I think I’ve started or contributed to about 50% of the roadie disc brake threads on this forum, so apologies for another one, but hopefully this will be useful for more than just me.

My MTB has slowly morphed into a gravel/road/commuter, in that it rarely goes off-road any more and when it does it’s typically landrover tracks or cyclepaths.

The discs on it are the bane of any wet ride, so awful they genuinely end up monopolising the experience. I’ve been through the motions trying to sort it and an ready just to scrap them and buy a new set.

So I don’t end up buying a set which are equally bad, I want to know what brakes people are using for this sort of riding (mostly tarmac, lots of relatively flat commutes and then typically 75-100km hilly rides at the weekend).

1) What brakes/pads/rotors

2) What weight are you?

3) Brake hard and late or light and early?

4) What are they like in use, specifically in the wet, Noisy? Juddery?

Ta

1) TRP Spyre Mechanical
2) 95kg
3) When I need to
4) Great good in the wet, more feel, best when I need to get on and off
Problems… need to adjust the pads more than I like to

1/ BB7s with Avid sintered pads
2/ 73-76Kg
3/ Both, Depends on the condition. On road, light.
4/ Fine. Get a bit noisy after a week or so commuting. Warm them up occasionally with a bit of hard braking and it’s all good.

1: Hope Mono Mini, Hope Pads, 160mm Hope floating rotors
2: 110kg. They manage perfectly well with proper off road, loaded up.
3: Both.
4: No noise, little bit of fork judder, not the brakes. I don’t really bother with cleaning and fussing. Just ride it. Been good for 9 years with only a change of pads and one bleed due to extending the hoses.

1. BB5s with Avid pads.
2. Too much. (80kg maybe)
3. Light and early
4. Not too much noise, but in general don’t like them, no better than decent rim brakes. When I can afford it I’m replacing with hydraulics.

1) SRAM HRD with SRAM pads and Shimano Icetec MTB rotors (at the time I built the bike, they were far more readily available than road discs)

2) 80kg

3) Both, depending on the situation but if I had to pick one, light and early

4) A little noisy in really filthy conditions but a quick pull-release then pull again sorts that

1) Ultegra hydros, 160mm Shimano rotors, Standard pads
2) 90kg
3) Bit of both
4) Not had them long and so far only ridden in the dry but so far very quiet and smooth

Fargo set up for touring

1/ 105 10 speed STIs, BB7road calipers, previously shimano calipers
2/ 90kg, sometimes a touring load too
3/ A little bit of column A, little bit of column B
4/ They work, I don’t notice much noise, no judder

The Shimano disc calipers annoyed me as they needed three different hex keys to adjust, but they worked well enough. I’m still tempted to try Spyres. I’d like Hydros but my gears are on a triple 3×10 and there aren’t any.

On my Tripster so have been ridden on and off road, beaches, CX races

1) Ultegra hydros, 160mm Shimano rotors, uber race matrix pads
2) 60kg
3) Bit of both
4) Sometimes a bit noisy if raining alot.. once the rotors dry off a bit no problems

Avid BB7 with Superstar Kevlar pads
80kg
Bit of both, generally lighter and earlier.
They’re OK, I find the setup a pain and they take some looking after. But they brake well albeit they’re not a huge amount better than my Ultegra rim brakes on another bike.

Currently one Clark’s CMD 17 on the front with lifeline pads and one TRP Mira on the back with Shimano resin pads.

12 stone

Light and early, Im a pro commuter so try to avoid slowing down too much

Not too much honking in the wet, performance is good, planning on swapping them for either spyres or hy-rds but only to reduce faffing, single piston brakes are crap.

Commute on 26″ ht with 10yr old deore hydraulics, Superstar 160mm rotors, probably sintered pads as organics don’t last long enough. Very little done in terms of maintenance. They could do with a bleed.
68kg rider.
light<>heavy breaking forces
Can be very noisy in wet, less power, but otherwise great for commuting and flat XC, poor for more demanding descents.

