Roompot team make 18-second change at Tour of Qatar
Image 1 of 5
Team Roompot is running SRAM disc brakes at the Eneco Tour but expect to see the likes of Shimano show off their wears as well(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Team Roompot used SRam red disc brakes at the 2015 Eneco Tour(Image credit: Cyclingnews)
Another angle of the SRAM disc brakes on the Roompot Issac bikes(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2016 Roompot team tested the SRAM HydroR brakes during training in Calpe(Image credit: oompot Oranje Peloton/Cor Vos)
The front wheel of the Roompot bikes shows the disc brake(Image credit: oompot Oranje Peloton/Cor Vos)
The use of disc brakes in the professional peloton has been a divisive topic since the UCI announced a trial period in the 2016 season, and and one of the arguments against their introduction has been the time it would take to change a wheel.
Unlike rim brakes, where quick-release skewers and open dropouts allow for a quick wheel change, the thru-axle system in the disc wheel requires the mechanic to fully unscrew the punctured wheel's hub and replace it. There is a time penalty, but the Roompot mechanic shows it is not much.
Roompot Oranje Peloton are the only team so far this season to use disc brakes in competition, with all their riders at the Volta a la Comunitat Valencia and the Tour of Qatar riding with the SRAM HydroR model. It is from Qatar that the Dutch Pro Continental team have provided this video, which shows a rear wheel change on stage 4.
Ivar Slik is the rider who punctures, and we calculate that it takes mechanic Dennis Kreder 18 seconds to get him back up and running.
In comparison, Edvald Boasson Hagen's first wheel change took just 10 seconds.
Roompot's effort was not exactly sluggish, but it was nevertheless a good five seconds or so slower than what you'd normally expect with caliber brakes.
The video below from Shimano shows a day in the life of a neutral service mechanic at the 2014 Vuelta a España in which three wheel changes are performed. It takes 14 seconds for Andrey Lutsenko and Philip Deignan to get new rear wheels, and 8 seconds for Maxime Bouet, though his is a front wheel and he has the wheel out himself nice and quickly.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Obviously wheel change times are influenced by more factors than just the nature of the brakes, but, on this evidence, it would appear that the discs make things a few seconds slower, though probably not so much as to make for a convincing case against their use.
