Quote Originally Posted by smilingcat View Post
no you really don't want to lock up your wheel (skid).

Caliper and canti-lever brakes properly adjusted should stop you. They have plenty of power for you to do an endo, fly over the handle. Down side is the effect of wet brake pad, wet rim, grim on the rim.

I'm not too terribly concerned with added weight of disc. full water bottles, (I've known to carry four 16+oz bottles in really hot weather), extra layers on extremely cold weather will add far more weight than the added weight of disc. Only place where the weight is of real concern is if your race is a mountain stage with finish at the pass. Most races are crits so I wouldn't worry about it.

Crashes on a bike even in a pile up, I have never gotten my body parts in someone's wheels. Come to think of it, I don't think I've been in a midst of a pile-up.

To me, choice of disc, cantilever, caliper is like choice of bike color or brand of bike frame and components. What really matters is physical and mental comfort.
I'm with you on that. My discs do feel different than the caliper brakes on my road bike. I had to learn to use a lighter touch with my discs than with the road brakes. Braking on the road bike is a sort of dignified affair--"Oh, we want to stop now? Then we shall." Much softer-feeling. Cross bike (with the discs), same pressure--"OK! STOPPING! WHY ARE YOU ON THE GROUND?!" I prefer the feel of calipers, but that may be because I've put ten times the mileage on my road bike than on my CX bike and just haven't gotten to know that bike as well. However, I've done enough riding in the rain (not here, obviously) to know that in wet and dirty conditions, I'd want the disc brakes.