Pat McQuaid: UCI allowing disc brakes in peloton “totally ridiculous”

Mark my words, there will come a time where no pro racer will be taken seriously until they have the waffle pattern of a Shimano ice tech rotor branded into a prominent body part.

 If only I hadn't been wearing a helmet! Then I wouldn't have been encouraged to risk a response. I am going to lobby for a "mandatory no helmets while engaging in forum exchanges" law, aka "Surly's law".

It is well known that sarcasm whooshes over someone's head more closely and faster if the person is wearing a helmet.  FACT

 If only I hadn't been wearing a helmet! Then I wouldn't have been encouraged to risk a response. I am going to lobby for a "mandatory no helmets while engaging in forum exchanges" law, aka "Surly's law".

It is well known that sarcasm whooshes over someone's head more closely and faster if the person is wearing a helmet.  FACT

Quote:

Currently, I’m writing a book that I hope will be published at the end of the year. I’ve got a lot to say, and I hope people will be interested in it. I’ll talk of my life in cycling – I was born a cyclist – and mainly about my time at the UCI."

A no holds barred exposé of corruption and manipulation within the UCI or a load of old guff about things being better in the old days and it, not being my fault. Can't wait...

He's an arse, generally. However, specifically on the subject of disc brakes he is no less informed than most of the pros who express a similarly ignorant view on the subject (David Millar, etc) so he's entitled to his views, its just a shame road.cc finds space and time to air them. A quick google search reveals an article on Cycling Weekly from last August titled "Pro peloton reacts to disc brakes at Eneco Tour". Bernie Eisel is quoted as saying: “Trust me I was the last one that wanted to use disc brakes. They gave me them to try, and see, and then I could still complain about it. At the moment it’s working perfectly, no rubbing, nothing. For the moment, no complaints at all... In the first 50 to 60km I had to figure out how it worked, but at the end it’s just super easy. After three or four corners of hard braking you know how it works." (Henderson repeats the nonsense about different braking power - although I don't recall the Eneco Tour being a succession of crashes.) Best though is Tom Boonen: “... I don’t know what the fuss is about. Let all teams be free, give them the choice to use [disc brakes]".

Road.cc: you really should stop it with the click bait disc brakes in the pro peleton articles (and with any articles that speak about merits or otherwise of helmet wearing).

Pat McQuaid is "totally ridiculous".

So disc brakes are vulnerable to shock? Oh, that explains all those mountain bikers whose brakes keep failing after they ride over bumps then! 

Please convince me: why are disc brakes dangerous other than the potential for different braking power within a bunch? Even this is daft - different rim and brake type combos produce different braking rates at the moment, and have done for years.

In the event of a crash, yes OK rotors are an object that can cause injury. But so is tarmac, chainrings, cassettes, all manner of bits of metal already part of an approved bike. Plus cars, motorcycles, street furniture, spectators - all these are pretty painful if you hit them. Why is a 6" metal disc on each wheel such a terrifying object?

I had this discussion when I was not permitted in a race with mudguards on...they're too dangerous in the event of a crash, I was told. 

Pat, time to move on mate. 

Not many years left to continue to feel bitter and whine about the delusion of you passing on all the good work for others to follow, and what a loss for them to oust you.  You are incompetent and chose to turn a blind eye on some of the dodgy things that happened within the UCI.  No doubt you know that yourself so get over it.

Brian Cookson is busy cleaning up the mess you left behind.

Just to add my 2c over the disc brake thing, the brakes don't stop the bike it's the friction and the traction of the tyre on the road surface that stops or slows the bike. The brakes slow the rotational force of the wheel. The surface area of your tyre on the road is about the size of a 10 pence coin depending on tyre size and the traction of this tiny area is what stops a bike.

With that in mind both disc and rim brakes can lock up either the front and back wheel incredibly easy and equally well with maybe just a smidgen harder pull on rim brakes. It's harder to lock the front tyre due to inertia and the transfer of weight under braking pushing the front tyre hard into the road surface providing more grip before tyre lock and skid. If you simply grab the brake hard, even on carbon rims you can easily lock up a wheel because it's too easy to lose that tiny area of tyre traction, even on dry grippy surface.

