I am building a bike out of spares as a run around and will be using sora road brifters but the only mechanical calliper I have here is an old tektro IO which is for v brake levers.
What is the go to road mechanical calliper, is it still the avid bb7?
has anyone used the shimano br-317?
I've always got on well with the BB7. Use compressionless outers on the cables and they'll stop you as well as a hydro system. They are a bit more fiddly to set up the first time and you do need to adjust the pad clearance as they wear but I'd get thousands of miles without any hassle on both road and off-road. FWIW I much preferred sticking the the genuine Avid pads too.
Possibly a bit pricey, but I rate the TRP Spyre. Two moving and adjustable pistons makes setup quite straight forward IME, and they're pretty powerful and reliable. Take Shimano pads too. +1 on compressionless cable housing - it is worthwhile. Merlin have post and flat mounts at the moment.
I like BR317s, great value, but set up is more fiddly than BB7s and maybe not quite as powerful.
I rate spyres over BB7s but there's not a lot in it
Possibly a bit pricey, but I rate the TRP Spyre. Two moving and adjustable pistons makes setup quite straight forward IME, and they’re pretty powerful and reliable. Take Shimano pads too. +1 on compressionless cable housing – it is worthwhile. Merlin have post and flat mounts at the moment.
I would 2nd this. Have been running Spyre's on my winter bike for the last 5 years. With decent compressionless housing, ideally full length runs and an occasional tweak of pad adjustment they have been perfect.
There is an issue with them arriving with the thrust bearing basically unlubed and the loose bearings seizing up after a while but there's a guide on here to strip them down and grease them at which point they have been essentially maintenance free for me. Dual pistons mean that you get a nice firm lever feel and they are super easy to setup and adjust for rub free running.
Oh, quick tip, don't bother with the more expensive one with the fancy carbon cable pull lever, it's worse than the regular one and harder to keep running sweetly.
EDIT: Link to the strip down guide incase anyone wants it and can't find it.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-trp-spyre-rebuild-guide/
I've used some shimano ones before with compressionless cable housing and they were pretty good, I used them in the pyrenees and some good rides in the Lakes, Yorkshire and Derbyshire dales and they stopped my 100kgs easily enough.
Recently swapped to a Giant Conduct SL semi hydro system and its really good. Soooo much better than mechanical calipers. just feels so much nicer. I bought a master cylinder and then paired it with shimano calipers, but I reckon the full giant system would still be good.
Bit pricier than just mechanical calipers though....
Link to the strip down guide incase anyone wants it and can’t find it.
Oh thanks for that, I've just recalled I have a pair of spyre calipers in the box that need stripping
BB7s much better than Spyres in my experience. I've got a BR317 in the spares box that was better than the Spyres, but more finicky to adjust for pad wear. I've sold the Spyres, but the BR317 will get used again at some point. Spa Cycles currently has good deals on road BB7s.
Any love here for the Juintech cable operated hydraulics?
Whatever you do don'f got for Avid BB5's. They have a much smaller pad area, and consequently lack performance. I ditched them for Simano R517 (IIRC) and they were much better.
Does anyone have a good source for compressionless cable by the metre? I need about 1.7m for the back of my cross bike, but can only find complete kits, or 1.3m BMX cables...
Ta!
Keith
I tried Spyres, but went back to BB7.
Any love here for the Juintech cable operated hydraulics?
Yep Juin Tech R1's that replaced my. Spyres are very good. Spyres were never better than acceptable.
Spyre and BB7s on my drop bar tourer and CX .
As above ,get good cables and they are fine,just need to keep an eye on them through the winter if there is any salt on the roads.
Any love here for the Juintech cable operated hydraulics?
Can't find it ,but a while ago there was someone posted up about the Juintech brakes,they really liked them.
Edit >> AA,was it you that ordered them from China? << edit
One thing I'll say is that mechanicals don't work very well if you have a chainstay mounted brake caliper - the crap runs down the inner cable and fouls it up so it becomes really hard to brake. Fine on seatstay mounted calipers. The reason I have the "spare" calipers in my box is that they were replaced by a Hope v-twin setup.
Juintech and TRP cable / hydro still rely on a cable at the calpier so suffer from some of the same issues as cable disks
AA,was it you that ordered them from China?
Mine came from Ireland as I recall. Had them maybe 3 years now on gravel bike in all conditions, been great.
Spyres are ok if you want to spend your life setting them up, and even then hydros are just soooo much better
If I couldn’t go hydro I’d be going for decent rim brakes before I bought anymore mechanic disc callipers
That’s my experience anyway, some people seem to get them working well, you might be one of those
TRP Spyres here, no problems at all setting them up, theyve been complaint free for several years.
TRP Disconnect compressionless cable kit is a must too.
I ride a 60cm Surly Disc trucker, and havent had an issue with cable length on the Disconnect kit.
I used spyres for a bit.
Don't dismiss them based on the awful OEM pads. They were fine with Uberbike race matrix pads.
That said I'm probably going to go with JuinTech R1's at some point on a build as 105 isn't going 2x12 mechanical so I'm looking at the Sensah Empire groupsets. Seems it's that or SRAM and one of the 12s shifter rebuild kits.
Road BB7's with compressionless outers have pretty much been fit and forget for me.
Not exactly svelte though
I had quite good results with br517 and compressionless outers. They worked better than I expected. I didn’t do enough miles on them to get to know about long term issues though as I’ve gone back to flat bars on that bike for the time being. I only paid £18 an end for the callipers too which helped.
https://sportandleisure.com/products/shimano-br-r517-road-disc-brake-caliper-black
Spyres over BB7s, but they're picky about setup - once you've got them in the sweet spot, they're way better.
I've moved to Juin R1s, though, which I'm really happy with.
Single ring? TRP Hylex at the back.
Juintech or Spyre at the front. IME Spyres are the least worst of the proper cables ones but Juintechs are better.
Well I've just ordered some Juintech F1s.
Spyres and BB7's here.
Went for the MTB versions of the BB7's (with the appropriate Avid drop bar levers) and they have quite a long pull before biting, but plenty of power.
The Spyres have been brilliant, once we changed the pads.
The original pads were very vague.
Spyres are ok if you want to spend your life setting them up, and even then hydros are just soooo much better
Completely agree with this. When they are setup properly they are fine, but mine needed constant adjustment to keep working well. This was with the TRP Disc Connect cable set too. Swapping to hydro was a massive improvement.
Bought some Juintech GT-P four pot cable actuated hydraulic callipers back in 2020. They are great, not had a problem with them at all during the last couple of years. Bought from edge sports UK I think, although it looks like they only have some M1s on the website. I'm pretty sure I got them through their ebay shop.
I have fs mtb with twin pot brakes. Great one finger breaking performance
I have Trp Spyres on my gravel bike. They can’t match the brakes on my MTB but they are fine. The biggest problem as above is the rear cable gathering crud
I’m sure one day I’ll full hydros and I’ll be delighted. But it’s quite allot of money to up grade so I’m happy with what i have for the moment