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Permalink Reply by Philip G on February 14, 2012 at 18:26

This isn't surprising with baby discs. You'd never use anything below 200f, 180r on an alpine MTB due to overheating so it should be the same for a road bike used for long descents. The kinetic energy that needs to be transferred to heat in order to slow down for both situations is similar and so the braking systems should be similar too.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Surridge on February 14, 2012 at 22:46

Interesting article. Many of the highlighted issues appeared with the early MTB disc brakes. This was worked on with different rotors for different applications (203mm for DH and 160 for XC), piston number and size, pad materials and various cooling fins and reservoir designs. Don't hear of so many problems now. I think the person who wrote the article was a little over confident of the abilities of the parabox system which is designed for short sharp cross braking rather than 50mph+ alpine style descending. How many times have most of us burnt fingers touching rims after long descents? I think he found the limits of the system.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Dorrington on February 17, 2012 at 13:49

Bigger rotors and bespoke systems will be the way forward for road. Let the technology catch up. It will, very soon. In the meantime, crossers can enjoy the clear advantages even simple mechanical systems bring (as well as the Hope or Parabox systems), in advance of the trickle down effect of imminent hydraulic road systems that address many of the existing issues.

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