What do you think of Shimano ditching rim brakes in 105 and higher?

[legrandefromage]

oh bugger, there goes me chain, thats it, I'm out

 

[Takingabreak]

oh bugger, there goes me chain, thats it, I'm out

at least it wasn't belt drive

 

[CassidyAce]

Nice pics, still not a pre-requisite for running discs though it is.

Indeed. Both pictures are from articles about internal routing through headsets, not articles about types of brakes: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/is-shimano-developing-a-brake-for-headset-cable-routing.html & https://roadbikeaction.com/why-you-should-avoid-internally-routed-headsets/. Thankfully, the PinkBike article concludes by saying, "Although these designs could be used with internally routed handlebars and/or through-headset cable routing, there's also no reason why you couldn't use them with conventional cable routing." FWIW though, I have to agree that headset routing does seem like a nasty case of form over function.

 

[fettler]

oh bugger, there goes me chain, thats it, I'm out

Never mind cables, it was enclosed chains years ago?

 

[ChromeChainstay]

disc brakes suck, imo
electronic shifting sucks imo

campy was cool selling breakdown parts on the mechanical

live and learn

i don't like batteries, i have problems

 

[pigman]

disc brakes suck, imo
electronic shifting sucks imo

campy was cool selling breakdown parts on the mechanical

live and learn

i don't like batteries, i have problems

Campy also sucks. I prefer Campag

 

[dorset boy]

Campy also sucks. I prefer Campag

They both suck,i prefer Campagnolo

 

[Splatter Paint]

Aside from the advantages of disc brakes that have already been mentioned, I suspect that a major factor in so many consumers switching from rim brakes to discs is that discs make a much wider range of tyre sizes feasible. The current Shimano specs give max tyre clearances of 28C or 28mm for every single caliper brake in their line up: https://productinfo.shimano.com/#/spec/ROAD/Brake (Caliper Brake). The max reach of 51mm will have some riders looking to the likes of Tektro anyway, just because they need brakes with a longer reach than that. In contrast, the current disc-equipped Trek Domane can go right up to 38mm tyres and that means it's a more versatile bike: a road bike and light gravel bike all in one. It doesn't take a devious sales pitch to persuade consumers that this is an advantage.

^^ This. I run 28mm tyres on my summer bikes, which just about fits a caliper, but 32-35mm on my other bikes. Cantis may fit, but they look daft on a performance road bike.

 

[legrandefromage]

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/opinion-rim-brakes

 

[Takingabreak]

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/opinion-rim-brakes

A rather good summary of this thread, almost as if the Author had read it first.