A DISC BRAKE road bike just won National Hill Climb – Is this the end for rim brake road bikes? Disc brakes have been slowly gaining ground in every area of road cycling… EXCEPT hill climbing. But we caught up with current British Hill climb champion Andrew Feather and he showed us around his new Lab71 Cannondale Supersix Evo that he’s built up for this year’s 2023 hill climb championship in the Lake District.
Like many new road bikes the Cannondale is disc-only: do those incremental gains from the new tech outweigh the extra weight of the discs?
Let us know your thoughts on rim brakes and disc brakes in the comments section below!
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Andrew Feather’s 5.39kg Cannondale Supersix
🎦 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX_PuKhkjFI
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Can an ebike make you a hill climb champion?
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⚫️ In this video
0:00 Introduction
0:58 The frame
1:44 Schmolke finishing kit
2:47 3D printed computer mount
3:26 Power meter
4:08 Groupset
4:45 Wheels
6:24 Front end position
7:05 Cutting the bars off?
7:24 Shifter position
7:52 Chain
8:57 DISC BRAKES?!
11:35 Are rim brakes dead?
12:47 Outro
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50 Comments
Lots of bs in this interview, shame on you guys 👎
No doubts the weights margin are getting smaller, but you didn't mention the price margin is getting higher too. I can build a 7.3KG bike on rim with 3K USD. And the ride quality on rim confirmed better.
Yay, another pointless 'rim brakes are dead' video that literally no one asked for.
I'd love my bike to be heavier. Yes that's what I really want now😂
Half a kilo additional weight? Eh, who cares, I need to please my sponsors and the bike industry. What's that, a 3 gram screw? Take it of asap, every gram helps!!! The cognitive dissonance in this video is on a new level, really.
Those proportions in the Lab 71 frameset. Wow looks proper lightweight while still keeping the aero shapes. But not going overboard with its doing the full 3 inch banner look in the downtube or pencil thin top tube.
There's a world of difference between what gearheads do and what millions of ordinary riders do.
"Rim brakes really are DEAD" No they are not! I am not watching this garbage.
Clickbait nonsense
Bro is sponsored. Nuff said
So he's got a frame for aero reasons, but at the same time relatively wide bars, and upright levers making his frontal area very not aero, which will give him more drag than the benefit from the frameset. Makes sense 👍
This is no longer just marketing, it is becoming outright fraud. You are treating your viewers like gullible idiots. Do you really expect us to believe that in a sub-sport that doesn't really need brakes Andrew would have chosen this over a similar but lighter bike. Shame on you.
Just a friendly tip — put the bike in between the presenter and the camera, so the presenters aren't constantly looking away from the camera. And the viewers can see the bike better.
Imagine if disc brakes had arrived first and rim brakes for road bikes had just been developed. They’d have been hyped as the next must have due to ease of service, quicker wheel changes in races and weight savings…
Its a 20.000+ euro bike, still almost 6.0kg. A similar or lighter rim setup, for hillclimb especially, cost 5X-10X less money to build.
And you didn't weigh it? Right. No need to embarrass the corporate puppeteers that pull your strings. And poor Feather has to look enthusiastic at a bike that is heavier than a 10 year old SuperSix.
there will always be 400 gr difference it is maths…
For every top tier advocate for discs there are hundreds of people that want a hassle free, easy to maintain bike with rim brakes and external cable routing, with 105 or Tiagra on a simple round tube metal frame.
My 2018 Trek emonda alr5 stop's on a dime and is super light too
Usually I like your videos, but here I can't help but feel like a big piece of journalist integrity is missing. What are the sponsors here ? What ties does this guy have with the industry ? Did he pay for his frame, and / or his wheels ?
It's just impossible to take the video seriously without disclosing that. Especially not when it goes against every principle of that particular discipline.
