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TECH NEWS
Tune launches disc brake safety covers - but are they really necessary?
German lightweight component specialist company Tune has developed a disc brake cover that it says solves the ongoing debate about the safety of disc brakes in the professional peloton.
It has made a cover that fits easily to most disc-equipped bikes. It’s designed specifically for 160mm rotors, expected to be the standard adopted by the peloton, and flat mount. The photos show a prototype 3D printed sample, the final production version would be made out of carbon.
- Disc brakes in the pro peloton: Riders demand better safety for disc brake rollout
How do the covers fit on the bike?
Fitting the covers appears to be simply a matter of loosening the caliper bolts, sliding the cover into place between the brake adapter and mounting surface of the fork or frame, and cinching the bolts back up. Special aluminium washers are supplied to ensure the covers are mounted correctly to allow the necessary bolt torque to be applied.
Tune says this means the covers not only improves safety but don’t compromise easy wheel changes.
“It increases the safety by covering the sharp edges of the brake rotor while maintaining the ability to swap wheels without disassembling the cover, making it useable in race situations for pro athletes and amateur racers alike,” says the company.
- Pro riders' union threatens to go legal in row over disc brakes in the pro peloton
Won’t the covers cause heat buildup?
Not so, reckons Tune. It has placed holes in strategic places to ensure airflow can ensure the brakes don’t overheat. As an added benefit, and we’d love to see some wind-tunnel testing to back this up, Tune says the holes “improve cooling while maintaining aerodynamic performance.” So they won't slow you down.
How about noise? Will they play a tune with all those holes?
Tune says the stability of the cover design avoids noises when riding, so there should be no whistling at higher speeds. You might have to endure some heckling from riding buddies though.
How much will they cost and when can I get them?
No word pricing at this stage and the company is saying availability will be sometime after the annual Eurobike show at the end of August.
Tune is still in the prototype phase - the photos show 3D printed sampled used to test the design, ensure they fit and work as desired. It’s said to be looking at developing the production covers out of carbon fibre, a given for a company renowned for its lightweight carbon fibre components.
What do you think?
Are these covers the solution to the apparent safety debate about disc brakes being using in the professional peloton, or a complete waste of time? Let us know what you think below.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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30 comments
My grandaughter is a member of a sychronised ice skating team, basically 20 young women moving at high speed and performing close passing manoeuvres and lifts with what amounts to a sharp knife on each foot.
I showed her a discussion of the safety of disc brakes and her conclusion was, 'men are such wimps'.
the father of a lad I went to school with lost a testicle playing ice hockey - those blades are quite sharp!
You know that in 12 months every bike that comes with disc brakes will have to have these - or a crappy clear plastic equivalent - fitted, just like the stupid pie plate that sits at the back of your cassette. And just like that pie plate (and the reflectors on your wheels) you will remove it because its useless.
Disc brakes have been around for years - how come they are now suddenly a moving health & safety violation which needs solving?
(As I understand it, pie-plates are only there to save you from badly adjusted derailleurs - is that right?)
Disc brakes: a solution to a problem that didn't exist.
Disc brake covers: a solution to a problem caused by a problem that didn't exist.
i don't think any pro was asking for disc brakes until their bike manufacturers decided to market them (and pay them money to ride). I don't remember any saying: if I had disc brakes I wouldn't have crashed/would have won/feel safer.
so why force it on them? Feel free to ride them yourselves if that floats your boat. I have a disc equipped cyclo cross bike, but I don't have any urge to get them for my road bike. Just not necessary and not needed.
Because we (every contributor and commenter on road.cc) have been buying Daft Shit That We Don't Really Need But The Pros Use for ever. Nobody who's ever typed a character that has appeared on these pages has a single, utilitarian bike, with completely basic, bare-minimum components and no debateable frills.
How many bikes have you got, for example?
Bike manufacturers know this more than anyone, and in their perennial quest for sucking our money, every now and then they actually make things better (or 'better things').
