Brake Calliper replacement advice please

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  • Hi all

    Had a slight disaster this afternoon while adjusting/maintaining my front brake.
    I managed to sheer the bolt that secures the brake cable to the calliper. Looks like it was in a pretty bad way and secured in place by a ton of road grime and brake dust.

    Long story short... I'm riding home brakeless tonight. Not a prospect I'm savouring, if I'm honest.
    I can probably get by for the rest of the week like this but would still rather have the brake option long term, so need to look at replacing.
    I could replace the bolt, but feel that identifying and sourcing that will be more difficult than simply replacing the unit (plus, you know that feeling when you've just lost confidence in a part?)

    Seems like as good a time as any to upgrade from my terrible stock Chinese knock of calliper (Z-Star, anyone?) but I have literally no idea what to look for.
    Are there size or fit considerations to be taken into account? I tried a bit of searching but couldn't find anything useful.
    Help please?

    Any reasonably priced recommendations from the hivemind?
    Preferably something I can grab on next day delivery.

    Thanks!

  • That happend to me once so I drilled and tapped it for the next bolt size up. It was a perfect frankenstein-looking brake that worked fine.

    Try brakeless for a week?

    Or buy a Shimano 105, they are great.

  • Is your brake held in place by an external hex nut, or a recessed Allen head nut?

    Assuming it's the latter, then any dual pivot brake will be fine on your commuter: the brake cables and brake pads will make more difference to your braking, than the caliper.

    Spending more buys you a shinier, lighter brake which won't improve the actual braking.

    Find the nearest shop and grab a Tektro or Shimano caliper.

  • Thanks for your advice, both!

    I had to bite the bullet and run brakeless yesterday evening, and this morning. It wasn't as utterly terrifying as I'd anticipated, but certainly mentally exhausting.

    I've got a Shimano Tiagra calliper arriving today. Hopefully that works.

    Thanks again, guys.

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Brake Calliper replacement advice please

Posted by Avatar for Si88 @Si88

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