Disc brakes banned from French sportives including L'Etape du Tour

This is getting silly. No investigations made to corroborate Ventoso's claims, and serious have already doubts on how his injury could have been from a disc, especially when no disc braked bike were involved in the crash in which his leg was injured. On this basis tyhe teeth should be removed from chainrings, bladed spokes on aero wheels banned, and the only shots of the event should be from helicopters from a thousand feet with no camera bikes, press cars or team cars. UCI and promotors get a grip before you turn the sport into a laughing stock. 

Excellent news, disk brakes have no place on a fast road bike, keep them for gravel, commuting bikes, and similar. Hooray !! 

LBS tells me disk brake road bikes are bought only by newbies with no real clue about biking at all...

They are fine on a wet bike, with mudguards of course. If you ride a drop handlebar bike with disks and no  mudguards for the rain then you haven't really though about what you're doing too much, I think.

What an absolute load of toss, if you ride too closely in a peloton it doesn't matter what brakes a bike has, the outcome will be the same, a pile up. As for Fran Ventoso being cut by a disc, that's a load of poppycock, going over the bars at 30 kmh plus will cause more injuries and road rash than a disc rotor. Typical over reaction from the UCI and French. Disc brakes are excellent stoppers, I am glad I bought a bike with them. 

The beauty of cycling is the freedom. If you and your friends don't like the rules of an event, just ride the day before. It's no big deal. Why everyone feels a need to 'join up' is beyond me. Support is for weenies. I ride a at least century every week by myself and unsupported, and it just takes a little planning. And there are lots more cafes etc in Europe than where I live. Just go and have fun! And yes, the organizations are CYAing, because some lawyer is going to say that if its not safe for the Pro's, it's not safe for anyone. It's a legitimate argument in a court. Besides, as an engineer I see no reason those discs need a sharp edge. The manufacturers did it to save cost by simply copying an old design and applying it to bikes and they need to recognize that it could be a lot safer. Shame on them, not UCI.

This is loads of bollocks from UCI and FFC.
I rode the Etape in Annecy in 2014 on a rented Scott city/hybrid with disk brakes. It was fun.
In 2015, had a rented rim braked bike on that wet descent of Tourmalet. That was fun for a different reason. Thought that I will go back to ride a big sportive next year on my own 'sportive' diskbrake equipped Diverge, which I got not because of the boom and novelty surrounding disks on roads. I simply wanted and made use of it. Now I will think twice before entering/planning a sportive next year. Might just go on a touring ride instead. Thx UCI morons.

Looks like Spain has got in on the act too....

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/ciclismo/ciclismo-frenos-disco-pr...

It's a bit pitiful that there are people who have invested so much self-worth in something so utterly trivial as their personal choice of brand or equipment that they need to validate it by attempting to insult people whose choices differ. They should probably grow up a bit.

This is complete BS. The vitriol and knee-jerk reaction to the whole disc brake debate is just beyond... When taken into context of the larger picture of safety, motor vehicle related injuries and deaths in amateur events and the pro peloton are a much more significant consideration and should really get more oversight by the governing bodies, UCI, team management and the CPA Pro Rider Union.

That all said, disc brakes as a technology have been proven over time and millions and millions of miles of use that they are superior in performance to rim brakes and drum brakes. Look at any other form of transportation and the adoption of disc brakes was done well over 30+ years ago. Trains, planes, automobiles, motorcycles, etc... To use a rim brake in this day and age is just antiquated at best. Plain and simple, let's get on with adopting it already... Just incorporate disc brake covers, rounded rotor edges, et al.

Organisers of La Marmotte are in discussions over how to get around the FFC ban on discs - decision to be announced next week.

You can bet the Etape organisers are doing the same right now. Hard to imagine this move is being welcomed by any sportive organisers in France, it's a massive headache for them.

http://www.sportive.com/cycling/522490/ffc-ban-casts-doubt-over-use-of-d...

I've already made the switch to disk brakes and I love them. All my bikes are based on cross geometry though (I found it better for my back) and I'm really just a commuter these days. The benefits of disks isn't just the signifcantly better braking but also the fact I have bags of room left to run wide tyres and mudguards.

However, they don't seem particularly necessary in the pro peloton but obviously market forces have been trying to force them in. I think there will always be a place for them in the way I'm using them. But I do wonder what sort of backlash I may be subject to if i turned up on my local club run one day!? I think there is far too much hysteria with far too little actual evidence in this past week or two. I really feel for those that are affected with regard to the sportives they have entered. If I had, I'd really want to ride my best, most comfortable, custom-built, disk-equipped bike.

If disks are so good - why is it that at the cross worlds it was pretty evenly split rim v disk ?

I'm perfectly happy with rim brakes for the road but I would have thought they'd be better for cross.

I'd not be looking at disks for a road bike.

And the Etape seem very quiet on the matter. No tweets. No news on their site ?

It's the gift that keeps on giving.

I wonder how many individual crashes/riders have happened in the Pro Peloton due to wet carbon rims? Even Wiggins has commented on this and he's not exactly gunning for discs.

Should we therefore ban all wheels with carbon breaking surfaces? 

Should we also ban all bikes with traditional/exposed cassettes and drive chains and favour internal hub gears and belts instead? I imagine an 11 speed sprocket spinning in a pile up could cause all sorts of nasty injuries.