I don't really get the polarisation here. I'm of the opinion that we don't *need* disc brakes, and the pros certainly don't, but the advantages are obvious; I just don't understand the vociferous anti campaign.
Quite.
Next I predict an 'aero' cover or fairing for them!
Don't forget the new groupset, forks, beefier frames, new wheels and new maintenance tools and requirements for the hydraulics. Built in obsolescence for all the rim-brake-compatible stuff you've already got, if they push to make everything 'disc'!
I can see why the manufacturers are so keen.
Someone needs to tell them they missed April Fool's Day
The keyword here is "Tune" ...
Maybe somebody could write a book called "How to Man The Fuck Up" and sell it to the pro peloton?
Gonna snap up a set before they fade into obscurity. A memento of a strange and irrational period of road cycling transition. Maybe get a few grand for them on vrBay in 2040.
Can I have these in carbon with heavy weave. Pointless but could look cool
I'm with Rob; these are not nearly as ugly as the inspired by Fisher Price T°Red ones. If the pro's need them as a safety blanket then so be it, as long as the more senile federations don't insist on them for sportives.
Curious as to how these behave in crosswinds? The front version looks like it has a rather flappy lower section that could get blown against the rotor. Not necesarrily dangerously so, but noisly so perhaps?
Something else to slap a sponsors' logo onto.
Considering what I thought these might look like then they're not that bad, not exactly attractive but could be worse, and if it means that pros won't complain about others riding with them then so be it, means the testing can actually get underway and see if it makes a difference or not. I certainly wouldn't add them to any bike of mine though.
How to make something ugly even more of an eyesore...
Up there with spokey dokeys and chain ring guards. But then again I'm not a pro racer and unlikely to feel the need to blame a completely unrelated injury on a disc brake rotor.
ooh miiiaow: you don't have to be a pro to ride into a crash barrier.
Anyhoo, surely a more straightforward solution would be to wrap Ventoso and Doull in crappy white plastic.
If you're riding in to a crash barrier, you probably have bigger problems to deal with than a rotating disc of blunt metal...
Not according to Owain Doull.
I rest my case.
What case is that, Ironside? That my original post went *zing*?
OK, big fella, let's try this one...
Owain Doull rode into a crash barrier and blamed Marcel Kittel's disc for eating his shoe, the silly boy, and this plastic doily won't protect Owain Doull from crash barriers, Twitter from Owain Doull's cluelessness, science from Owain Doull's woo, or Marcel Kittel from Owain Doull's baseless accusations.
We on the same page now?
Owain Doull (autocorrect wanted to make that "Dull") appears to have blamed a disc brake for his inability to not ride into a crash barrier. Maybe the lad was concussed or dropped on his head as a child - either way he has a big problem in relating reality to whatever is going on in his head.
Here is my case, and this is me resting it.
What's wrong with spokey dokeys? My bike was ambushed with one outside Mud Dock a few years back so if they're stealth fitting them to bikes they can't be that bad. I have changed it's position and it now sits between the hub flange and the spoke crossing so only moves an inch.
I think they could cause some serious problems by potentially trapping debris against the disk and so create lock ups at inoportune moments.
Can a disk brake bike look any uglier? They didn't need help?
I'm going to go with "complete waste of time", especially given they don't cover the entire rotor and look like they are going to cause more problems than they claim to solve.
Look like they have some decent hooking potential and would probably snap in a crash anyway, adding jaggedy bits of carbon to the list of dangers.
About as needed as chainring covers.
I'd say a chainring cover was far more useful than these stupid things.
What's next, carbon fibre cowling for handlebars, in case the lever gets stuck up your arse?
It's okay though folks, the UCI will continue to let the motorbikes in the race smash into riders, it's not as if anyones ever been seriously hurt from motorbikes now is it.. no disc brakes thats where the danger lies! (that was in poor taste, I feel a bit bad now)