After months of indecisiveness I’m getting a diverge for my new commuter/gnarmac/gravel bike.

I’m torn between the two smartweld models.
£1200 one is the sensible option with tiagra which I really like as a group set and relatively cheap to replace bits as they wear it.

However it has TRP Spyres… I don’t like cable discs really, on a brief few tries with these they seem very lacking in power.

The £1800 model is 105 hydraulic (and a better colour…)

Buying the cheaper one means I can get a lot of bits with it for my budget to kit myself out a bit. Other one wipes out my budget…

People who have had spyres do you think I will cope or will I end up buying a 105 groupset…

are you a decent mechanic ? people seem to say they need to be well set up (just as they say for BB7’s which I’d say can be made to work very well)

That said, only you know if you’ll ever be satisfied or you’ll be looking at that green, green grass on the other side of the £1800 fence

I’m a professional/full qualified bike mechanic so I hope I can cope with them.

It’s all in my head really, just don’t like cable discs but I reality I am overspending at £1200 for a bike that’s main function is to ride 7miles a day… So £1800 is stupid really. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it though.

Are you ready to buy sooner rather than later or can you hold out for hydraulic tiagra discs?

Having played with some friends 105 equipped CX bikes I am sold on hydraulic discs for drop-bared bikes, but not at any cost, needs to be affordable, if it is coming to tiagra then I have hope.

That was my plan to just get the hyro bits and upgrade later, but they only come in flat mount, would mean swapping calipers to make them fit.

They’re not as good as hydraulic discs but not £400 less good.

They need a small amount of adjustment every now and again but it’s far easier than BB7s.

I have Spyres on my Gravel/Gnarmac/Whatever bike and I’d say they are fine for that type of bike.

Spyres are pretty good.. Change the stock pads and cables to compressionless. Get one of those Hayes caliper alignment tools and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised

What BillOddie said. I’m pretty heavy and they stop me well enough.

Got Spyres on a monstercross and XT on mountain bike and ride them on the same terrain up and down South Downs with no problems. It’s really twisty (with trees!) singletrack where the hyrdos win out.

I’ve got Spyres on one road bike and hydraulic disks on another (GT Grade). The Spyres are good. The hydros are absolutely brilliant. Much more confidence inspiring on fast, steep descents and less faff. I’d say that you won’t be disappointed by Spyres, just don’t try the hydros…

I’ve got Spyres; the rear one works just fine, the front is a bit shit these days. I think cos the post mount on the fork hasn’t been faced (won’t be an issue for you with a fully assembled new bike).

They’re a piece of piss to strip down and service, and also set up (if you have faced brake mounts). I’d go for them, definitely worth spending the money saved on anything else other than hydro brakes.

cloudnine – Member
Spyres are pretty good.. Change the stock pads and cables to compressionless.

+1

If they don’t feel good then someone has skimped on the cable quality or routing or you have levers that flex. (Applies to just about any decent cable brake)

I was thinking of swapping my HYRYDS for Spyres, a bit lighter and never really confident that the HYRYDS are going to last the ride.

The Spyres are very good brakes, Shimano hydraulic are so much better though.

Well I’ve decided to go for it. Submitted my C2W request for the diverge and some kit. Will hopefully have it sorted in the next few weeks, hopefully I like the brakes or it will end up very costly!

Should be fine, mine have just done a hard winter and still work perfectly well. They are definitely not on a par with good hydraulics but are a well modulated with decent, reliable power. The stock pads don’t last well in the wet, but you can use proper Shimano pads.

Well if you don’t like them surely you can flog them, buy hydraulic 105s, fit them yrself and come out better off?

Because he mostly wants the other for the colour, obv.

Doesn’t really work that way. It would cost me £300 more for the 105 bike, and it would cost well over that for a 105 groupset for the cheaoer one.

But that £300 means I can get lots of other new stuff as well

Some are saying change the stock pads….but what too? And what what compassionless cables are recommended? Do the finned Shimano Pads fit, and would they make any real difference, I’m thinking for fast road touring/blasting possibly alpine type descents on road?

Apologies for hijacking the thread, just looking for some pointers/clarification!

Red

theredsnapper – Member
…And what what compassionless cables are recommended?…

For best results replace the fixed parts of the cable outer with solid tubing. I buy alloy tubing from B&Q – it can be bent in gentle curves just using thumb pressure, and for liner I use teflon airhose – available from any air tools supplier – just get a size that will allow your cable inner to move freely.

Here’s pic of it one one of my bikes:

If you go to the Flickr page, you’ll see more.

My Giant TCX came with Spyres and I hated them. My commute is a muddy and hilly 21km each way and I needed to adjust the pads almost every day when it was wet.

Recently spent £300 to upgrade to the ST-RS685 hydraulic brakes. Soooo much better.

Oooo epicyclo – thats a good Idea….

I bought an ex demo Defy with Spyres. Rode them about 3 times, last time in the wet and they were howling, didn’t much like them in the dry either. Had already been spoiled by using 785s on my brothers bike though. Sold the calipers for £75 and the 105 STIs for £75 and spent £300 on the 785s from Merlin so total cost to change was £150 maths fans! Much happier now.

epicyclo – I’ve never heard of that before – is it a fairly common hack? My instant worry was wear, and then the joins.

Sorry to butt in on this. I have some BB5s on my bike and a birthday coming up. I was thinking of upgrading to Spyres but would that be a mistake? Maybe BB7 would be better? Or save up for Tiagra hydros?

cheers

Have Spires on my Genesis road bike. Been commuting for a year on and off with no problems (around 4k) and still on my first set of pads although do need a new set. The only problem is a bit of a squeal in the wet which was cured by sanding the discs slightly. Use Jagwire no compression cables. I’m 17 stone and they stop me pretty well, no complaints.

My Spyrcs seem fine – the stock pads wear out quick – I have changed to RWD sintered pads which seem pretty quite even when exposed to loads of muddy puddles.

AlexSimon – Member
epicyclo – I’ve never heard of that before – is it a fairly common hack? My instant worry was wear, and then the joins.

Don’t know. I’d never seen it before I did it, but like everything there’s nothing new under the sun. Avid used to make something similar, but with less bendable tubing so you could only do straight sections.

The joins between the flexible outer and the tubing are easy. Just get a slightly larger section tube and cut short sections. Slip it over the smaller and you have a junction. A bit of epoxy and that’s it. Also flexible v-brake noodles are useful, but not necessary.

I’ve used the same idea on my drum brake bikes, with the result that the drums work very well.

I’ve even used a modified version to improve the brakes on a rod brake bike.

I remember back in days of old buying some sealed cables that had an outer made of interlocking metal beads with a hole in that were compressionless and you just added and removed as many as you needed to fit the bike. Can’t remember what they were called but I had a set on my XTR V brakes and they worked well.

Nokons says google and I’m glad they still exist, although 45 quid seems steep..

Nokon?

Yes, I’ve used those and liked them.
Currently using Jagwire compressionless which are a bit meh (although problems could lie elsewhere).

Yup
I might even buy some, as well, you know, shiny..

I used to use Nokon. They are good, but they do have a tendency to not curve sweetly – their curves are often more like the sides of a polygon.

I was intending to use it for the flexible parts of my system, but it already works really well so I have never bothered.

Will certainly look at the Nokon stuff if I find them lacking.

Put a wheel with a 38c trigger on it to see if there was enough clearance on a diverge…