[Closed] TRP Spyre brakes versus Trp HY-RDs

Spyres are good but can require a strip and clean out once in a while.

I decided to ditch mine a couple of weeks ago for semi hydraulics by Acor. They were a big improvement on the Spyres but both calipers have suffered from sticking pistons so they are going back. They are the same as the Juin Tech which some folk on here have and given some good reviews. I maybe got a bad pair. Lighter and cheaper than the Hyrds

I have just bought Shimano full hydraulic as I can't be bothered with the faff of cables anymore. Merlin are doing the RS685s for £250 and there is a 105 version for about £100.

I have seen some newer Spyres that seem to have some additional waterproofing which may help. It is always after mega muddy cx races that mine needed a service.

Regards

Hyrds are very good. On a par with sram hydros albeit much heavier if that's an issue.

I have Spyres, a riding chum Hyrd's. I also have another bike with BB7'S.

The Spyres have been fine. I've done about 2.5k mainly road miles with them and they're still on original pads. They need an occasional tweeks to take up pad wear and that's been it. I run 160 front/140 rear and can lock wheels at will and braking us nice and progressive with a good firm lever on 105 STI's. The Hyrd's are slightly more powerful but have greater initial lever travel before braking come in, not quite as well modulated.

If I were looking at hydros, I wouldn't bother with a cable/hydro compromise. There's no need now we have decent hydro STI's from Shimano especially at £250.

If budget is an issue, go Spyre - they're good brakes IME.

I have the Hy rd - one set up they are brilliant however setting them up is much faffage

If touring I would not choose them as i have had a number of rides where only one works

The main fault seems to be cable stretch though I have overcome this by using an extremely large barrel adjuster - though the manufacturers advise against this

They do, as noted, have a fair amount of travel before biting

I would also be a bit nervous using them on the road in the wet with a slick as they are a bit on off

Skip straight to merlin for the shimano hydros.. (Are they the equivalent of ultegra shifters on the shimano scale?)

I like my HYRDs and I'd have had no qualms about recommending them in the past. Now though, with those cheap Shimano hydros, unless you can find the HYRDs for significantly < £200 (or you're dead set on using SRAM), then I don't know why you'd bother.

To answer your original question, I had a side-by-side play with some Spyres and they felt rubbish by comparison (to HYRDs).

i had spyres (new) and changed to HYRD (bought from here SH). The difference was night and day. The spyres 'had a stab' at slowing you down, but the hyrd pop your eyes out of your skull. I do have compressionless housing on the HYRD and I would imagine that has made a significant difference.

At some point I will swap them over to see. but not today.

recommend HYRD. Spyres, not so much.

I've been swapping a few brake combos around on my CX bike recently. Got some Spyres running really well with SRAM levers, suprisingly so after a couple of weekends of use. Mounts faced, cable ends dremmel'd, that sort of thing. The BB7s I had on before made up for any misalignment but the TRPs need to be well set up, lever arm position vs pad position etc. Not difficult, just a bit of initial attention. Really good feel and modulation, loads of power, comparison is the 685 and Hylex hydros, the Spyres are as close as I could expect for a cable brake. Found they worked better with Avid G2 rotors than the std rotors they come with.

@jameso Good point, I have changed to G2's as well. Made a significant difference.

I've had 2 sets of Spyres, since launch. Only issue was the recall, after about 6 months. A very good brake. Setup is easy. I do use Alligator iLink cables which do help. I used one set on my commuter for a year, with no issue, riding every day. After removing, all dirt just wiped off, no corrosion at all, really nicely finished. I used a BB5 prior to this & got fed up of the monthly strip downs to regrease, the BB5 was really poor quality.
I am now running 1 pair of Spyres on my road bike, with SRAM Apex levers, work really well, good, well modulated braking, no noise. The other set are on my 29er, with some old Avid speed dial levers. The levers are for vbrakes, but the cable pull can be adjusted. They give a good feel, not as powerful as hydro granted, but good enough. I use this set up as it works out very light, & requires little in the way of maintenance.

I was looking to get some R685 for a new road bike build but couldn't because I needed 10 speed to fit a wide range cassette for touring duties. I ended up with the Spyres but I've actually been really impressed with them. Lots of well modulated power.

That's the main problem with full hydros, you need to go 11, which means new mechs and wheels.

hat's the main problem with full hydros, you need to go 11, which means new mechs and wheels.

and with disk brakes you don't wear out the wheels! - plus i run 2 wheel sets one if i need to keep up on the road and one for gravel duties so thats 2 sets of wheels to replace

went from BB7 to HyRd's here and money well spent in my opinion - was concerned that maybe worst of both worlds but all the reviews are right - much less faffy and a very nice controlled feel - found had to adjust BB7's around once a week and felt a bit random - the HyRd adjustment isn't that intuitive but not problematic and not so often - I run old style CX suicide levers (interupters) which in effect become inline adjusters - don't think HyRd say don't use in line adjusters? just don't overdo things with the barrel adjuster on the caliper itself

Re 11 speed only, it is easy to run this as 10 speed if you don't want to change wheels. You just need to remove one cog and add a spacer at the back of the cassette.

Not really Spyre vs HYrd but I'm after some tips/advice about the Spyres on my CX bike ( a Genesis Croix de Fer 10).