1) TRP HY/Rd. Front Uberbike semi metallic, Rear Oem pads, Oem disks
2) 67kg
3) Both but probably mainly hard.
4) Noisy? Juddery? – A little but ok. Biggest problem I’ve had was getting an imperceptible kink or something in the cable resulting in rear brake not working for final 1.5 days of the trans cambrian way. Decending some Welsh hills with only a smoking front brake was… interesting. Replacing the cable sorted this out. Overall, very happy with them.

SRAM HRD on the Fargo, with Swissstop Sintered pads. They needed bleeding last year but we’re great on Tuscany Trails.
SRAM eTap HRD on the Bokeh, standard pads on the front, changed to Swissstop sintered on the back. Will get the new Swissstop finned pads for Tuscany Roads as it’ll be loaded and 11,000m of climbing/ descending.
I’ve found that generally road discs develop annoying traits as they never get properly hot so doing some more technical off-road helps to keep them in shape.
66kg
Braking depends on what I’m doing.

1) Avid Rotors , Superstar Pads, Juin Tech R1 Cable Pull Hydraulic
2) 66kg

3) Mainly hard but as others, varies depending on the conditions!

4) Fine in the wet, not noisy at all, very smooth and hugely powerful over the BB5’s they replaced. (This is on a Boardman Team CX runnning 40mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes). Not as (powerful as the XT’s on the MTB however)

Shimano mechanical calipers and soar levers with the pads that came in them.
100kg.
Brake when braking is required.
They work, are not noisy and easily adjusted.

1) What brakes/pads/rotors

2) What weight are you?

3) Brake hard and late or light and early?

4) What are they like in use, specifically in the wet, Noisy? Juddery?

I’ve had a few…..
I’m not light,
I found TRP Spyres to be lacking outright power but fine for commuting. Nowhere near enough down a steep offload descent though. 160/160 rotors.
The 105 hydraulics I have now are way better but still not up to the job of stopping me and a loaded touring bike. 160/160 rotors
I did tour on an Inbred with cheap Shimano Alivio level hydraulics and 160/160 rotors, I fried those in south Wales with the trailer behind me. A burning stench and blue rotors!
My current touring bike is a Genesis Tour de Far, the flat bar model. That has LX trekking disc brakes with 180/180 rotors. That does the job! It’s the only touring bike I’ve ever had where I don’t feel underbraked. The trailer lets me use the big rear rotor properly – loads of extra rear grip! It howls to a halt pronto!!!
I always use Shimnao pads, every other brand I’ve used is a let down in comparison.

1) What brakes/pads/rotors
TRP Hy/Rd / Cheapo Lifeline / dunno – maybe avid?

2) What weight are you?
63kg

3) Brake hard and late or light and early?
Bit of both

4) What are they like in use, specifically in the wet, Noisy? Juddery?
Mostly fine. Sometimes a bit noisy when they get dirty but a bit of hard braking seems to sort them

Hope Minis on mine, sintered pads, minimal squeal since swapping from wavey rotors to Hope C2 type.Virtually zero maintainence as they have mainly road use, get a rinse every couple of months, and a light scuff with 180 grit wet-or-dry if they ever start losing their bite.

1) RS785, stock pads, 160/160 ICETech rotors

2) 73kg

3) hard and late

4) noisy below 5mph, otherwise fine. Sometimes a bit noisy after use in the wet, think it’s contaminants picked up off wet roads.

1) What brakes/pads/rotors

2) What weight are you?

3) Brake hard and late or light and early?

4) What are they like in use, specifically in the wet, Noisy? Juddery?

All that aside – get the mounts straight / faced, eg ime post mounts welded into frames are often not so well aligned. Then get the right pad compound and avoid overly light or wavy rotors.

1) Shimano R517 cable calipers + 105 levers, 160mm RT-66 rotors
2) 13st
3) As and when necessary
4) A bit squealy in the wet, pad and cable needs tweaking as the pad wears. Otherwise more effective and lower maintenance than a rim brake. I’ve considered upgrading to a Spyre or eventually hydraulics but there’s no rush

1) 105 hydros, 160mm shimano discs, stock pads
2) 80-85kg, 12kg gravel bike.
3) Late as possible
4) No different to dry. Maybe a little chirp when pulling up, but nothing to worry about.

