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TECH NEWS
Chris Froome disc brake wheel change screenshot 1 - via Instagram ReelsFed up Froome denounces disc brake wheels on Instagram Reel
We've had our first sticky bottle of 2023, now the pro cycling season has gone into yet another gear with Chris Froome's first dig at disc brakes... and it's only February! The Israel–Premier Tech rider and seven-time Grand Tour champion took to Instagram today to post a montage of mechanics struggling to change his wheels while a charging peloton breezed past him, accompanied by the simple caption: "Rim brakes > Disc brakes".
On Stage 5 of the Tour du Rwanda last week, 37-year-old Froome showed glimpses of his era-defining dominance of the 2010s and his famous solo Giro d'Italia win in 2018 when he launched an audacious attack 75km out from the finish; however, he needed two wheel changes and then crashed into a race vehicle in a day that was ultimately marred by misfortune, and ended up finishing over four minutes down on the stage winner.
After the stage, Froome (fairly diplomatically) explained the wheel change issues: “I got a front wheel puncture and I didn’t have a team car behind me as they had already pulled the team car out. I managed to get another wheel from neutral service but it wasn’t really compatible with the bike so I had to stop again and change it with my team car. Then the peloton caught me and surged over the top of the climb and that’s where the lights went out for me.”
On social media today, however, Froome pulled no punches...
While the post appears to suggest the disc brake wheels themselves are to blame for the slow wheel changes, some of his followers were quick to point the finger at the not-so-quick mechanics handling Froome's wheel changes, with one suggesting the caption should instead read: "Quick mechanic > Slow mechanic".
As we've already alluded to, this is very much not the first time Froome has taken aim at disc brakes, and his problems extend far beyond allegedly slower wheel changes. Way back in 2016 he suggested “having different braking systems in the peloton would be more dangerous"; and when that ceased to be a problem as the whole peloton adopted disc brakes in the 2020s, Froome ramped up his disc brake doubts in 2021 when he said that the technology was not "quite where it needs to be yet" because the "...distance between the disc and rotors is still too narrow."
> What’s wrong with Chris Froome’s disc brakes?
In March of last year, Froome said that he still regularly experienced issues with his disc brakes and had started wearing headphones so he couldn't hear them rubbing. In April his team mechanic concurred, saying: “Chris is not a huge fan. There’s the noise factor, it’s not super-reliable, wheel changes are way slower – so I think those are aspects that can improve."
So, what will it take to persuade Froome to get fully on board with the disc brake revolution? Well, the recent viral footage showing Tom Pidcock - of Froome's former team Ineos Grenadiers - expertly roaring down Tuna Canyon on his disc brake-equipped Pinarello Dogma might convince Froome that the extra confidence a rider may get from having more powerful brakes makes disc superior to rim brakes. Although Froome isn't half bad at going downhill himself, and was performing mind-blowing descents way before disc brakes were ubiquitous in the pro peloton...
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
Latest Comments
- hawkinspeter 14 min 50 sec ago
Sounds like a lovely bloke. I wonder why he didn't want his photo taken, when it was already published when he was found not guilty of sexual...
- hawkinspeter 32 min 1 sec ago
If you didn't spot a police car behind you then I think your situational awareness needs more work. As you didn't overtake them (which would have...
- Nagai74 1 hour 29 min ago
I had similar from Cheshire Police, as '... due to the narrow width of the country lane, a motorist cannpot be expected to give you 1.5m clearance...
- Velophaart_95 1 hour 30 min ago
Not many normal everyday bikes there, for normal riders...... No steel or titanium either.
- David9694 2 hours 38 min ago
Driver warned to take his meds after 'spectacular crash'...
- S.E. 3 hours 8 min ago
But limiting high gear wouldn't really solve all the crashes in sprints, narrow roads, etc. Someone needs to do serious studies and statistics on...
- Bill H 16 hours 4 min ago
What a lovely idea, but based on very personal experience the local filth will have far more sympathy for the offender than any victim. ...
- wtjs 1 day 1 hour ago
My dealer even said we could ask for different crank length and chainring sizes if we wanted, so we did. Spanking new Ultegra cranks and rings for...
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80 comments
I get what you're saying, but I don't think neutral service vehicles could be firstly expected to have a set of compatible wheels for every team, and secondly for the neutral service staff to know which wheels are for which team. All to be picked and fitted in seconds.
A bit of personal confirmation bias for me - disc brakes make much more sense that rim brakes for most of us, but for racing, the opposite is true.
Agreed, but now that the whole peloton has moved to disc brakes the point is moot. Also everyone else in the peloton is equally subject to the same wheel swap delays as well so Froome's situation sucks but it wasn't unfair. I have to agree with him on the tech not being there yet; yes disc brakes are superior on a per bike basis but I hope to see it reach a point where calipers self adjust to different wheel sets, or at least, have more built in tolerance than they do currently.
