The upgrade itch has kicked in and im focused on changing my do-it-all ‘life bike’s’ brakes to something a wee bit lighter and more effective.

I currently use the tried and tested BB7’s with Tektro hood levers on a drop bar. However, Im fed up of skining my knuckles whilst adjusting the pads on the calipers and they are a fairly basic and heavy design at best.
I run an Alfine hub with bar mounted lever so single speed specific hoods/levers are what im looking for.

So, which of the above should I go for? Anyone got experience of them all?…

Pros/cons as I see it:

Juin’s – circa £100, retain existing hoods and mechnical function of cables, minor weight saving, close to full hydraulic power(?), funky looks, potential for heat build up to cause expansion in master cylinder??

Spyres – circa £120, retain mechanical functionality and hoods, fair weight saving, improvement in function over BB7 but not up to Hydro standards?

TRP Hylex – circa £190, new hoods, best lookers and lightest option(?), best performance(?), considerably more expensive, best to avoid full hydro option for potentially easier touring repairs?

I’ve used the Juin tech R1s for a while, great upgrade, power and feel is tehre if you use the right compressionless cables and housing. price wise i don’t see how they can be beaten. They are as good or better (in my experience) and certainly look better than the TRP cable/hydro brakes and far better than any cable brake.
Only issue i had with mine was a slight rattle from the actuation arm, which can be rectified with very thin shims or re-spacing it if you are bothered (i wasn’t)
They also use easy to get previous generation shimano pads, so loads of options for braking in different conditions there.
Genuinely impressed with them and would thoroughly recommend, especially when taking price into account

thanks for your input, ive only heard generally good things about the R1s.
Have you tested them with any long/fast/draggy decents?

i’ve done some road descents off the south downs at 45+mph and they have been utterly fine, nothing alpine though.
Also on the cross bike i’ve done some very steep MTB trails in the surrey hills which (aside from being scary as hell on a cross bike!) were nicely controllable.

they’ve handled mud, rain and heat really well. as i said initially, the only complaint i have is the rattle!

Sweet. Same location as me, too.

I have been using the Juin R1 for nearly a year now.

They are good, better than bb7, but I have had issues with pistons sticking out and not coming back.
First caliper got replaced under warranty, but it is happening again.
To fix it, I need to give caliper a good clean especially around the pistons with Shimano mineral oil.

I have Hylex on my Arkose and it’s been faultless for the year I’ve had it. Impressed with the power, and the hoods/levers feel pretty nice too

I’ve BB7 on one bike and Spyres on another. I wouldn’t say one was better than the other to be honest. I don’t think that would be a sensible swap.

I just swapped from bb7 to hylex.

I was finding bb7’s a bit of a faff to keep adjusted – always seemed to be rubbing

I wouldn’t say the hylex are more powerful, but the absence of cable makes them feel a lot nicer imho. They also look a lot better and levers are nicer than the tektro’s I had. And no bloody rubbing!

I did weigh them – can’t remember the difference, not a lot – maybe 100 grms lighter

I foolishly bought from Taiwan, so they got held up in customs and I had to pay £17. Fitting wise front hose is only just long enough for a large Fargo with woodchipper bars. Rear hose needed trimming and they didn’t come with olive and barb, but rep sent a little bag of olives and bleed kit from us

So I’m happy overall

Hylex on my CX race bike.

Hoods are a great shape, and no complaints on power or feel. Lever was prone to working it’s way loose and rattling after a while of riding longer rocky descents, but easily sorted with a drop of threadlock and no issues since.