It's seemed inevitable for a few years now that disk brakes would start to dominate
the specification of new bikes. And I think we've reached that point now,
this is the first time I've ever actually got to use a set on a road bike. And
I'm incredibly interested, first of all, to know what they feel like, but also as
to whether we, as cyclists, will actually benefit from this in the long run.
Now one area that seems slightly inconsistent at the moment amongst bike
manufacturers is the methods through which the wheels actually attached to the
bike. And on this Trek Domane, you can see something that's very familiar to a lot of
mountain bikers out there, which is a through-axle system. So instead of a quick
release, you have to unscrew.
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So what you get is the whole axle coming out, and then the wheel just pops out like
that. Now, what this means is that the wheel is much stiffer in the frame,
and also, the disk is always in exactly the same place. Because I have it on good
authority from our friend Kay Frecks, the tech editor over at VeloNews,
that one of the problems that is plaguing disk brakes on road bikes when it's a
standard quick release, is that they're actually quite noisy, something you would
never realize riding a mountain bike, given all the trail noise and the noise
that the bike makes. It's that a disk can ping against the pads and actually end up
making quite a racket, which is something that we just wouldn't be used to on road
bikes. So to get around it, through-axles actually solve that problem.
I think the first question to tackle with disk brakes is that of power.
Now, they can make disk brakes as powerful as they want, but obviously,
on a road bike, there's a fairly limited amount of traction available to you.
So my first impressions of it is that they're not necessarily more powerful than
a rim brake. What you do get, though, is more modulation. To summarize that,
the amount that you can pull the lever, between the brakes just starting to come
on, and then locking your wheel up, is huge, much, much bigger than with rim
brakes. So you get can a much, much more control from that. Now on a normal stretch
of tarmac, that's probably not something that we're particularly bothered about,
but if it's wet, that extra modulation is really going to play to your advantage and
give you much more control of the bike. I think for me, the biggest thing is going
to be that predictability in the wet. Now, if you live in a dry climate,
and I envy you if you do, then it may be not such a big step forward in your
braking performance, but a lot of the riding that I do is probably in the rain.
And that means that having brakes that feel exactly the same, wet or dry,
is a real advantage. And I remember occasions in races where I'd been using
carbon rims in the wet, and you put your brakes on, and nothing happens.
Now with disks, that's just not going to be a situation you get into.
For me, that's a massive, massive plus point.
Now, one thing I do find weird, that I didn't think I would, given that I spend a
lot of time on mountain bikes with disk brakes, is the aesthetics of it.
Like from a cross section, I love the look of a disk brake bike, but when I'm looking
down, that doesn't look like a road bike to me. That's not a problem per se,
but it makes the whole bike feel, to me, quite different, really.
I'll get over it pretty quickly, but right now it just doesn't feel like it's a road
bike. Maybe someone needs to win the Tour de France on one.
Now one other thing I absolutely love about disk brakes, particularly on this
Trek Domane, is that I've got hydraulic levers, so I've got Di2 plus hydraulic
disks, so there are no cables on this bike. Now, that's just great as far as I'm
concerned, but there's a problem with gear cables and brake cables.
They are one of the most irritating things that regularly go wrong on a bike,
and again, particularly if you're riding in the wet, getting rid of them
altogether is such an advantage. I suppose, then, the question
is, are disk brakes worth it? Now, a lot of that is going to depend
on where you ride. If you ride in somewhere temperate,
like Great Britain, then they're going to make a big difference,
I think. If I lived in Southern California, and I wish I did, then I'm not
entirely sure they'd make such a big difference in my riding. There's also the
question about making your old bikes obsolete. Now, would I sell my bike to buy
one with disks? No, not at the moment, but if I buy another bike soon,
will it have disk brakes on it? Absolutely. I'll make a point of doing it.
An old phrase in cycling is that to go fast, you need to be able to stop fast.
Braking is a complex skill, though, so here's how to do it. Your front brake is
your friend. Yes.