Baller’s Bicycles – Richard Sachs’ Personal Cyclocross Race Bike

Glad he’s anti-disc brake.

That BB shell is the cat’s ass! what a beauty!
…as far as his opinions on Disc Brakes:
“Unnecessary”
“Driven by marketing of the big brands”

…nail on the head.

I’m a huge fan of Richard Sachs bikes – such wonderful lugwork! Regarding discs, I wish my cross bike had disc brakes – It’s my do-it-all drop bar bike, and a couple weeks ago, I caught up rather suddenly to a school bus stopped on my favorite descent. My TRP rim brakes kept me from hitting the busline by about 2 feet. Add another car to the back of that line, and I’d’ve had to veer off the road or hit the car. Disc brakes add real power in real situations. For racing, maybe you don’t need them, but if you want max power, that’s the answer.

“Which does not include his wife’s bike – apparently she does like disc brakes.”

I found that much funnier than necessary.

The back of that BB lug is going to be constantly full of mud/road grime.
As Saint-Exupery said: “perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away”

Can you really call yourself a custom frame builder when your that opposed to doing something different? Custom is what the rider wants, not what the builder is shoehorning them into.

Heavy- dude, you make steel frames. If weight’s the goal, let’s go carbon.
Inelegant- is a bike’s primary function to look pretty?
Unnecessary- is any 5000-dollar bike necessary?
Driven by marketing of big brands- That doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad. So was clipless, index shifting, and a lot of other good stuff.
Disclosure: I don’t embrace all new technology. Just the stuff that I think works- like disc brakes on bikes which spend +50% of their time riding at top speed in the mud.

Everyone’s a critic. the guy’s an artist. he gets a pass on eccentricity with just one look at those lugs. If you don’t get that you don’t get nuthin. That, and as previously mentioned, he is historically relevant as an inspiration to those of us who are also artists and thus, if you harass artists for eccentricity, bite me.

#1) Sachs is a BOSS

#2) when he builds me a bike when I get rich it will have disc brakes because at my weight it’s not hype, I burn on the descents and when you get over 180lbs caliper brakes don’t get it done coming down a mountain and that’s a fact #atmo

@JT

For a race specific CX bike, leaving bottle bosses off of the bike can make sense. A steel bike getting power washed a few hundred times a season should have as few water entry points as possible. Now, if you intend to use the bike elsewhere (as a Baller might), some practicality and usability may be in order as well.

@mudrock, if sachs’ front brake chattered, he would just cut the pads down atmo

He crafts beautiful frames, whatever, don’t act so butt hurt about his opinions.

He should add disk brakes.

Where did my post go?

Sachs’ decision not to use discs is a branding decision, too. Sachs’ brand: steel, classic, unchanging, 1985. If Sachs goes to discs, he changes a 30+ year old brand and loses his mystique.

I get that he is entititle to his own opinion regarding the bikes he makes but not having bottle bosses is just plain silly. The pressure washing augument is nothing more than minions protecting their king.

He is not sticking with tradition. He is maintaining his brand, and judging by ardent supporters on display here, it works. Oooh.. and aahh… Artificially created scarcity and desirability. Kudos to that. But, seriously, he ordered a disk brake equipped bike for his wife. All you need to know about what he really thinks. And plenty of builders who can fit you a modern bike just fine.

Richard understands that disk brakes offer no real advantage in normal riding. Brakes do not stop you, tires stop you. Braking is limited by tire traction NOT brake power. Next time you are on a ride grab your rear brake and see how easy it is to skid the tire. Once the tire skids there is no benefit in more brake power. The same is true for the front brake, only it is limited in that too much force will throw the rider over the bars.
Riders of identical skill in braking will have near exact braking distance with both rim and disc brakes. When wet/muddy conditions are present the same holds true because they impact tire grip even more than rim brake power. Only on long descents (over 5 miles) do disk brakes offer any sort of advantage.
Long story short… Richard is 100% right. If you think otherwise, you are just falling for the marketing hoopla.

@Tim – 05/27/14 – 12:53pm:

Any material can be light or heavy depending on the quality and composition of the material. Carbon isn’t always the lightest option and steel isn’t always the heaviest. Columbus XCr and True Temper S3 is extraordinarily light and is steel so it is more durable and dependable. Carbon is a great material but is harder to repair and doesn’t give the same ride qualities as steel does. I have ridden carbon, aluminum and steel and I like steel the best, it is a better ride especially over long distances and rougher terrain.

I can agree on the other points though.