Chris Froome, one of the highest-profile critics of disc brakes on road bikes in recent years, has revealed that he has got used to the technology. Speaking to the media during a visit to the Factor Bikes factory in Taiwan on Wednesday - of which he is an investor - the Israel-Premier Tech rider said that he has had a much better experience of disc brakes in the last year and a half.
Froome has made clear his dislike for disc brakes in the past. Reviewing his Israel Star-Up Nation team bike in 2021, when he first joined, he said he wasn't "100% sold" on disc brakes yet. The performance is great, he conceded, before adding: "The downsides to disc brakes are the constant rubbing, the potential for mechanicals, the overheating… personally I don't think the technology is quite where it needs to be yet."
"When I first started riding with disc brakes, the industry was still quite new to disc brakes," he said this week. "No fault of Factor, but I think some of the components we were using on the bike weren't necessarily 100% compatible. We were running, for example, a Shimano braking system with different rotors, which weren't Shimano."
"In the last year and a half of running disc brakes I've definitely had way less problems and it's been certainly a lot better, a much better experience for me. I have warmed to disc brakes. There's no two ways about it, it does take more maintenance, more work. But when it works, it is great."