Volagi Liscio (photo: Volagi bikes)

It was only 4 years ago when I first had disc brakes on my mountain bike. That bike was a GT Marathon Pro and it was awesome. The first variety I had were Shimano XT brakes which to this day are still considered some of the best mountain bike brakes alongside the likes of the great Italian variety from Formula. The ease, safety and control from pulling a hydraulic lever with my index finger was truly astonishing.

Now we are entering 2014 and the road bike world is seeing some of the technology found on mountain bikes finally creeping in. I know that for me living in Colorado means lots and lots of long rides far into the mountains with super long ascents with equally long descents. While I have never had any complaints with the current dual pivot brakes on the market, I am super excited to see what bike companies are first to jump on the disc brake road bike technology bandwagon. I honestly don’t think this bandwagon will last long and instead it will quickly become the norm. A bike with disc brakes is a safer bike, plain and simple. It really won’t be about the power of disc brake road bikes, but instead the new levels of control for twisty technical descents.

My question to the pro teams out there, which will be the first to stock disc brakes on their tour bikes and who will be the first to win a stage in grand tour with rotors on their hubs?

I did scour the web to find some of the current and also prototype disc brake road bikes. Check out the gallery. (images courtesy of bikerumor.com, bicycling.com, bikeradar.com)