Cyclist Shirin van Anrooij (18) had a deep arm wound from the World Cup Cross in Tabor on Sunday. A disc brake would have been the culprit, but there is no definite answer. The discussion about the technical gadget is in any case very topical again.
Disc brakes have made their appearance in the professional peloton for several years as the successor to the traditional rim brake.
The somewhat conservative cycling environment initially looked at the evolution with the necessary skepticism, but gradually turned to the many advantages.
For example, the braking power of a disc brake offers significantly more comfort (especially in bad weather conditions), but the sharp edges of a disc brake invariably lurked around the corner.
In recent years there have been injuries after falls in which the disc brake was blamed and in Tabor the disc brake is said to have caused the flesh wound to Shirin van Anrooij.
(read on below the tweets)
Shirin van Anrooij’s (and Sven Nys) crew pointed their finger at the disc brake
Ex-cyclist Klaas Vantornout is not in favor of the disc brake
The example of a grinding disc or saw machine?
In our podcast of De Tribune, Hans Vandeweghe returned to the incident with Van Anrooij on Czech soil.
“Such a disc brake is not dangerous at all,” says the journalist of De Morgen. “But the thing is loose on your bike.”
“I also have grinding wheels and sawing machines at home. There is such a cap on them and such protection weighs nothing. Cycling has to work on that.”
Would such a roof offer a solution? The World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), interlocutor of the International Cycling Union UCI, confirms that this track was already on the table years ago, but that too many question marks remained.
“The tests with such a cap were half positive and half negative,” explains Robbert de Kock, CEO of the WFSGI. The Dutchman is also a member of the UCI Technical Committee.
“You can immediately ask yourself questions about the consequences for the weight of your bicycle and for the aerodynamics of a bicycle, but you can find a solution for that.”
“There were other problem cases. What would happen if a stone got caught between the cap and the disc brake? Who is responsible if the system locks up? And what are the dangers if there is a malfunction?”
The tests with such a cap were half positive and half negative.
“There were too many ignorances”
“The discussion about roofing still raised many questions”, Robbert de Kock continues.
“What happens if the mechanism breaks? Can that broken material injure someone? What do you do with a wheel change that has to be fast in the peloton?”
“There were too many ignorances that prevented that commitment.”
“Yes, it has been discussed with teams, riders and brands, mto which we have found a solution by rounding the tops of the disc brakes. There are no more sharp edges. “
“If you have a round disc brake, you can stop it with your hand without hurting you. That was a good compromise.”
“It was automatic to blame the disc brake”
Still, controversy occasionally resurfaces. “But who can answer the question whether we have already had an accident caused by a disc brake? The answer is simply not there.”
“There have been cases such as Fran Ventoso in Paris-Roubaix in 2016, who claimed he was seriously injured by a disc brake.”
“But an investigation by a forensic doctor showed that he had fallen with his knee on a cover sheet.”
“By the way: why would you cover a disc brake with a cap and leave a sprocket with those spiky tips open and exposed?”
“For a long time it was automatic to blame the disc brake in such a case. But often we did not know the cause, not even with the fall of Shirin van Anrooij in Tabor. A message was sent on Twitter with a statement, but what was it based on? “
“We should also not forget that zero risk does not exist in cycling. That is just the nature of cycling. Look at that smack in Poland, with the descending finish line and the flying barriers. There are so many obstacles.”
Who can answer the question whether we have already had an accident caused by a disc brake? There is simply no answer.
