Front caliper brakes for a track frame, what's hot and what's not?

I need new brakes for my road bike.
My rear one is total pants, and thanks to having tiny little hands I can't get enough leverage to stop with just a weak back brake and front brake.
I'm thinking Dura-ace, but I'm also tempted by Sram.

Have you thought about getting shorter/adjustable reach levers?

I assume you have good clean brake pads installed, clean rims?

You assume correctly, I've done all I can to make it work.
It's time for some brakes with oomph.

I heart DA calipers.

Actually, the braking on the Kinesis is awesome and they're just cheap long-reach Shimano calipers with some new pads.

Shimano 105's are the way forward. i've got them on my road bike and they're bloody brilliant - i can even endo if i try hard enough ;)

I found the culprit, a stretch of un-happy cable housing. It has been replaced, and now I can stop.

I still want new brakes though.

At the budget end, you can't beat Tektro. The EEBrakes are reputed to be even better for power than DuraAce, and are the only weight weenie brake I'd consider viable for porkers like me. If you don't need a QR, Campag non-skeleton Veloce dual pivot are very cheap and elegant.

I'm contemplating some Tektro levers for the fixieskidder to replace the 105s which have a dodgy shape to them (sharpen towards the top for cable).

If you want comfortable hoods, the SRAM S500 levers are nice.

I need new brakes for my road bike.
My rear one is total pants, and thanks to having tiny little hands I can't get enough leverage to stop with just a weak back brake and front brake.
I'm thinking Dura-ace, but I'm also tempted by Sram.

Are we talking STI's or Aero levers because I also have fairly small hands and find the reach on my 105 STI just a tad to long whereas the sram levers have an adjustable reach

Reach to the lever is also profoundly affected by positioning the levers on the bars and the actual curve of the bar. Anatomic bars are notorious for placing the levers a long way from the palm when using the drops.

If you want comfortable hoods, the SRAM S500 levers are nice.

They look like what I want. I wanted DA levers without the shifting but they don't seem to do them. I often ride right on the top of the hoods with my wrists cocked in and the 105s don't leave enough room for my big hands. I need flat tops.. like the Tektro and it looks like these SRAM levers. Thanks.

Oh, these are functionally the same as Shimano levers right? No weird stuff going on like you have to push them left to brake or something?

Acor and Tektro do various decent long-drop brakes, some with nut fitting (which is what you will almost certainly need). There's also a nice Shimano one, called R550 or somthing similar to that.

Shimano R650, has 57mm drop, got me one and does the job nicely.

Oh, these are functionally the same as Shimano levers right? No weird stuff going on like you have to push them left to brake or something?

They use the patented SRAM DoubleTap mechanism, pull the lever all the way to apply the brake, pull it a little bit to release it again.
:-)

Shouldn't you be in bed, you're starting at about 7am aren't you?

Reach to the lever is also profoundly affected by positioning the levers on the bars and the actual curve of the bar. Anatomic bars are notorious for placing the levers a long way from the palm when using the drops.

With hindsight I realize that you are correct, ignore me..

They use the patented SRAM DoubleTap mechanism, pull the lever all the way to apply the brake, pull it a little bit to release it again.
:-) Shouldn't you be in bed, you're starting at about 7am aren't you?

Yeah.. fat lot of good sleep does.. rubbish ride. 5am I got up for this shit...