I am in the pro disc camp and I have hydraulic discs on my road bike and I love them. I can modulate the braking way better and more importantly they are superb in the rain and wet roads, there's no real loss of brake power that I've experienced (dangerously) when I had decent rim brakes.

Although it doesn't affect me because I'll never spend 2 grand on carbon rims, it allows pro wheel manufacturers to redesign rims and make them more aero and with less material because no robust braking rim is needed.

I don't see an issue really. I know the arguments against discs like extra weight of discs, the brake assembly and rotor makes a less aero bike, the discs are dangerous in crashes, etc, etc. I don't buy it. Don't some pro teams have to add weight to their bikes to make sure they hit the 6.8kg minimum weight rule? For me the benefits of disc in wet is by itself a reason to switch.

Going down hill in the rain to a road T junction in unfamiliar areas where you can hear cars passing and squeezing the rim brakes to find nothing happening save the sound of brake blocks on gritty, wet rims is a rather scary. I had to put a foot down and skid it along the road to stop in time while squeezing both brakes hard as possible. I stopped just over the give way line and traffic managed to avoid me. Those same brakes were great in the dry, just shite in the wet. That incident would not have happened with discs so to me they are safer brakes.

I feel Ironmancole could well be right. It's no coincidence that a plateau in bike sales seems to have coincided with an insistence that road bikes now need disc brakes. 

I understand all the pros and cons - for both amateurs and pros and I still can't imagine how Sunday cyclists all sporting disc brakes are going to convince pro teams to switch to something more complicated for such marginal gains.

Personally I've been feathering brakes (or even just avoiding riding on rainy days..) for 35 years. My oldest rims are from 1996 and still going strong so wear isn't the pressing issue it is made out to be. Finally,  there is no way I am besmirching my summer bike by switching out my lovely Campag chrome skeleton brakes for a couple of ugly clunky discs. 

"Disc brakes are more powerful than ones using pads, but are vulnerable to shock and in the event of a crash can cause injuries"

Er, Pat, disc brakes and caliper brakes both use pads

Pat aside the disc brake thing will come and go, if I'm wrong on that I'll invite Pat round for lunch.

On board cameras for the peloton are fantastic so the UCI in my opinion have done well to push for something tech based to give the fans something new to appreciate.

Disc brakes however will be a nightmare and firmly in the gimmick category.  My days of road racing involved quickly working out who around you was potentially less confident or overly edgy, which as I'm sure many will recognise leads to more erratic braking with less awareness of the needs of those riding tightly with you.

Of course as you progress the riding skills also generally follow, with upmost respect to grass root level road racing.  Regardless of professional field competence I would expect to see more incidents and eventually a rider protest of sorts to get rid of them. 

There is such a thing as too powerful and being able to feather and delicately work with the brakes is vital, I can't see that being so easy with the more efficient and industrious alternative although I'd readily admit my only experience with disc braking has been mountain bike based.

As for the mechanics...poor sods. 

Let's wait for some real mixed brake races!

Poor deluded fool.  Surely Disc brakes are better for the sport, health of the athlete and competitive moral values, than years of enchecked doping programmes.

Part of the fun of being conscious is, who knows when some tiny fact about some arcane phenomenon might turn out to be exactly the ticket?  Frogs, asteroids, treaties.  Even mindless internet crud -- perfect for celebrating our collective, progressive enfeeblement!  But I just tried for a few seconds and I cannot give the faintest damn about any aspect of this clown's ongoing existence.  

Beyond the general sadness of his ongoing need for attention, I enjoyed this gem:

“Now there are two kinds of braking system in the peloton. Disc brakes are more powerful than ones using pads, but are vulnerable to shock and in the event of a crash can cause injuries."

       - Both braking systems in question have pads, whether they use the rim or a brake disc.  Does he not even understand how the two systems differ?

       - Pretty much all crashes of note cause injuries - like when you get hit by a race moto or a TV car.   It might be even more valuable to explore standards for deciding who is competent to drive near riders, or run into spectators.

I wonder how he will cover the South African sports embargo way back when, and the 125000 dollar 'hush' payment from Mr LA following a positive doping test.

This guy couldn't lay straight in bed. He has no credibility whatsoever. I wondered when he would pop his arrogant mug up again. Or maybe his sole purpose for the comments is yo sneakily advertise his book? Like we're all gonna rush out and buy it....