What’s wrong with Chris Froome’s disc brakes?

You can, and will still be able to buy bikes with rim brakes for years and years to come. Probably as long as there are bicycles around. Why? Because there will always be a market wanting them (people like you). It may be that the mass manufacturers stop supporting them, but somebody will. So you will still have the choice.

PP

Thanks Pilot Pete, all very reassuring. I am 61 and aiming for a whole bunch more years of cycling. I reckon cycling/exercise has got me this far, so here's hoping rim brakes last the pace.

Oh, and the other longevity ingredient.... luck!

Good point

The biking industry is going to wait before they introduce ABS, they'll wait till the sales of bikes slow down, then BOOM, out will come the "new" ABS brakes with the intention that people will rush out and buy new bikes again so they get the latest newest technology, this is how the game is played, it's all about money.

I'm guessing you enjoy riding your 5 speed with downtube shifters still? 

Raleigh Olympus?

Sorry, but like it or not this is the truth of the matter.

Not sorry and no it isn't.

It is the truth. 

Truth is a three-edged sword.

Lots of people have tried both (including me) and generally agree that disc brakes offer much better stopping control (especially in the wet). I don't think it's really a fashion statement but more pragmatism.

The other benefit is that you can then use wheels that don't need to be designed to have a braking surface which can hopefully lead to better aerodynamics (or possibly a small reduction in weight, though that's far less important).

I sometimes wish my bike did look like a tractor - cars would give me a bit more room.

Make your bike look like a tractor? hardly a truth more a matter of opinion, I like the look of disc brakes, if you don't fair enough but don't claim it as a truth. 
 

Rest of your post is also debatable.

Exactly. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think my disc braked Colnagos look fabulous. My disc braked winter bike (Felt F65X with full guards etc) got a 'supernice' on GCN, so can't be that tractor like.....! And it's an aluminium lump that weights a tonne, but gets the job done....

I don't look at it and think, my god that bike is ugly, looks like a bloody tractor.

PP

That bike really does look like a tractor tbf. As does any properly set up winter bike.

I see that bike and I want to ride it, on a cold winter's day. It's beautiful to me because I wants to ride it. 

Pepperami wrote:

Make your bike look like a tractor? hardly a truth more a matter of opinion, I like the look of disc brakes, if you don't fair enough but don't claim it as a truth. 
 

Rest of your post is also debatable.

I think you're replying to the wrong person

If they give even marginally better stopping power or modulation, have the smallest aero advantage and the bike still comes in bang on the lower weight limit, what is the rider losing?

Edit: didn't read last post properly

Disc brakes have a big aero penalty

check12 wrote:

Disc brakes have a big aero penalty

Yeah, on an old frame adapted for discs, maybe, but the newer frames designed for discs have become more aero than rim-brake frames because they can be designed to be so and don't need to contend with big chunks of aluminium such as rim-brake calipers in wind-catching areas.

That's just not true, it's what bike brands want you to think, so you swap your *insert expensive rim road bike* for the new 2021 disc brake version. 
better braking in the wet and bit better in the dry yes, but also more faff and less aero.

No, not a bit better in the dry, read on and I will tell you what a friend and I did.  When this test was done I did not own a disk brake bike, since then I do own one only because the bike came with them, but anyway here was the test.

My friend had a newish road bike with Shimano Ultegra hydro disk brakes and my 5-year-old bike at the time of the test had Shimano 105 rim brakes; his bike was fitted with Continental 4000S 25c tires and mine had Vittoria Rubino 23 tires, we put the exact same amount of air in our tires because with the weight of the bikes and riders we were within 2 pounds of each other; this was a dry day about 80 degrees outside.  So the test was that we had to stay seated and not slide our butts rearward to get more weight over the back tire, there would be 3 sets of 3 runs each set, first set was 15 mph, the second set was 20 mph, and the last was 25 mph.  We took turns yelling stop so as to eliminate pre-knowing reaction time, and these were to be full-on panic stops.  In the first two sets, we stopped within a foot of each other, sometimes I stopped a bit shorter and sometimes he did, we called it a tie, but something interesting happened in the 3rd set, the first stop I was a foot shorter, we blew that one off thinking I reacted faster, the 2nd stop I stopped about 3 feet shorter, and on the 3rd stop I stopped about 6 feet shorter!  We determined he had brake fade, so he touched his front rotor and singed his finger, but wasn't able to singe his other finger on my front rim though it was hot, just not that hot, I wish I had one of those laser temperature thingys.

So while I know this was not very scientific but we did the best we could with what we had, I would have thought that on tires alone his would have stopped better than mine since mine were cheaper tires and narrower tires.

My new bike is a touring bike and it came with mechanical disk brakes, my old 29-year-old touring bike had the original cantilever rim brakes, other than the smoothness of how the new disk brakes actuate I can't say for sure if they stop better than the old cantilevers, and  I can't test them with loaded weight since the old one was destroyed in an accident and unrideable which is why I had to buy a new one.  But they don't seem to stop any better from what I remember, they just are a lot smoother.

Anyway, that's my story.

The biggest aero penalty on disc brakes is actually from the additional spokes required, not the callipers

True, but again we are talking about things which in the real world, for your average rider who is not racing at any sort of high level, is of sod all relevance. I ride for sport/ exercise/ health and well-being. I like quality bikes and riding relatively quickly (for me) most of the time I'm out, which includes doing massive summer day rides of several hundred KMs. When I'm riding with mates, who are all quite dedicated, with varying quality of bikes from a couple of grand up to several thousands, spoke counts, rim vs disc, aero helmet vs non aero helmets etc make sod all difference. We aren't racing.....even when we are!

The current CTT 100-mile comp record was set by Marcin Biablocki in 2019 with a 31mph ride. He was on a Pinarello Bolide with disc brakes. Where was the aero penalty? Quite the reverse if anything.

Someone setting a record on disc brakes doesn't prove they are more aero than rim brakes