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TECH NEWS
marcel-kittel-disc-brakes.jpgMarcel Kittel wins first stage of Dubai Tour. On a disc-equipped bike
Marcel Kittel has got his 2017 season off to a flying start by winning the first stage of the Dubai Tour, in the process becoming the second pro to win a race on a disc-equipped race bike following Tom Boonen’s historic win last week.
Kittel announced he was going to race a disc-equipped bike before the race, saying: "What I can say from all the training sessions I did already in training camps now is that it's a very strong improvement. It improves a lot of your steering of your bike; you can handle it really well – so I think it's a good choice."
He was riding a Specialized Venge ViAS Disc, the same essentially as the bike Boonen used to win with a stage of the San Juan race in Argentina aboard last week. He had the same Shimano Di2 groupset with hydraulic disc brakes and deep section Roval wheels.
Kittel’s Venge is painted with the same silver design as the regular Venge he was racing at the Tour de France last year. The custom paint job was designed by Specialized’s Ron Jones, who drew inspiration from Marcel Kittel’s Harley Davidson motorbike, the team work which helps to deliver him into the final sprint in prime position to deliver his explosive speed, and a dose of science.
Tour Tech 2016: Marcel Kittel’s custom painted Specialized Venge ViAS
Of course, conspiracy theorists will just point out that Specialized has simply demanded that both Boonen and Kittel race bikes with disc brakes this season in order to sell more bikes, and that might be the case. But just maybe they have both ridden disc-equipped bikes in the off-season and liked them enough to confidently make the switch?
Obviously disc brakes didn’t contributed to Kittel winning a sprint stage in dry conditions on a stage that was far from demanding, but they certainly didn’t slow him down much either.
Kittel said after the race: “A lot of riders came to me today and asked me about that, they were curious about the disk brakes and how it feels to ride with it. I think I made the right choice and I’m happy to have it this season. The most important thing is that we came out on top today. Last year we won many races together, and that’s what we want to do also this season. The first race of the year is always insecure, because you can never know how things will work. All the guys were there today and did a great job, so this is also a victory of them.”
He had a tiny bit of help. Mark Cavendish punctured in the sprint for the line but kept riding anyway.
Photos © Quick-Step Floors Cycling Team / Tim de Waele
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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23 comments
No whining about disc brake marketing until it hits lightweight level
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyj7edw-g9I
On another site they had more of his quote:
"The disc brakes give you more possibility to make the frame stiffer compared to rim brakes. For example that's an improvement when you can add more carbon and make it a stiffer bike. It was already a stiff bike but now I'm happy to have it and I like to ride it..."
Though, I'm not sure why you couldn't make a rim-brake bike just as stiff...
Exactly, how hard is to make a bike equally stiff.
I don't despise though disc brakes, but they are very expensive until now. But the marketing they are escorted by can be sometimes excessive
Thru-axles.
Lost in translation perhaps - it was a reference specificially to the VIAS. When they removed the rear brake from the front fork they had more space in the area it occupied so could redesign the fork and make it stiffer.
This possibly does apply to all forks when you think about it. You don't need a hole through the fork as well as being able to pack in more material in that area and/or shape it without the design constraint of the brake.
Spotted the reference in a GCN video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pzM2GkSo9I
But that's impossible, disc brakes are like a giant parachute attached to your bike right??!
Obviously the bit about the catastrophic injuries & deaths in the peloton have been suppressed...
Discs will be banned once someone hits a member of the crowd. It'll be like group b rallying all over again. Maybe.
Professional cyclist uses his head, team mates & racing knowledge to win a race between him & numerous other cyclists in the same position.
Discs had sweet FA to do with it just as they had sweet FA to do with Boonen's with in South America a while back.
How dare he!
"It improves a lot of your steering of your bike; you can handle it really well "
How does that work then? Stiffer forks? Steering while braking?
Maybe he is refering to the modulation benefits hydro disc brakes have over rim brakes. Less lightly to grab/snatch
Certainly possible that he means control rather than steer. Or perhaps he's talking about thru-axle forks? (Haven't checked if his bike has one but would have thought ao.)
That's enough Trump references.
I thought only sandal wearing CTC types rode rim brakes now anyway?
Note to self: Remember not to log on to Road.cc this year until I've caught up with any races that are on Eurosport.
They're mainstream at the low to medium end.
Most high end machines are still on calipers or direct mount. The people buying that level of gear are influenced by pro racing.
This is only the 2nd time a pro has won on disc brakes, so I'd say that was newsworthy if you're interested in tech and pro cycling.
Did he win by slicing all his opponents into chunks with his terrifying disc brakes or did they all just hang back out of fear?
Disc Brakes..... zzzzzzz Bored now....
They are what they are.... you use them or you use rim brakes...
Disc brake debate......so 2016
Nothing to see here move on please
So what? Disk brakes are mainstream and old news now, bit like reporting that someone won some or other bicycle race using clip in pedals.
They just need to get poster boy Sagan on that whale to win a stage or two this year and the battle is well and truly over.
Cat. Pigeons. Popcorn...