Non-hydraulic braking

My experience is great - had a hydro MTB for 8 years and never did a thing. Have three other bikes for over a year as well and also not done anything and performance is still fab, my carpal tunnel hands are especially happy with hydro brakes.

Only dealt with the TRP ones here. Been a few years, though

I had juin tech GTs (4 pot ones) for over a year before my bike was nicked. They were fantastic. I'd get them again if I had rim brake shifters to assemble a bike. I'd venture to say they were on par with my current hope rx4s.

I have Shimano cable disc brakes on 1 bike and juintech r1 on an another. Both excellent! Really cannot be bothered with the faff and cost of moving to hydraulic (I'm still running 10spd so it's 2 whole new groupsets)

The shimanos are v powerful and I've toured tens of thousand of miles on them without a hitch. The juintech are a bit softer and super easy to adjust the pads in as they wear. The hydraulics mean the pads self centre but don't adjust inwards for wear - there's a little knob for that.

The shimanos take 3 different Allen keys to setup and adjust... 🤬

I've a front TRP HyRd on my sweet fixeh which I've had for about 4 years with 0 issues, and a pair on my Decathlon groad bike which I've had for a year.

That said someone from France mentioned that they were part of a forum there which had been having nightmares with Decathlon issued HyRds so Caveat Emptor.

Personally the benefits as I see them is; self adjusting pads, and a much more reliable conversion of Lever pull force to brake pads (had previously tried Spyres, and hated them, and I think most cable discs just don't have as reliable way of translating the linear pull of a cable into the perpendicular push of the brake pads)

Interesting I’m thinking about upgrading to Juin Tech’s, currently riding spykes, Paul and old hope’s. The Spykes are ok but don’t give me a lot of confidence off road and took forever to bed them in. The Paul’s I found amazing but way too expensive for my build.

I got a pair of hy/rds because I had mechanical brifters and those were the only cable operated calipers I could find at the time in the middle of the pandemic. With compressionless cables they are fine, no problems at all. They are pretty bulky and heavy, that's the only complaint I have.

I'm using both Juin Tech GT-F's and Growtac Equal brakes on two bikes, both are excellent. A world away from Spyres and both are nearly as good as hydraulic, maybe a little less modulation with them both than a full hydro set up.

However, high quality housing is essential IMO. Also I'm using both of these on bikes with full external routing, as soon as the cables go into the frame/cockpit and introduces bends into the routing, it hugely affects their performance. Not to mention that it's also an absolute ballache to try and route really stiff compressionless housing through any kind of bends. If your bike has any internal routing and you can afford to, definitely go with hydraulics.

My experience with (Decathlon-issued) HY/RDs was not good. If you adjust them as per the instructions then the (Shimano road) levers hit the bars. If you shorten the cable to get a sensible biting point they no longer return far enough for self-adjusting to happen.

Given the weak point of hydraulic systems is the calliper pistons sticking or leaking, you’re not gaining any reliability going hybrid rather than hydraulic.

So glad this tired old subject has its own thread now

I have nothing to add other than outing myself as a proud BB7er and aspirational Klamper dreamer.

I started one on Katie Hopkins a few years ago if that's more your thing ;)

This all seems very complicated.

I have TRP Spyres on my Marin 4 corners.

They suck balls. Not powerful and squeal like a dying hamster.

What should I replace them with, without replacing the brifters and drive train?

Never had a good experience with Spyres no matter how I set them up

Had a BB7 (road version) on the front of a fixed with cane creek drop levers and compressionless housing and worked a treat

If I really have to pick one, I might choose one of your sales threads to read :D

I'm putting together a groad bike

Groad? What even is that, a geared road bike? Geared? Are you sick in the head or something?

What should I replace them with, without replacing the brifters and drive train?

BB7 Road (as opposed to BB7 MTN) calipers - the only caveat being that the rear caliper body may protrude far enough to be grazed by a heel, depending on your brake placement/frame size/shoe size/other factors

Cool.

BB7 road calipers and some new compressionless housing seems to be the way to go.

I will go shopping.

Thanks hive mind.

😆

Gravel/Road bike

I've done around 30,000km on hy/rd's with compressionless housing and can't remember having to do anything other than routine maintenance.

So it seems that Klamper are the absolute pinnacle, but cost three fifths of a fuck tonne.

Any reason why buying a single one for the front brake whilst retaining the Spyre on the back would result in fiery death?

Or is it a clever way to save money and optimise braking performance where it really counts?

clever way to save money and optimise braking performance where it really counts?

A bigger rotor made more of a difference than going from bb7 to Klampers.

But the mismatch 😟

oh but the mismatch 👌