1) Shimano 785 hydraulics

2) 155lb

3) Brake depending on conditions; if dry – late & hard. If wet … no difference to rim braking, grip is main issue in such conditions.

4) very good in dry – same concerns as rim brakes when roads are wet. Occasionally they rub disc – even though disc not warped … or maybe it slightly is!

May have missed it but what brakes have you got at the moment? Assume they are mtb disc brakes as it’s an mtb you’re riding on road?

Would have thought most mtb brakes should be up to what you are doing on them?

My mtb which is used mostly on the road just has some Shimano deore discs I picked up cheap on eBay – a few models older than the current one. 160mm discs front and back. Think they’re old style discs as they look a bit agricultural compared to the centrelines on the FS bike.

I’m about 75kgs and they stop me fine (not a patch on my Sram Guide RS but I’m not paying for them to put on a muck about / commute mtb). Doesn’t matter if wet or dry.

1) Avid BB5 road (r, organic) BB7 road (f, sintered/standard). Using compressionless outer.

2) 65kg

3) Light and early

4) bb5 on the rear hard to set up due to tight bends and compressionless outer. Had trouble with a ‘singing disc’ until I changed it. Struggled to get it aligned and it has a tendency to go ‘long’ quickly. However, feel and power are, overall very good. Very progressive, which is good on greasy road.

bb7 on front: easy to set up, quiet, but I have been disappointed with the power for some weeks. However, all of a sudden they are really biting well. Perhaps dirty rotor before? Who knows.

Between the wet and the dry the are almost the exact same in behaviour, save for the very first ‘wet rotation’. No noise, or judder except for a bit of fork flutter under hard front braking.

Although not as good as hydros, I’m struggling to justify £500 all in for an upgrade (I’ll need new mech, cassette and chain). If the cable splits due to tight bends, my shifters fail then maybe.

1) Avid Rotors , Superstar Pads, Juin Tech R1 Cable Pull Hydraulic
2) 66kg

3) Mainly hard but as others, varies depending on the conditions!

4) Fine in the wet, not noisy at all, very smooth and hugely powerful over the BB5’s they replaced. (This is on a Boardman Team CX runnning 40mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes). Not as (powerful as the XT’s on the MTB however)

Benji, overall would you recommend the Juin Techs?

1) Shimano Deore, Avid 180/160 rotors. Various pads. I have used kelvar pads but found they glaze over eventually so gone back to a mix of resin/sintered.
2) 95kg
3) hard and late most of the time.
4) No problems with noise etc for the last 5 years.

All that aside – get the mounts straight / faced, eg ime post mounts welded into frames are often not so well aligned. Then get the right pad compound and avoid overly light or wavy rotors.

Yeah, I thought that, took them to the shop I bought them from specifically asked them to face the mounts. Got a phone call later from the mechanic who managed to keep a straight face (well, he sounded like he was over the phone anyway) while telling me ‘Yeah, I took a look at the post mounts, they looked fine, don’t need faced, and I’m not just saying that because we don’t have the tools to do it…’ 🙄

Will persevere with someone a bit better equipped.

May have missed it but what brakes have you got at the moment?

I didn’t say as I didn’t want to encourage others to pile in and start stating their particular opinion of that brand, although from this thread and others I don’t think this brand’s brakes are any better/worse than others.

For what it’s worth

1) Sram Level Ts, Uberbike Kevlar rear, SRAM stock (organic?) front. 160mm Magura Storm rotors (super lightweight, extra aggressive cut-outs, an improvement on the stock Centreline rotors).

2) 85kg

3) Early and light for the most part

4) Good in the dry, except for weird resonant moan from the rear. Seemed OK in the wet after changing pads and rotors, but today were actually scarily bad screeching, metallic resonating and just general howling.

From the variety of responses above it does sound like this is not normal and maybe not the fault of the brakes themselves. Will persevere trying to get mounts faced before I just bin them and get some XTRs or something 8)

1) TRP spyre with Superstar kevlar pads, Jagwire compressionless brake line set

2) 88kg

3) Both, depends on how crap the road surface is!

