Re: Re:
DFA123 said:
King Boonen said:
You said there were no safer alternatives to chainrings and bladed spokes. I countered that with safer alternatives.
To the bold, If the discussion is about the relative safety of available alternatives then it is highly relevant. Just look what a chainring/cassette did to Ventoso. Wouldn't happen with a belt-drive/gearbox. If you are arguing that they should not move to disc brakes because a safer alternative exists (and there's no proof for that, in fact the only person in this thread who has any real experience of racing in a mixed bunch says the complete opposite) then surely you also think they should do away with bladed spokes and chainrings/cassettes?
Awful straw man and just a nonsense argument. The issue is not about chainrings and spokes. The issue is about disc brakes.
If they are more likely to cause serious injury than rim brakes then they should not be allowed. The pro riders association is asking for assurances that is the case - and there has not been enough research done to say that they are safe enough.
Pro riders feel comfortable with chainrings and bladed spokes and are happy to take the risks involved with that. They are not happy to take the risks involved with using disc brakes. You could argue it's somewhat inconsistent, or you could accept that it's pros who are taking the risks and it is them who should have the final say on it.
So you're against bladed spokes and chainrings/cassettes then?
Edit: Maybe I should expand my point.
You are using two different modes of risk assessment for the different cases here and I don't think that's an honest way to do it. For disc brakes you are exclusively looking at relative risk and saying if one is higher than the other then you must choose the lowest risk. For bladed spokes and chainrings you are looking at acceptable risk and risk management and saying that increased risk is ok as long as it is manageable.
This does change in your last paragraph so I'm guessing you're really talking about acceptable risk and risk management for both but this is why we end up in cycles or the same discussion.
Focussing just on risk of discs, ignoring weight, aero etc.:
Disc brakes are objectively better at stopping in all situations and in certain situations (wet, dirty etc.) provide much more consistent modulation which will almost certainly make them safer.
Decreased stopping distances may cause problems for riders not on discs. Personally I don't agree as stopping distances are not the same at the moment but this would seem like a possible valid argument.
Sharp discs are more likely to cause damage in a crash. This is off-set by the likelihood that disc riders have a shorter stopping distance so are less likely to go down in a pile up and that the rotors are no being rounded (not all are like the Hopes but I think they should be).
Discs get hot. This is a non-issue really. Pile ups happen in races at periods when prolonged braking has not been happening. The likelihood of a disc being hot in a pile up is very small and we still have to off-set this against the assumption that those on discs are more likely to avoid the pile up due to better braking.
If we look at it from a risk management point of view I struggle to see the case for maintaining rim brakes. I would argue improved braking negates most of the issues along with the other benefits stated. In other words I do not think this is a safety issue, I think it is something else (weight, aero, riders frustrated and lashing out at something they can etc.).