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Boonen to ride discs for all the Classics he competes in this season

7K views 76 replies 19 participants last post by  SwiftSolo 
#1 ·
#2 ·
I'm imagining two Specialized marketing guys in a bar last night. One says, "What do you suppose the ROI would be if we offered Boonen $50k for each Belgian win while riding discs?" The other one says, "Hey, what if we offered it to Sagan, too?"
 
#8 ·
One of the Bora guys was riding discs during a TDU training ride:


That god awful noise.

Surely the mechanics are smart enough to figure that out before letting them race on them.

Looks like the person is riding a rim brake bike, campy doesn't have road disc out yet and those are not the hydro levers they've shown. And if you are referring to the person on a disc bike next to the camera bike, the guy didn't come to a stop.

My disc brakes make no noise except for when the rotors get wet, and that goes away pretty quick.


.
 
#12 ·
BMC will definitely be racing the RM-01. It will be matte red. There are pictures out there if you look for them. My guess is that multiple teams will test disc brake road bikes in the cobbled races. Expect to see Sagan on the new Roubaix there as well.
 
#13 ·
Yep, and he pointed out on an Insta comment that he wasn't being paid to say discs were better - he meant it. I also read a comment that he was undecided between the Venge and the Roubaix for Pari - Roubaix, he needs to do more testing on the Venge, but if it goes ok, he would prefer to be on the Venge.
 
#16 ·

Kittel did not touch his brakes and took first. I rode my usual 20 mi loop today and did not touch my caliper brakes and took first in the 10 mile time trial for the day. 1st of 3 actually. Two of my friends rode it earlier today but I beat them. Not bad since I am 40 years older then they are. I am actually getting faster which is weird. I have been hiking in the mountains a lot this year and I think that pushing hard walking up 2000 ft climbs is making a difference. I should have been doing that all along.


Anyway I do like disc brakes and all the new stuff. I just do not want to buy stuff unless I need it. I doubt I will be in the Amjen tour so I am going to skip gearing up for it.
 
#18 ·
when the aero road wheels are designed without brake tracks and with through axels then the truw advantages will be seen. Right now its mostly all converted rim brake wheels.
 
#21 ·
Kittel said a slightly heavier bike was a non issue for him as there were also other benefits with a stiffer frame and fork. As for aero, discs cost something like 4 seconds over 40km (presumably in a wind tunnel so in the real world is it even an issue) so in a 10 second sprint with someone pushing out ~ 1600 - 2000W any aero disadvantage would be a non issue I suspect, especially when you consider the shear physical bulk of someone built like Kittel or Greipel etc, discs are probably the least aero issue they have.
 
#31 ·
#40 · (Edited)
As much as that was a pretty incredible descent, from all the commentary at the time it was "his" descent, as in his local training climb, so did know it better than most and he took advantage of it. Don't think he has done much since in the way of incredible descents?
it's always hard to compare generations, but Paolo Savoldelli would have to be close to, if not actually the best ever. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much video footage of him though.
 
#44 ·
That's Tom explaining how he was involved in a huge crash while riding a disc brake bike and nobody was injured by the discs. Nor was the accident caused by his superior braking ability due to the disc brakes.

But yep, people like MMsRepBike won't listen to reason and believe what they want regardless of facts.

I'm sure Tom just wants to race on discs and all these other guys are potentially preventing him from doing so. He wants to use new tech and they are all stuck in the past and holding him back.
 
#48 ·
I'm sure Tom just wants to race on discs and all these other guys are potentially preventing him from doing so. He wants to use new tech and they are all stuck in the past and holding him back.
So Boonen hasn't been riding disc brakes for at least two races now.

Tom Boonen gets custom Specialized Tarmac for the classics | Cyclingnews.com


Ditched both disc brakes and the Venge.

Specialized DO make a disc brake Tarmac, they've had one out for a long time.

Specialized DO make a disc brake Roubaix, it's all the rage and they used Tom to market it.

But alas, he's on a rim brake Tarmac and plans to stay on it for the rest of the season.

Funny how that works.



Go ahead disc worshipers, tell me why he's racing rim brakes now of all people.
 
#46 ·
His team and Katusha both have had at least 10 disc training bikes for over a year now to use and train on. Canyon said some of the riders like them and some don't. They're not forcing anyone to ride them, they can all choose they said. But rest assured he's had a disc bike available to him for a very long time now.
 
#47 ·
That has been his only comment on the whole thing. I think this is more of his giving an answer and trying to stay out of the controversy, which he prefers. I do know any pictures I've seen of him training he is on his regular rim break bike. Granted those pictures are typically when he's taking his amateur Jr team out for training riders and he's both testing them as well as teaching them.
 
#50 ·
Since you posted in both threads...

I don't know why he's switched back to a Tarmac as he seemed intent on riding the Venge all the way through, but, did he
ASK for rim brakes, or is it more to the point that the Tarmac only has post mounts and won't accommodate DA 9150 direct mount calipers and only has QR wheels instead of TA's?
 
#55 ·
Here's one thing I noticed... there's lots of bashing about Boonen and the big "S" pushing dice and using them, etc, but I've seen both Cannondale and Katusha using pics as well. There doesn't seem to be same ire from people about those brands pushing the conspiracy.
 
#56 · (Edited)
Merida also has at least a rider using disc as well. The difference between Merida, Katusha, Cdale vs. Boonen & Specialized is....

- the other 3 don't go around touting and tooting their horns, using a high profile rider in the act

- as the result, the pro-disc jockers in RBR didn't use the other 3 as a prime example but instead uses the Boonen & Specialized

Yeah, high profile works both ways. When it works, you're a glowing example and of course the pro-disc guys would be ALL OVER this thread with their myraids of opinions of "see I told you so", ain't it? Instead, we get crickets. It's not hard.

pretty damn sure guys like Swifsolo and Mopho are jusst waiting for a disc win to pounce all over a thread such as this one, eh. When you make bold prediction of how disc will present a superior advantage, so much so that it will alter race results, and then such results don't material, well then it's only fair that that you get a beating eh

i don't know, don't care for disc, i guess i'm a "luddite", blah blah. But how about how me the money? Having said that, I think disc will eventually take over simply because the force from the manufacturers are strong and persistent, it'll only grow stronger. In due time, the current riding population who are familiar with rim brakes will "turn over" and the newer riders will grow up with disc from the get-go. There is no turning back the clock on disc as far as the manufacturers are thinking, they're just buying their time. No going back for them. Only a matter of time before disc will be on all high end bikes. I only hope that they will still be making rim brakes by then, because I want my bikes on rim brakes. That's that.
 
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