# Anyone ride a Viale or Viale Disc ?



## redmasi (Jul 14, 2010)

Thinking about a 2014 Viale Disc (or Sportive Disc) with Lynskey Endurance disc fork + 105 11-speed for a winter / commute bike. 

I live in Hawaii and it rains quite a bit and my regular route has a couple of decent hills... That's my excuse for wanting to give discs a try. 

The Sportive Disc frame is + $400. The Viale meets my requirements for a *Ti commuter w/ disc brakes, rack & fender eyelets*.... Unless, of course, the Sportive is a 'no brainer' upgrade for $400. 

No CX. I have a 29er and other road bikes, e.g., a Litespeed Vortex 6Al-4V Ti. It has the curved seatstays and shaped oversized tubes like the Sportive.

Anyone ride a Viale ??? What do you think of it? 


Top pic is a Viale non-disc, bottom a Sportive Disc. (not mine)


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## redmasi (Jul 14, 2010)

Well.... Just sold my 29er to a buddy. So my quiver has changed.

I'm now adding 'off-road capability' to my original requirements of a Ti commuter w/ disc brakes, rack & fender eyelets. 

Thinking about ordering a 2014 Cooper CX frame & fork.

If you were buying a new CX bike now: 

How big a deal is the fact that the 2014 Cooper CX:

1) is QR (and not thru-axle?)

2) Has routing for Mechanical Disc but not Hydro. I'm planning on Shimano 12-speed 105 and understand that the derailleurs are compatible w/ Shimano's new hydro shifters and discs?


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## froze (Sep 15, 2002)

I'm not a big fan of disk brakes, yes there are some advantages to disks but there are a lot of disadvantages. I would get a bike with disk brakes if I was doing a lot of off road stuff where mud, snow, water etc would be almost a constant problem, but if I'm riding on streets and paths and mostly in good weather the cost and problems with disk brakes aren't worth it.

Some of the pros of disk brakes are long rim life, problem with that is the disk pads last only about a 20th as long as good rim pads (they average about 600 miles vs 10,000 miles for rim pads), and the rotors last about 1/2 to 1/3 as long as the wheel (average rim life is 45,000 miles) with rim brakes, so by the time you spend $25 on pads times 75 pad changes over the life of a rim you've got $1,900 dollars in just pads alone for one wheel, whereas with rim pads you have about $75 in pads for one wheel. Even if someone wants to argue that point of cost I just made, fine say I'm off by 50% you still have $900 in pads not including the rotors per wheel.

However there is a bit of boogaloo with the above cost of wheels seemingly glossed over by disk brake fanatics and that is the spokes. Disk brakes put more stress on the spokes so the spokes would have to be replaced every so often to prevent sudden breakage, or replace as they break, either way you have an added expense.

Disk brakes have more needed constant maintenance and are more complicated to adjust in the field. On long fast descents the smaller surface of the disk, compared with a rim, heats up far quicker and far hotter, so hot they can glow, so hot the heat will fry the grease in the hub bearings leading to bearing failure.

Rim brakes in dry conditions will stop a bike just as fast as disk brakes will, so forget about all the nonsense about disk being able to stop faster. If all the variables are the same, bike/rider weight, rider braking skills, tires and psi, and road conditions the thing that stops bikes is tire adhesion to the road and that's all the mystery there is to it. In wet conditions a disk will stop faster but with the right rim pads, like the Kool Stop Salmon pads, a rim brake bike will stop darn near as fast. I've been riding in rain for over 40 years and never had an issue except with stock pads from Shimano, with the Kool Stops never a problem.

If you are riding off road as your post says and it will be mostly in dry conditions cost wise I would still go with rim brakes. I use to ride mountain bikes in California (as you know California is dry) and never had an issue of slowing down or stopping with rim brakes, the only issue I had was slowing down fast due to the dirt and the tires skidding which has nothing to do with rim vs disk brake capabilities, remember what I said, it's tire adhesion to the surface.

Obviously all the above is just an opinion, plenty others will argue against me, which is cool, they too have their opinions, you have to judge what is best for you.


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