Pearson Carbon Audax Pro: A comfy, modern & fast (ish) long-distance bike

Cupcakes - sorry, bit of an overreaction, it's your cash to spend! Just my experience that quality braking is priceless (shifting doesn't radically improve past 2nd tier groupsets ime, but braking does) I am so much faster when I trust my brakes to control my speed, not just stop.

No offence taken at all, so no worries.

I'm happy to be proven wrong but I'm personally not sold on the value proposition of 'high-end' brakesets. I've read a lot of reviews of some of the more weight-weenie type brakes and they all suggest a loss of power and modulation is the price to pay for light weight.

Granted, the 'normal' high-end brakes are supposed to be good, and I don't doubt that ultegra or dura ace, or force or red brakes are good at stopping power and also good to modulate.

I am, however, a sub-70kg rider who prefers to climb than descend and who hasn't yet experienced the limitations of his supposedly low-end brakes. Meantime, I've managed to justify the price of some quality shifting kit which will markedly improve the ride of my road bike and allow me to finish building up my spare geared bike, which is making me very happy.

Hell, if I change my mind in the future, a quick look on CRC shows Force calipers at £60/pair. Granted they RRP way higher but I can probably afford to upgrade my brakeset as and when I actually expect to see a tangible benefit.