The bike's new so there might be cable stretch issues and I've adjusted for that but even so they feel spongy, in fact not much better than rim brakes - they'll slow me down but not stop me on a 25% gradient for example though as soon as I reach flatter ground then I will stop. They aren't as efficient as the BB7s on another of my bikes and I never really had any problems with those. Shouldn't be pads (only done about 700Km on it) though I've seen posts elsewhere slating the supplied ones.

Any clues? Given the weather I've a bit of time on my hands today!

Read this..
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/trp-spyre-brakes-top-tip-content

Also get one of these..
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hayes-pad-rotor-alignment-tool/rp-prod35769

and some compressionless cables and different pads (maybe try uberbike)

Ta, I remember reading that thread a while ago but had forgotten about it - so much info on so many things these days. Somafunk's suggestion in the last post sounds worth a shot, the cables are threaded correctly BTW.

Wife has spyres, I have Hy/Rds. Both brakes are great. I probably wouldn't bother with the cost of the Hy/Rds now having tried the spyres.

Thanks for all the info. The Shimano RS685s would be great at £250 but I'm reluctant to switch everything to 11 speed. If only they did a 10 speed version... sigh

Spyres are only £54 a piece on Merlin at the mo

Update on my Spyres: they needed both the cable tightening and some barrel adjustment, just need to take care when I head out as they are sharp!

Everytime I adjust mine up for pad wear, I slide along locked up for a couple of rides afterwards. I did the rear last night - uh oh....

I have had both on my Tripster. HYRD are better if you don't mind a little extra weight (never weighed them but they look heavier!).

On both take the stock pads and throw them as far away as possible. Using Uberbike semi metallic at he moment as I'm mainly on road, and they seem acceptable performance and cheap.

That said..

I have just bought Shimano full hydraulic as I can't be bothered with the faff of cables anymore. Merlin are doing the RS685s for £250 and there is a 105 version for about £100.

If there really is a 105 option for £100 (per end?) I'd get them.

Not really Spyre vs HYrd but I'm after some tips/advice about the Spyres on my CX bike ( a Genesis Croix de Fer 10).

The bike's new so there might be cable stretch issues and I've adjusted for that but even so they feel spongy, in fact not much better than rim brakes - they'll slow me down but not stop me on a 25% gradient for example though as soon as I reach flatter ground then I will stop. They aren't as efficient as the BB7s on another of my bikes and I never really had any problems with those. Shouldn't be pads (only done about 700Km on it) though I've seen posts elsewhere slating the supplied ones.

Any clues? Given the weather I've a bit of time on my hands today!

Maybe poor quality cable housing? TRP recommend using compressionless outer with a bit of bent tube to take the cable from the lever to the end of the bar tape.

I didn't bother with the tubing but used good outers and taped them securely around the bend of the bars. If flexible cable is used, when you pull the brake the bend at the bars flexes and gives the spongy feel. Mine feel plenty sharp and very powerful.

For the rear brake, it can be worse if there is any excess outer cable between any of the cable stops.

I do have compressionless housing on the HYRD and I would imagine that has made a significant difference.

I need to try that. Recommend some cabling?

I'm not sure what OE outer Genesis use but the rear BB7 on the Day One is much spongier than the rear Spyre on the CAADX using Jagwire outer.

Which compressionless housing are people using with TRPs with success?

Acor are far better than TRP Spyres IMO, a doddle to set up and very powerful/consistent. Very impressed for a cable actuated brake.

Here for £91 the pair inc discs, with another 5% off your first order with newsletter sign up at the bottom.

https://koo-bikes.com/2015-acor-hydraulic-disc-brake-set-silver/

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EDIT - Hope V twins are also great IMO, and keep the cable workings well away from the mud, but far more expensive when new. A bargain second hand though.

PS. I've used Selcof Xtrastrong from PX in the past - very good stuff.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BSSFXBCK/selcof-xtrastrong-brake-cable-kit

I use Jagwire which feels pretty good. Make sure you square the ends off. Probably need some new pads for mine since I contam'd them when fitting. What pads should I be looking at? I believe they use Shimano pads?

Also, what's the best way to set them up? Not sure if I've done it correct, but I just centered mine over the rotor and then wound the pad adjusters in till I got the pads hitting the rotor evenly on both sides. Is this the recommended tekkers?

@boblo The outers are Jagwire on my Genesis

I love my Spyres personally, I used the compressionless cables too and I never feel the need for anything more!

I wasn't that impressed with spyres either, actually felt less powerful than the old BB7's. The performance got worse over tim as they aren't particularly well sealed against mud/water. Mine seemed to have a too powerful return spring as well, so it took a noticeable amount of effort just to pull against that. I actually emailed them to see if it was a mistake or something and they said they'd put a more powerful one in because people had complained they were sticking.

The juin tech/acor's above were much better, even without fancy compressionless cables or upgraded rotors etc. Smooth, powerful, no noise.

It might seem like the "worst of both worlds" but something has to move the pads against the disc, and I'd bet the hydraulic system takes less maintenance then the tiny ball bearings in the spyres.

Mine seemed to have a too powerful return spring as well, so it took a noticeable amount of effort just to pull against that.

Adjust the lever arm position at rest vs the pad position (via the 3mm allen heads) to balance return spring strength. Move the lever back and the pads in for a stronger spring feel. The arm should be a mm or so off rest position for a weaker return spring, just enough to overcome the cable / lever friction.

^ sorry, "Move the lever back and the pads in for a [s]stronger[/s] [u]weaker[/u] spring feel."

too much concentration on my lunch.

Yes, what James said. I just set them up like I used to with my BMX brakes; minimum spring tension always felt best.