Is there a better option than the TRP spyre? I like the look of the dual moving pistons as opposed to the sigle sided BB7 design that I never got on with in MTB form.

I’m looking for something to cobble together for winter commuting duties using an old 29er disc only frame and the parts from my now broken road bike so don’t want to spend lots.

Cheers in advance.

S

HyRd but I suppose that they’re sort of not mechanical.

I use Spyres. They’re as powerful as BB7s but easier to adjust and keep adjusted IME.

I like my Spyres. They’re nice, no complaints. (I’ve used them with 5700 levers and about to use them with 6800s.) Only one caveat: depending on your hub I’d keep an eye on the front caliper clearing the spokes. Mine’s *very* close. The flipside to this is that they extend less outboard, so mudguard clearance is easier (I spaced mine out with a V-brake nut).

HyRds are nice too, but not an extra £60 a pair nice IMO.

Juin Tech or Acor callipers? Same price as Spyres but hydraulic and lighter.

I preferred the Shimano BR-CX77 over Avid BB7’s (not used the Spyre). However I’ve just changed my front CX77 to a HyRd as I was getting a weird loss of power issue with it (great for a couple of rides then almost like contaminated pads reduction in performance, tried new pads and cleaned disc with IPA and same happened – never understood it as can’t be contaminated by hydro fluid and issue never affected rear caliper which I’d have thought would be more like for general oil contamination). I’ve not seen anyone else report the same issue so will see if the HyRd caliper solves it (need a few more rides first).

I use shimano r517s, and wouldn’t recommend. They seem to bite well but overall power seems poor. Also constant adjustment required due to resin pad wear. Go for hydro hybrid if you can.

I bought some of the Acor’s for 100 quid from eBay. They appear identical to juin tech r1/ashima pcd and a lot more powerful and smoother than the Spyre’s.

Not a fan of BB7s because of the single piston thing. It’s just a pain to get set up right. Thinking of spyres or hy/rds as replacements but undecided yet.

Like the look of the Acors. Any reason why the Juin Tech, that appear to be identical, are £30 more expensive?

like my Spyres. They’re nice, no complaints.

I think they’re pretty average. Better since I tossed the rotors and pads, and replaced them with Ice techs and EBCs, but they’re starting to look like a very expensive set of brakes, considering they’re out-performed by the £50 set of shimano hydraulics on my commuter.

Juin/Acor’s though I did change the pads for Uber Race Tech to give them a bit more bite. Never had a problem with BB5/BB7 though they are a little tricky to set up right by comparison.

how are the Juintech*/Acor users getting on with regards heat build-up?

(they’re a closed-system afaikt)

(*i’m going with ‘win-tek’, rhymes with ‘pin-tek’, as the pronunciation until i’m told otherwise)

I have the Juin R1.
Fitted before the summer. Living in Kent, there are no massive downhill, but I regularly ride Toys hill and had no issue.
I really like them.
I am about to order another pair for the winter bike

Only downside is that the rotors supplied are very heavy but swapped them for Avid.
I struggled to set up the rear brake. But I think it was down to my frame rather than the brakes.

I found Spyres benefited a lot from the use of compressionless cable outers.

Spyres with Icetech rotors here and they’re immense, running 180 up front and 160 on the rear.

Hmmm sounds like you all had faulty bb7s …… I can dispose of those for you just post to ………

Set up is key and its. Cinch once you know how 🙂

The cx77 with the symptoms of contaminated rotors probably had the famous shittymano weaping seals.

Could someone point me towards a video or whatever of the best way to set up BB5s? I’ve had a set for a while and never been happy with them – I suspect it’s the setup (or they are just rubbish) but I’m not sure I know what to about it

I run bb7s. I tried compression-less cables but they didn’t make a bit of difference. I then tried linear bmx brake cable. Transformed the braking.

Crc had some in the sale at 70% off.

The cx77 with the symptoms of contaminated rotors probably had the famous shittymano weaping seals.

They’re mechanical though. Did my second ride on the HyRd’s last night and they’re definitely more powerful than the CX77 was (even before it lost power), although they do cause the fork to judder on hard braking (Canyon Infinite AL)

ah well thats that out the window then :d

for the BB5s.

undo the cable pinch bolt.

set the rotor up straight relitive to the outer pad and as close as you dare.

wind the inner pad close to the rotor without it rubbing.

Reattach cable

adjust inner pad using cable tension to desired lever feel.

The key here is the ability to get it straight relitive to the pad and outer pad biased. most folk use the old pull the lever tighten the bolts up(which is no way to decently set up any brake) which gets it inner pad biased and hence makes it feel spongey as your bendign the rotor to the max each time.

BB5’s aren’t helped by their fingernail sized pads though, and as with most mechanical discs, you can set them up perfectly but performance deteriorates with pad wear and requires constant adjustment – which is easy but annoying. Also, it’s worse with road levers because there’s not so much lever throw to play with

sounds like you have a lever/brake combo mix up faustius.

a well adjusted caliper matched the to the correct lever should need no more than occasional adjustments.

my road levers/mtn caliper mash up how ever needed constant adjustment as you say due to lever through and ramp angle inthe caliper.

No, they’re road specific calipers (used bb5 road and r517s), possibly not helped by campag levers (but still should be fine). I just don’t like the performance levels and regular adjustment, which to be fair happens more often in winter with grittier/shittier conditions wearing the resin pads. I’ve tried sintered but didn’t like reduced bite and extra squeal in the wet.

They’re fine for the moment, as i’ve not had the funds to upgrade to hydro, and better in all weathers than rim brakes, but i’ll be glad when road hydro is more ubiquitous and cheaper. Road mechanical is a bit of a stop-gap for me.

Tagged for future

Acor Hydro Calipers for about a hundred notes on eBay, identical to Juin.

Still too much? Who’ll be the first to try these hydro calipers from China for under £40. Don’t dismiss them straight away, that’s a monoblock caliper!