4) Fine in the wet, no juddering.

Like MWS they do take a bit of brake pad adjusting, seems almost impossible to get the caliper straight and they benefit from a strip down and lube after the winter

hybridised my genesis ioid for commuting.
Brakes are old mono mini with hope sintered pads and 160mm discs
80kg
brake hard and late
Occasional squealing in the damp when its not rained for a while but then you get a shower. Cure is braking with whichever brake it is on lightly at just under the point it squeals for a distance. No juddering. Very wet conditions no issue. Dry conditions no issue

Its road film / contamination build up on the discs I believe

1) Shimano 105 Hydros on CX bike
2) 85kg’s
3) Hard and late
4) Generally great, seem to drag for a bit after heavy braking.

1) Hayes CX Expert on other CX bike
2) Still 85kg’s
3) Hard and early, close your eyes and pray.
4) A bit crap. New cables but compared to hydro’s they aren’t great. I overcooked many bends when racing.

1) TRP Spyre Mechanical (upgraded pads to deore and rotors to icetech (bling although 120gram weight saving)
2) 90kg
3) When I need to (brake to hard and It skids)
4) No difference in wet, maybe a little squeel

BB7s on one bike

Cheapest Shimano ones (black, Sora level?) on another. Actually seem to work better and easier to set up than the 105 level ones.

Both dependent on how well installed and quality of lever: quality of cable outer, not too long, well finished at ends. Seem to work better with non-STI levers (TRP levers with bar end shifters), but decent ones – used cheaper Tektro ones foe a while and worked ok, not amazing.

1: Promax Render R, stock pads and rotors.
2: 75kg.
3: Both, gentle on the commute, harder on other rides.
4: Not the most powerful but consistent and predictable. Front is a bit juddery at low speed when cold but I think that’s more the fork than the brake.

1. Shimano R685 Hydro set and Shimano R785 DI2 Hydro on XTR M9020 Callipers. The 685s are running Hope 160mm floating rotors and the 785s are on Shimano 160mm IceTech (XTR) rotors. Both on Resin pads. Both brake sets are over 2 years old.

2. 74kg, but often use the R785 bike with panniers (17″ notebook, clothes, food etc…20kg)

3. Gentle mostly, but have had my fair share of scares.

4. The front will squeal in the wet if it hasn;t been used aggressively for a while. I had sintered pads (by accident) which used to howl when wet.

Road bike:

1) TRP Spyre, stock pads, stock rotors
2) 90kg
3) Mix of braking, probably erring on light and early
4) Performance is spot on. No squealing in any conditions.

Cross/gravel/whatever bike:

1) Avid BB7, stock pads, stock rotors
4) Performance is spot on. Very occasional squeals in cold and wet dirt, but not howling.

Touring/holidaying/family bike:

1) TRP Spyre, stock pads, Shimano IceTech rotors
4) Performance is spot on. No squaling in any conditions. Rotors give a very slight oscillation that’s enough to be noticed but not enough to be any sort of issue.

Roadie:
1) SRAM HRD with stock SRAM pads and rotors
2) 80kg
3) Bit of both, but on the light side I suspect
4) No judder, but squeal somewhat in the wet.
Overall, love them – especially for looong descents in Spain recently

Pub bike:
1) Avid BB7 Road with stock pads, and Shimano generic centre-lock rotors
2) 80kg
3) Bit of both
4) Again, no judder, but do squeal in the wet. Bike gets no maintenance at all – it’s a hub-geared bike so just gets put away filthy.
Overall – not as good as SRAM HRD, but fine

Interesting, TRP Spyres seem to be coming out of this well, and am I seeing a trend for lighter riders suffering more squeel?

I’d contemplated going down to 140mm rotors as I’m not suffering a lack of power, but seem to recall 140mm rotors need designed into the frame?

Yes, with a post mount brake the mounts define the smallest rotor you can fit and you can add spacers to size up from that but not down.

I wouldn’t read anything into the rider weight and squealing – much more to do with the variables of disc, alignment, pad, humidity etc.