Cyrille Guimard is the French darling of directeurs sportifs and I believe is universally known as one of the best the sport has ever seen. He’s been a commentator on French radio and television for years now and, like most people in their retirement years, doesn’t give a crap what you think.
Below is an extract in English from an article I just read from Top Vélo. Since I’m still riding rim brakes and have always had my reservations about changing, I thought I’d share it, for what it’s worth. Run the article through Google Translate (if needed) to see what he says about ear pieces as well – to me he makes some sense.
The marketing imperatives are obvious. Overnight, the major manufacturers and the most important equipment suppliers imposed disc brakes on the peloton, which was neither useful nor serious. Disc brakes are interesting and not very dangerous in mountain biking where there is never a peloton of 200 riders going at 60 km/h. We talked for a while about the dangers it represented for riders. Particularly cuts in the event of a complex fall. But we forgot to talk about their excessive power and the risks it creates by offering riders the possibility of braking later and more suddenly. To the detriment of the stability of the machine and the grip of the tires. Why do you think the width of tires has been increased excessively? But faced with the omnipotence of marketing and financial interests, security and technical logic take second place. Thanks to the adoption of disc brakes, hundreds of thousands of cyclists have been forced to completely change equipment with obvious economic benefits for the industry.
Bonus points for anyone who can identify these good ol’ boys.
The Vicious Cycle 
Can’t disagree with Cyrille on either disc brakes or radios. I have no idea who the trio are.
Someone will know these characters, I’m sure.
We’re obviously too young Gerry
“Thanks to the adoption of disc brakes, hundreds of thousands of cyclists have been forced to completely change equipment…”
And yet here I am, riding my 2011 Trek Madone with ancient gearing and braking technology. Nobody has forced me to do anything. Having said that, there can be no doubt that consumers like to ride/wear whatever they see the pros riding/wearing, so it was no doubt a coup for the disc brake manufacturers when their product appear on The Tour.
I think that if you tried to buy a new top-end machine you’d be forced to have it with disc brakes. That could be what he’s saying.
I recognised LeMond. There must be legions of wobbly old cyclists like myself very grateful for disc brakes but I agree that it is disappointing when marketing changes sport without the wishes of the sportspeople being considered.
Most people I know who have disc brakes love them, although they have caused issues with us on tours in the past (mechanical issues).
I like mine. They are much lower maintenance over the course of a year than rim brakes. However, you are absolutely correct that when something guess south they are MUCH harder to deal with in some cold/ hot windy corner of a vacant lot with bugs biting you. Boo
I gave up and Googled the photo. Let’s just say that without the cycling context (your blog), I would have guessed the middle guy was Alberto Tomba.
I wonder how many road bikes are bought by people like me who essentially never ride in a pack, vs. folks who are avid club riders or racers or whatever. I’m guessing more of the former.
I’m a little surprised that discs prevailed so quickly in the pro peloton. Generally racers are the most conservative when it comes to gear. I get that brands want their latest and most expensive stuff to be seen as something their highest profile athletes use. In skiing they solve this contradiction by putting the skis the racers want on their feet during the race. After the race they quickly remove them and a handler immediately gives them a totally different pair of – what the brand wants to sell to you and me. In the official photos and at non-racing events such as charity or publicity stops they always have the stage gear.
I think that pro riders used to do something similar in the past, but instead of not using their sponsor’s brand after a race, they’d slap the sponsor’s name on someone else’s bike! I believe that’s how Ernesto Colnago started his career off in bike building, but I could be wrong there. Back then all bikes looked the same, essentially.
I was surprised at the speed discs took over the peloton, too. If you go back and read what riders were saying about them at the time, it certainly wasn’t because they wanted them.
Shimano and Sram stopped making rim groupsets, bike manufacturers had no choice, hence the riders didn’t.
I hired a disc TCR recently, i didn’t like it, heavy, very stiff, much prefered a rim bike with carbon wheels… maybe the top end 10k euro plus bikes are different?
Exactly Andrew. It’s a shame and I don’t feel like it’s ‘progress’. More of a manufactured ‘need’.
By the way, if anyone is still listening out there, the 3 bad hombres in the photos are Cyrille Guimard, Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond, probably on their charm-offensive trip to the US to woo Greg to France.
great photo and I have to say I agree with the cranky old guimard… he knows a thing or two believe it or not…
Get on Top Velo and read the rest of what he has to say, if you haven’t already. I never considered how dangerous radios could be before reading his rant!