uva0224 wrote:

I have done 8 fulls. The time spent in the rain during race is about 30min and my tririg worked just fine. Just my 2c

I am from the UK and for me it is about 30 minutes in the dry 🤣
Don't have disc brakes on my TT bike (Giant Trinity) but wish I did.
Weather and terrain play a big factor in how useful disc brakes are.

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Full-time Engineer / Part-time Pro Triathlete
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I'm the same, which is to say happy with a rim-brake set up. Last year I considered replacing my 2017 P-2 with a new bike. I almost certainly would have purchased something with disc brakes because that seems to be the only option. In the end I decided to just "tri-rig" up my bike by adding the Omega brakes & Alpha One system. I threw in a Hed disc wheel and it was still the fraction of the cost of a new bike. I'm sure it's not the quickest bike out there, but it's plenty fast.

Last bike: PR6 with TriRig Omega's front and rear braking on HED Jet Black+'s... amazing.
Didn't need a new bike, wanted one, so I sold the PR6 to a friend who will do amazing things with it.
New bike: VPR with SRAM Aero HRD, Force rotors and calipers... also amazing.

The differences in weight and aero are so incremental...
I could take a healthy dump before I leave for a ride to manage the weight gap between them
I could probably change the guard on my beard trimmer from a 5 to a 3 to make up the difference in aero

At the end of the day, amazing examples that live in both camps, everyone wins!
I love TriRig (sincerely, I do) and they are of course trying to save one of their best product lines from becoming obsolete.
Eventually they will lose and that sucks for them.

That is a flawed analysis. The increase in bike costs due to the introduction of disc brakes is way more than the cost of a set of rim wheels. That are very unlikely to be replaced anyway, except in a limited number of cases

That's the dierction I think I will go with my Cannondale with the Alpha One system. Does that system ever go on sale?

I was thinking about this discussion during my first outdoor long ride of the year yesterday. I think part of me is just cheap (although I have the money to buy anything I want) , I resent the bike companies basically forcing someone who wants a new bike to go disk brake, lastly I love the 2016 Cannondale Slice for its compliant ride and ease of maintenance vs any other modern super bike I have ridden.

I'm not totally against change, I love carbon plated running shoes especially since they allow me to run as much as I want with hallux ridgidus one of my big toes with no more pain. I guess at some point I may be forced to switch to disk brake bike. Without realizing it I've become that old guy I use to see and wondered why he is still riding that old steel bike.

Same here as well. TT bike is rim brake, fast and light and with prices on rim brake wheels what they are, why stray away? Not one study or test has shown adding disc brakes makes a bike faster yet, but as others have stated, the opposite is true. As I work in a shop, the constant issues with disc brakes is more than I care to deal with. Change the front end, re route and bleed the brakes, mushy brakes....re bleed the brakes (often twice), switch wheels...re do the brakes, hit some sand, hear the rubbing....and on and on. I had hoped the new Shimano upgrade would create a bigger clearance for the disc/rotor but that seems to not be the case so far. I don't know of anything other than brakes on a new bike that needs such constant attention.

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Kiwami Racing Team

Gary, thanks for reconfirming my thoughts.

I would prefer to spent the 5 -10K for a new bike on things like family vacations (we are going to Kona for 8 days a the end of March)

This is what it comes down to. TT/Tri is a niche app for bike and grouppo makers. They don't want to be supporting two standards for frames, wheels, etc.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
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I guess now that we've settled that argument we can rehash the discussion on tubeless tires which in my opinion is another mountain bike application that is mostly unnecessary on road bikes.

Second only to thinking that “necessity” is the standard for any triathlon equipment.

We agree again.

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Kiwami Racing Team

Unnecessary is an interesting point of view. Tubeless road has saved me from many flats over the last few years. I'll ride without it, my TT bike isn't currently set up tubeless, but I'm very happy my road bike is.

I’ve tt’d extensively with both disc brakes and rim brakes. At the end of the day, you have to bear in mind that some courses - particularly those we have in Europe lend themselves better to disc brakes because of the amount of downhills and corners we have. There in no comparison between the braking strength of both - many forget just how awful rear brakes on many tt frames were (to the point that some were useless) which is hardly good design either. The ability to late brake with full confidence on any road and in any weather is superb.
This all said, my belief is that the design isn’t quite there yet. The rotor/clasper clearance should be larger to help avoid much of the occasional rub you get. It’s also not as easy to tweak on the fly at races. Even an increase or decrease in the axle torque can see you need to fettle. As for bleeding - that’s very easy and unless you adjust things wildly, I’ve found to be very much ‘fit and forget’. Did things used to be easier ? Yes, sure but to say that disc brakes are slower or have no advantages is a pretty broad brush and a pretty gross oversimplification.