You wait till next year , ABS has to be accommodated 😂 somehow
That don’t matter though , as long as she’s aero 😊 🤪 🤦♂️
Rim brakes alive and well on my bikes
I will never ride a road bike with disc brakes because they look bloody horrible.
I’m surprised I’ve managed to survive all these years racing and riding in the mountains with rim brakes.
No one ever discussed braking but now marketing is so intense everyone has been brainwashed to think you can’t ride a bike without disc brakes.
Why put a video out about the death of rim brakes when the rider in question is sponsored to ride this bike?
How much this bike+wheelset+equipment? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wolf Tooth make 12 speed narrow wide chainrings for Shimano, as 12 speed has been around for mtb for quite a while now. I believe mtb/road is supposed to be cross compatible
What kind of person thinks you need the most powerful brakes possible for CLIMBING hills?😂
The comment section is full of rim brake fans. I just started cycling 2 years ago and rim brakes are so primitive in my eyes so I stay away from them. They bring back memories of my childhood on rim brake bikes that were not reliable. I can only imagine being in the shoes of older cyclists with better rim brake bikes who grew up with them. It must be hard to accept disc brakes.
Shilling for disc…..
They are climbing at speed which doesn't indicate need for brakes at all!
Andre you stupid bastard!! Lol
No bar tape to save weight but uses disc brakes! 😆 Obviously paid to ride that heap.
New rim brake bikes are dead. Discs are better but I just bought a rather nice S-Works with rim brakes, brakes are good enough and the bike is amazing.
Long live rim brakes!
Drink a shot every time Jamie says 'obviously'!
Rim brakes are around 500g/wheel lighter than hydraulic brakes. As the sport is called hillclimbing, you would, of course, feel the weight difference while climbing.
I like rim caliper brakes because of the lower price and costs, easier maintenance, reliability, and lower weight.
I've converted a 26'MTB into a 700c touring bike with caliper brakes, even with full camping 🏕 gear they brake great downhill!
RIM brakes DEAD?
Uhmmm …
Fed up with disk brakes (noises, freezes, and one day with a total fail of braking system) just changed my “modern” road bike (width di2, disk brakes, internal wiring, wireless dfly, ….. etc) for a DEAD SWorks tarmac SL6 with rim brakes.
Every climb is a personal record, faster rides, etc and I am feeling very happy with my bike.
No more comments needed.
in order to make it UCI legal he has to keep Disk …
Some people might be pissed off now Feather won it on disc brakes 😂😂.
Nearly all of the top guys were on rim brakes to be fair. Feather has the advantage of being able to splash the cash due to sponsorship. His bike would have been worth a bloody bomb.
The rider didn’t do too badly either.
It seems that rim brake users are sensitive people 😌
I'm no physicist but I think he would have gone slightly faster uphill without the extra 500 grams from the disc brake setup. I think you bike nerds call it watts/kg or something.
I wonder how many times he used those disc brakes on his climb, zero I reckon.
every grams counts and he doesn't have bottle cage for that climb but he use disk brake? for what? stronger brake uphill? cmon. HAHAHA that is pure bullsh*t doped advertisement.
Andrew saved some weight by being bald
He sold out.
He was not happy you forced the weight question 😂😂😂
When every fraction counts??? Even to remove cage screws???
What a contradiction.
Dude, you sold out.
At least roadcc didn't do the lame 'disc brakes work better in the wet' line. They do, compared to carbon rims. Wish other numpties would compare aluminium rims with rim brakes to disc brakes. Always fine in the wet. I did Fred Whitton in the rain, no issues on rim brakes, and in the Pyrenees blah blah…
What do you even need brakes for if you are riding up hill?
How was this posted on the 13th, 2 weeks before the event even took place? YouTube glitch?
I think it just comes down to sponsorship rather than choice 😊it been a well covered topic with ex pros preferring rim brake setup but when under contract they have no choice 😢 although the good news is a lot of brands are now reversing back to rim brake options so you will see the sheep move in another direction 😂