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I'm thinking of getting a new road bike. I'll probably go for a Ribble Gran Fondo or Planet X Pro Carbon. But am I being daft looking at a road bike with rim brakes? With disc brakes creeping on to road bikes more and more, how long will it take for Ribble or Planet X to start including them on their bikes? Is it worth waiting?
It's simple: if you plan only to ride the bike in dry conditions stick with rim brakes. For any other conditions (i.e. the real world, not California) go for discs.
Have we not done this several times already this week? It's the 26/650B/29 of road bikes at the moment 🙄
Plenty of the "bargain" manufacturers are offering discs. Planet X already are, not seen Ribble for a while.
Also if you are buying online you would do well to check out Canyon and Rose bikes.
You are not daft. Rim brakes will be around as long as your new bike. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. For me I've just bought a rim braked bike as I want to be able to race it.
I've just bought my first proper road bike and went for the defy advanced because after coming very late to disc brakes off road and wondering why I'd waited so long I didn't want to to the same again. I have been using a Croix de Fer on road for 2 years and been very happy with them. I also figure I'd be using it all year round and if I was going to upgrade anything it would be the wheels and I could do that without worrying about wearing them rapidly in winter conditions.
if you think being able to lock up the wheel equals good brakes then stick with rim brakes.
If you want good brakes then don't.
FWIW, the pro view - note that it was almost exclusively dry
Got both types of road bike, happy with both. That said if I was buying a new carbon whatever now for proper money, I would get discs unless I found a bargain with rim brakes. I don't race so I'm not fussed about what's legal.
Now if only I could find someone who'd be interested in swapping a SRAM rival disc setup for the equivalent in Shimano I'd be sorted.
I have both and ridden both in the pouring rain and didn't die once. In a couple of years time when there is a bigger choice of bikes then I think discs will be the way to go. At the moment it really depends if the type of bike you want is available with discs. Both work well and both have pros and cons.
I'm thinking of getting a new road bike. I'll probably go for a Ribble Gran Fondo or Planet X Pro Carbon. But am I being daft looking at a road bike with rim brakes? With disc brakes creeping on to road bikes more and more, how long will it take for Ribble or Planet X to start including them on their bikes? Is it worth waiting?
Just curious, but why the allegiance to these 2 manufacturers? Plenty of other manufacturers already offer very good disc braked road bikes for not huge sums of money. I just picked up a Saracen Avro for my new "posh winter bike" as I'm calling it (will probably keep my Whyte Dorset too for any days where full guards and/or a bit of luggage needs carrying), which is a superb example of the new breed of disc braked road bikes, bolt thru axles both ends, racier geometry than most, 1kg frame weight and now that the 2016 models have been announced, the 2015 models are a bargain with up to 25% off!