Dave, I applaud the fact that Felt is soliciting customer feedback in this way.

I don't own a road bike with chainstay-mounted brakes, and likely wouldn't because of concerns of accumulated dirt and debris. As others have pointed out, you can get pretty aero with some frames if you choose the right brake caliper. There is a Bontrager (sorry) that has the cable coming in at an angle that looks like it might a really good balance between aero and braking performance; Shimano and EE have ones that are similar. These should be able to be set up with almost no cable hanging out in the wind.



I have set up the rear brakes a couple of times on a friend's Speed Concept. More of a pain than seatstay-mounted, but I guess acceptable for the aero gains and the fact that I wouldn't set out on a training ride on wet roads or the possibility of rain on the TT bike. If it rains in a race, then yeah you've got to get down there and clean them.

Question, though - for a non-UCI legal bike for triathlon like the IAD, why not go all in and eliminate the seat stays altogether? That's got to be worth a fair amount of drag, and Cervelo (sorry) already posted somewhere that they proved that they could build a frame without them that met all their internal criteria except UCI compliance.

Brian

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Brian

Gonna buy a fast car, put on my lead boots, take a long, long drive
I may end up spending all my money, but I'll still be alive

Brian,

Do you think a 30mm, 50mm, 80mm rim spinning in a frame is faster than a solid disc wheel? Neglect the spokes and hub for a moment and just consider the rim. Which is more aerodynamic in a -15-0-15 sweep, a shallow rim with stuff "missing" or a 100% filled in disc?

-Dave

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Dave,I asked this earlier in this thread but maybe you know the answer. Will these direct mount brakes from Shimano and Bontrager mount onto a frame that has the Tectro brake under the BB?

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Just took a leap of faith and purchased a Felt AR5 along with a Felt IA4. Both of these have chainstay braking and both will be a departure from my old dual pivot brakes of the past. For me the argument against them is feeble at best. The same who debate double tap vs STI or aluminum vs carbon braking surfaces would argue this. I have confidence that the engineers at Felt did their homework and for 99.9% of us there will be very little to no decipherable difference in braking. When everything is setup properly and frequent adjustments made as the pads wear I can't foresee issues. It is different so expectations just need to be adjusted.

I'm all in on this style of setup and rather than complaining about no advancements in the industry I've chosen to embrace the change and adapt.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Dave, all test data I've seen says the disk is lower drag

ETA: all that data is comparing to a wheel including the spokes and hub, though

Brian

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Brian

Gonna buy a fast car, put on my lead boots, take a long, long drive
I may end up spending all my money, but I'll still be alive

Thank you for your business and your confidence in our engineering team. Shimano gets the credit on the AR5 brake, but that IA4 brake is designed and made here in North America.
Where did you buy your bike and what size(s)?

-Dave

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

I just closed the deal here in Toronto @ Cyclemotive.

The AR5 was a 54cm 2014 floor model which was a steal of a deal. I'm just having them change over some components from my old upgraded S32. Should have it ready to put in some serious mileage on the weekend.

The IA4 is a 51cm pre-order model and will be my race bike (for the next several years). I've got some parts to go on this as well but I won't bore you with the details haha I've been working with a Retuel fitter who has had nothing but positive things to say about the nimble handling of Felt TT bikes. Hoping to have this in my possession sometime before the end of the year.

I've got a set of Reynolds Strike wheels and a Torhans Aero water bottle to complete the look. I'll post a pic in the Felt Mafia thread when they are done.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

My testing suggests that unless you can keep the cable entirely in front of the head tube, you're better off having it as far away as possible.

Maybe it's just me...but all that above looks just so needlessly complex :-/

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

 
Maybe it's just me...but all that above looks just so needlessly complex :-/[/quote]

The Shimano looks simpler:



To Andrew Coggan - I should have used a photo of it mounted on the rear. The way most internally-routed rear brake cables exit, I think this angled entry would give you the least exposed cable in the rear.

Brian

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Brian

Gonna buy a fast car, put on my lead boots, take a long, long drive
I may end up spending all my money, but I'll still be alive

figured out part of the issue or downside of at least the ultegra version of these things, rather the shop did. The brakes do not come with a tool to disassemble the pivots, so shop had to hack one together. turns out mine were building corrosion in the pivots. not from any energy drink either, as I don't use them. just sweat and road spray from a couple of wet rides. one wouldn't think these things would be designed to wick water up into them(sweat) but apparently they do. when it happens again, I still won't have a tool to take apart. guess I should search to see what tools are now available. should be one, shop just did not yet have, nor do I.

Not a problem on my Madone 7.9 !