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TECH NEWS
campagnolo logo bigCampagnolo confirm they are working on hydraulic disc brakes for road bikes
Campagnolo hydraulic disc brakes for road bikes are on their way but they are at least two years away from hitting the market, Campagnolo chairman and CEO, Valentino Campagnolo told road.cc this weekend at the Gran Fondo Roma, an event sponsored by the company.
A spokesman for the Italian component manufacturer also confirmed that they are 'exploring the possibility' offered by road discs 'in response to demand from frame manufacturers'.
But don’t get excited just yet. Mr Campagnolo stressed to road.cc that a launch was not imminent; it will be 2016 at the earliest before we see disc brakes with the Campagnolo logo. He said that the emphasis for Campagnolo on any new product launch was to produce something that worked for the pros, but more importantly still that worked for the riders who are Campagnolo's customers. Anything they brought to the market would would have to deliver the highest standards of performance and reliability to the rider, he said.
Intriguingly some time in 2016 is also the timescale suggested by a number of industry sources for the UCI to ratify disc brakes for road bike use. Given the bike industry product timetable, the 2016 product year starts at about the same time as the 2015 Giro d’Italia.
Campagnolo will no doubt want to monitor how well Shimano and SRAM do with their hydraulic offerings in terms of sales and any technical problems. SRAM and Shimano have taken different approaches to road discs with SRAM opting for belt and braces 160mm front and rear rotors on the road while Shimano have mated 140s to the IceTech heat sink technology developed for their XTR mountain bike brakes.
Like Shimano, Campagnolo have the advantage of already having a set of levers - their EPS electronic shifters - that are essentially empty. That’s a good starting point if you need to accommodate a slave cylinder to operate a set of hydraulic brakes. Another possible advantage for Campagnolo is that northern Italy is also home to a number of companies that specialise in producing high performance disc brakes for motorcycles, cars, and F1 so there is a considerable pool of expertise to draw on when it comes to the question of materials, heat dissipation and rotor size.
Given all these factors it is no surprise that the Italian bike industry rumour mill suggests that when Campagnolo produce that road disc brake, it's going to be something special. Roll on 2016.
road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.
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12 comments
another point to think about, a set of Ergo/STi/Double taps, depending on which which you get range from expensive to insane. producing a disc version is going to bump the price even further. All the talk is about the EPS/Di2 version, how many riders are going to going to go with the electronic groupsets in the foreseeable future, how many are going to stay on mechanical groupsets? So what choice is there with discs? Cable operated, more weight for how much gain???
Not being anti on this, I am just one of those people who doesn't really see the market being as big as some seem to think it is. Commuters/off road road bikes maybe, but sunday best summer road bikes?
Having electronic levers is a HUGE advantage. SRAM discs might work great but they are ugly
They're Avid brakes, if they behave anything like there MTB cousins, they won't work! Or being kinder, if your lucky you might get the one that works and doesn't break.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a campagnoloite, but no doubt this will involve the need to have a specialist tool that costs £300 for installing or adjusting.....just look at their bottom brackets and 11 speed chains.
Get ready for lost fingers in peleton crashes, disk brakes are coming.
Good point. I'm also wondering if they'll bother with a mechanical version.
Part of me does wonder how much longer they'll carry on producing mechanical groupsets at all, certainly at the top end of things, given how much they've spent on development, and how mature the technology is becoming.
Maybe Ultegra/DA 2020 will be electronic only?
I understood that Campag were making disc brakes for motorbikes as long ago as 1972.
Every one seems to mention the engineering difficulties of disk brake on road bike. Strange how many manufacturers are adopting discs without any major concerns.
On another note related. I have yet to read a mention of ceramic rotors, they're used on top performance cars so why not a bike version. It may solve a few issues, weight/heat!
However the pro roadies might not want to cope with burns to limbs as well as road rash.
Campagnolo have outsourced in the past but in many cases have later bought the design and manufacturing back in-house.
The Colnago example is a slight red herring in that Campagnolo had nothing to do with the design of any of the Formula parts - they only advised on which pins needed to have their connections closed by a switch in the EPS wiring loom to produce the desired shift.
There are several issues still to be resolved around how disc brakes will be executed on road bikes so that a degree of standardisation exists, which will be a significant factor in pro racing where new technologies are showcased and tested.
Speaking to riders and colleagues there is also a degree of cynicism and reluctance around disc brake adoption - the technical arguments about why it might be a good idea / bad idea are well rehearsed but there are commercial barriers as well as commercial advantages that also need to be considered ...
There is also a lot of conservatism in the pro peloton both amongst riders and team staff - and that will not be without it's effects on adoption, either.
So a softly, softly, see-which-way-the-wind-is-blowing approach may yet bring significant dividends.
When the UCI has Shimano as a technical partner though, and when Shimano have already sunk millions of Euro into R and D for road bike disc brake systems, one thing is for sure - it'll happen unless Brian Cookson and his rejuvenated staff see the nonsense of the UCI aligning itself that closely with any major supplier in the industry.
*Pedant alert* It's a master cylinder at the lever. The slave cylinder is in the caliper.
Makes sense for Campag to hold off. Wait until industry standards settle down (assuming it isn't a passing fad) and go to market with something relatively future proof.
The thought of Campag working with someone like Brembo is quite exciting.
Rob
If you look at the Colnago that was doing the rounds, it was kitted out with Formula brakes. I believe that the current cross cantis are made by Tektro? Won't be surprised to see the parts outsourced.
Last time Brembo did bicycle disc brakes, they were nothing special and like 700USD per wheel... back in the day when the Martas at 300USD were uberexpensive!