years ago
1 like

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Nick T | 3 years ago
5 likes

You would have to be naive to think this situation hasn't been engineered to a degree, there is profit where there's obsolescence so manufacturers are inclined to push the new technology as a comprehensive improvement. Publications such as this play their part by regurgitating press releases to encourage the public perception, they need us to believe what they tell us and they need their sponsored teams to be using the new technology at the top end in order to sell the mid range volume products. The fact is, discs offer no benefit in terms of road bikes for racing, the best you can hope for is that you don't notice the difference. Making 2 versions of something costs more so we don't see high end bikes with rim brakes any more. So the situation has certainly been engineered to maximise sales and profits which means yes, discs have been "forced" on us merely by removing the alternatives

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Miller replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
3 likes

So... what do you think about the covid vaccination programme?

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Nick T replied to Miller | 3 years ago
3 likes

I think you need to find better strawmen

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Rendel Harris replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
4 likes

Nick T wrote:

The fact is, discs offer no benefit in terms of road bikes for racing, the best you can hope for is that you don't notice the difference. 

This is entirely contrary to my understanding and experience, I have Ultegra rim brakes on the carbon road bike and Tiagra discs on the alloy/carbon forked one; both brakes are great and you'd be hard pushed to find any difference in good weather, but if it's raining and there are going to be fast descents I would take the disc brake bike every time, even though the other is my favourite. Given that road racers will often be taking on severe descents in the wet at far greater speed than I, I would've thought the superior wet-weather braking would be a massive advantage for racing.

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Nick T replied to Rendel Harris | 3 years ago
1 like

So you've established that disc brakes are better for nonracing/training use, thats perfectly valid. There's plenty of bicycle types that benefit from the technology but not road racing particularly; given the hesitance of teams and professional riders willing to change initially and the fact that rim equipped bicycles are still winning at the highest level suggests that rim brakes have never been a limiting factor

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Rendel Harris replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
5 likes

But I've also established that disc brakes are better at high-speed braking in the wet, which enables one to brake later if trying to go as fast as possible, so why wouldn't this benefit a racer?

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Nick T replied to Rendel Harris | 3 years ago
4 likes

Because races aren't decided by who can slow down the quickest, this isn't formula 1

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Rendel Harris replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
7 likes

Nick T wrote:

Because races aren't decided by who can slow down the quickest, this isn't formula 1

A smartarsed comment which makes no sense. On a descent most riders are capable of reaching the maximum velocity available to a cyclist and spinning out their gears, so any escape or catch is dependent on who can keep speed longest and brake latest in corners. In the wet, that's the rider with discs.

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Shades | 3 years ago
3 likes

Borrowing a comment from another topic; disc brakes for MTBs, gravel, commuter and winter road bike.  Rim brakes for a summer road bike.  My take is that rim brakes are easy to maintain, especially if you're on a bike related holiday.  That said I have a 20 yr old hybrid (town, commuter etc bike) with a hydraulic Magura rim brake (rear); apart from new pads it's never needed any maintenance, even when the bike's been at the LBS.  The latest forks have a Shimano disc brake on them; apart from pads, never needed a service.  Guess we shouldn't be resistant to discs?

Best thing about discs in the winter/wet; no filthy wheels from the muck spread by rim brakes.

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Sam3 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Your car has disc brakes, and tubeless tires. So does your motorbike. Because they are flat out better under all circumstances, and regardless of any weight addition.

Also not mentioned in the article is that we are heading towards a merging of "aero", "gravel", "road" and electric powered bikes. This design direction involves a more efficient aero design of the bike frame and cockpit, use of wider tires, accomodation for an option of a battery and wireless gear controls....and yes disc brakes. Particularly so because of the assumptions of electric power and wider tires.

In this new world, rim brakes will be a quaint leftover but otherwise really irrelevant, much like cars with manual transmission. Especially as the bikes industry reconfigures itself and its supply chain around this new design direction.

That's why. It's not an illuminati plot to impoverish bikers or anything.

I got disc brakes on a bike I bought about 10 years ago, found them to be shockingly better, low maintenance in practice and I would never go back to mucking about with rim brakes - or rim brake wheels. It's so yesteryear.

It's fascinating that it's mainly in the british press that I still see these kinds of disc--vs-rim storylines. Everyone else has pretty much moved on.

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