When it comes to racing I dont want to see the event ruined by mechanicals. Too many times have I seen a riders race blown apart by totally avoidable issues. Going back down the years it may have been incompatible drive trains with campag/Shimano , neutral bikes with the wrong pedal system for the rider. Its nothing new but it does taint the sports credibility at times when the race can be effected by something outside of the riders control.
For me, discs make a lot of sense when I am riding. But I also ride tubeless and havent had a puncture in well over a year. but even tubeless isnt perfect and you still lose some pressure which at the very pinnacle of the sport makes a huge difference. I would happily see the pro peloton return to rim brakes. I wouldnt even mind about them dropping the weight limit to makes bikes sub 6kg or less. Maybe just dont make those bikes available to the public to buy. I cant buy a road legal F1 car or MOTOGP bike. They are the cutting edge but that shouldnt mean Joe Bloggs gets to ride it. The bike brands can still produce 'road legal' dumbed down versions of their pro race bikes but keep the tech exclusive for the pro riders.
I agree. I want to see the peloton on identical steel-framed bikes, with box section wheels. They can have a choice of frame size, stem, handle-bar width and saddle (within limits). Spec bikes, like Keirin racing in Japan. And get rid of TT bikes too.
I want to see a battle of the riders. Those who want to see aero engineers compete by proxy already have Formula-Snore.
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Which would immediately mean that there was no mileage in bike companies sponsoring or providing free equipment to teams. Given that most teams seem to be dancing a financial tightrope at the best of times, what would make up that shortfall? Anyway, despite the endless claims of manufacturers to have found a way of saving a quarter of a second over a 40 km time trial, the bikes really are still much of a muchness; the top riders would still win on any machine in the peloton and it will always remain that way, there just isn't that much that you can improve on a bike to make it go roaring ahead of all the others.
Why?
Duh.
Back under your bridge.
Why?
Advantages of disk brakes -
- better braking in the wet; but I don't think that's as big an issue for the pros, who aren't dealing with (eg) drivers doing stupid things (or at least shouldn't be).
- you don't wear your rims out as quickly - not an issue for the pros.
Disadvantages of disks
- slower wheel change; issue for the pros, but not really anyone else
- extra weight, ditto.
I don't know about you but when I am on my weekly ride I don't want to be waiting 30s for my support team to change my wheel, I need it now!
I did get a puncture the other day that didn't seal on its own so I had to put a tube in it which was a right bugger at the side of the road. Best thing was taking a chunk out of my finger that wouldn't stop bleeding and being told by my mate "I saw the glass, I just assume you did too"
It's the waiting that's frustrating, when I'm out on a club ride and need a wheel change, I put my arm in the air and wait for a mechanic to pull up alongside in a team car - never any joy, so I always end up doing it myself. Also doing it oneself on a club ride, the whole process is improved and assisted by having your puncture repair skills observed and critiqued by your fellow riders.
Also, I appear not to be able to spell disc. I blame computers.
Pity the time triallers and triatheletes.
"Pass me the disc wheel."
"The disc disc wheel or the rim disc wheel?"
The wheel changes are slow because noone puts the effort into practice doing it properly, its not the fault of the brake tech.
Weve seen it all before, theres a puncture, the rider panics, the team panics the mechanics who maybe were thinking about what to have for tea are suddenly on point, QUICK stop the car, QUICK get the right wheel, QUICK get the tools, argh I'm under pressure QUICK got to undo the bolt, oh no the tool fumbles because I hadnt faced it up square, QUICKER trying to make up time I'm forcing the wheel out so it sticks MUCH QUICKER now the wheel wont go back in and I fumble the tool again arrgh this is a disaster!!
I think it was last season the neutral service mechanic had a dud battery in their drill to "speed up" removing the thru axle, probably because theyd not checked it before the stage properly.
Practice the swaps and theyll be much quicker.
Why is that? You'd think, in the era of marginal gains (or are we past that?) this would be a no brainer. Look at F1 pitstops, which are practiced to within an inch of their lives.
no idea, youd think Ineos with their ties to Mercedes F1 would have thought of looking into it by now.
but nope it seems just easier to complain about the tech of discs, and keep with stuffing a team helper in the back of a car with a wheel and hoping theyll just work it out if it happens.
Slower wheel change - that ones rubbish. Different positioning of disc between hub models would be my correction.
Extra weight - irrelevant. Every pro is riding kit thats capable of hitting the 6.8kg limit - and 90%of the time at Pro speeds Aero trumps weight.
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