Bladed spokes? Clipless pedals? Carbon frames due to the fact they're more prone to snapping on serious impact? 

As a relative newcomer to the road (been on MTB's since I was knee high to a space hopper), I'm amazed with how terrified the sport is of any technological progress, which is ironic given that its moto sport equivalent (Formula 1) has always been at the forefront of technological advancement which eventually filters down to the road cars we buy.

Anyone who has ridden discs on the road knows the following to be true, on a dry/hot day with perfect conditions, rim brakes at absolute best can match discs. However, for the other 90% of the time/conditions, discs are superior in power, modulation and confidence.

Aesthetics? I like my bike to look like it's come from this century and not using technology that has been outdated decades ago- but that's just my opinion. More to the point, your bike won’t be looking too pretty after you've locked up a rim in the wet, crashed out and you now have a massive crack in the frame. 

I would ban them just for looking shit, that they also add unnecessary complexity, expense and danger means even the aesthetically challanged dont want them. 

If you were stupid enough to buy one, toough, enjoy commuting in it and buy a proper bike next time. 

haha @ mythbuster...what a nobhead!!

Winter is coming.

The luddites versus progress.

It is so very unfortunate that technologicaly illiterate, but very passionate and humane people are so prominent in our sport. Cycling is governed by faith, beliefs and opinions by people who have very limited understanding of technology, and exhibit active fear of it. They operate like religious cults, or extremists issuing fatwas. So very sad.

Everyone suffers and the situation is hopeless as what can anyone do about this? Can we sue the various cycling governing bodies? Is there a precedent where someone sued a religious institution on the grounds of limiting personal liberty, or causing economic loss (for example rational riders who bought disc braked bikes that now cannot be used because of a fatwa?)

Still don't get why road bikes need disks, the UCI was always going to go against them once the novelty wore off.

Not being an arse but I used to ride on the road with the former BCF centres of excellence and the thought of riding so fast and so close to others with a mix of disk and rim brakes is scary, some things don't need fixing.

I'd be genuinely interested to know what others think of disks in the peloton who still road race at any level and what the attraction of a messy, heavier, fiddly and less aero alternative really is...don't even start on the speed of a wheel change and the guys looking after the bikes 

This is massively out of order by the federations involved. However, I would deter any competitors from going against the ruling and using a disc braked bike (unless the ruling is overturned) as this may invalidate any insurance cover that you have under the event. It isn't worth the  risk.

What an insane decision!

The FFC is the authority for French road racing, and the wording "epreuve" means races. As such, it is normal that the FFC would follow the UCI ruling - as it is the responsibility of the national federations to apply international UCI rules.

Note that in France, sportives are also characterised as races, and FFC-registered teams and riders do race these events for results.

I've raced in France for 3 years now, the rules have been quite clear that disc brakes were not permitted - FFC may have been trialling discs in line with the UCI trial but UFOLEP (the other cycling federation focusing on amateurs) never took part in the trial and even before Paris-Roubaix had reminded riders that disc brakes were not permitted in its events (after parents had bought disc-required booked for their kids).

The position UFOLEP took was interesting - it was the responsibility of bike sellers to advise consumers that road disc bikes were not approved for racing. ASO/Etape du Tour will likely take s similar response, it is in their T's and C's that riders need to ride a regulation FFC bike. Not their responsibility if FFC rules change mid-season.

This is getting ridiculous now... 

It was all getting a bit much when the UCI banned discs for the pros on no more than anecdotal evidence (it seems). Hell, the 'disc brake' injuries could possibly have come from the cobbles. Why not ban the cobbles too?

Bladed spokes are FAR more dangerous than discs, much easier to stick a limb into...

French federation say Chris Froome only wins races cos he dopes/has a hidden motor/his wheels are rounder/has disk brakes. The spirit of Henri Desgrange lives!

Great news.  This may (hopefully) be the start of the end for sportives.  If you want a social ride, get a few mates out and do it for free, if you want to do something with a number and a stopwatch then enter a race.  Wannabe racers getting kicks pretending that they are racing.

This is getting stupid. I ride rim and disc brakes. On my road bikes I prefer rim brakes. I have no problem riding with anybody in a group ride or sportive that's using disc brakes.

On the one hand it does seem a bit reactionary. 

On the other I can't help feeling a little schardenfreude for all the disc brake adopters who have been boring my arse off for the past year about how soon 'everyone will have them.' 

As I've said a couple of times on this site:

1. The benefits are marginal even in the wet. I either feather brake earlier or don't ride in the wet. Simples!  If a car pulls out in front of me I'm sliding out - disk brakes or no disk brakes. 

2. They're ugly. It may well sound shallow  but when you've been riding as long as I have you tend to hone your kit down to proven classics rather than follow the herd because someone flogging kit tells you you'll be safer. Cleats. Better helmets. Indexed ergo shifters. Yes please! Disks? Nahhhhhh. I also don't want to add to my crosswind profile. 

As for being able to avoid danger in the Etape just by being careful? I wouldn't bet on it. Having done two in a row back in '09 and 10 there were crazies crashing out on the first descent and some plonker shipped his chain and took me down with him on an innocuous piece of flat. The etape tends to attract a fair few terrible cyclists and against the clock they're a hazard.