Shimano's Dave Lawrence has been with the company for 25 years. Photo credit: Shimano/Eric Wynn

If you're like a lot of cyclists, you're wondering, do disc brakes on road bikes make sense for me? Only you can answer that question for sure, but it's always interesting to hear what other people have to say.

With that in mind RoadBikeReview sat down for a one-on-one interview with Dave Lawrence, road and pavement product manager for Shimano America. Not surprisingly, Lawrence is a fan of disc brakes on road bikes, especially now that Shimano has its own system about to hit the market. But even Lawrence admits he wont be making the complete switch right away. Read on to find out why, plus where he thinks the new system can be improved.

RoadBikeReview: Now that Shimano's R785 hydraulic road disc system is ready for prime time, how do you see it fitting into your cycling life?
Dave Lawrence: For starters it's going on my cyclocross bike as soon as a I get a new disc compatible frame. I'm trying to work out a deal with an industry friend right now. So that will definitely be my first choice. I had that realization last year during our last local 'cross race. It was one of the few times when we had rainy conditions and it was just so obvious to me that there's no way we should not be using disc for 'cross. I also already use mechanical disc on my commuter bike, so now it will just be a matter of switch it over to hydraulics.

RBR: So what about your road bike? You haven't mentioned that yet.
DL: That will be the next one, but we still make great rim brakes and I like to train on what I race on so until [disc brakes] are fully legal it wont be on my race bike because I want to be comfortable when racing. Instead the plan is to build up a secondary bike that is more versatile. So the road racing bike stays as a pure road racing bike, and I'll have another bike that has R785 that gets used for more adventure type rides, gravel roads, that kind of thing.

RBR: Obviously you're in the fortunate position of being able to have multiple bikes. But what do you say to the person who only has one road bike and feels like this change is just change for change's sake?
DL: The way we look at it is that people are looking for more versatility in a road bike and this will help facilitate that. A lot of people are looking to do other things on their road bike, beyond just riding pavement. So if you are one of those people than this is a really beneficial change. For instance by making the switch from traditional brakes to disc, your max tire clearance is going from 25c up to 32c or even more. Being able to run those wider tires can open up a lot of new terrain.





The 50-year-old Lawrence races cyclocross and road, and rides his mountain bike every Sunday. Photo credit: Shimano/Eric Wynn

RBR: Another issue we see on the Shimano side is the fact that your brake system is only compatible with electronic shifting, which will make some people feel like they are being pushed into a more expensive drivetrain. How do you react to that?
DL: For us, when you look at the development, the main factor was that the Di2 lever had much more open space. So from an engineering and resource allocation standpoint, and how quickly we could bring something to market, that took less time and effort to develop a system where you weren't working around other challenges. It was more timing than anything. Our goal long term is not to limit people's choices.

RBR: Both Shimano and SRAM hydraulic hoods have been reported to be a little noisy, and it's something we've also experienced during our limited testing time. Is this just an inherent problem with the system, or do you see it being worked out?
DL: I can't speak for the SRAM hoods, but what you've been riding from Shimano, these are pre-production and it's something we have identified, but don't have an answer today. The challenge is that there is no cable pulling back on the lever like with cable-actuated brakes, so it is something that's inherent to the design. Even mountain bike brakes have some free play in the levers.

RBR: We found out after his World Cup wins that Lars van der Haar used the new R785 levers, but not the new calipers. He went with XTR mountain bike calipers instead. Is that just a weight issue?
DL: I don't know for sure, but I would assume that was the reason. The XTR caliper is a lighter caliper, and technically it's compatible with the [R785 system].

RBR: Thus far we've seen only mild adoption of disc brakes at the top European level. What do think is holding them back?
DL: I'm surprised. I thought there would be more people on it to be honest. So hopefully that changes. As for why they're not changing, I think a lot of it is just tradition. Look at the world championship last year in Louisville. None of the Europeans were on disc, but most of the North Americans were. Right now I am really curious to see how a couple high profile victories will change people's perceptions. I do think it will be the young guys [like Lars], whereas the older guys are entrenched and know what works for them. You also have to consider the mechanics. A lot of these guys probably don't want to learn something new.

RBR: The R785 brakes have basically been branded an Ultegra level offering. So where will the improvements come from to get to a point where they merit the Dura Ace stamp of approval?
DL: For me, this is the most exciting part of the development process, getting feedback from the market and finding out where people want to see improvements, and what becomes important to them. That could be the size of the lever? We also see triathletes getting interested because they have such mediocre braking and tough routing issues. So there is a lot of interest in something with less routing constraints and improved performance. The trick now is what the aero impacts are. So generally speaking it will be about understanding the priorities of the consumers and then helping direct improvement in those areas. That could be weight, which is probably a natural progression. But it's still early to decide when and where that weight comes from. That will also include the frame builders and wheel builders. But yes, I think it's safe to say they will get lighter, because that is the natural progression of any product.