Cable actuated hydraulic disc brakes.

Still running the Zoom / Ztto cable hydros on my tourer and needed zero maintenance. Better than any cable disc I’ve ran (Shimano, tektro, BB7’s BB5’s).

My only worry would be fully laden on a long downhill with lots of braking and the small amount of fluid in the calliper boiling…..

I bought the zoom htech things off AliExpress. £28 delivered and arrived in couple weeks. They’re amazing! Been battered and abused and they work just perfect. I sold my crap BB5 calipers on eBay for £20. What a difference!

I sort of maintain the rowing coaches fleet of very abused and unloved bikes at oldest small antigees ex school and several had zoom disk brakes and I thought a real pain…very similar to BB7’s need very regular tweaking but much more fiddly at least for me…swopped most of them for basic cable shimano…still need adjustment but very easy typical Shimano just work

Spyres are a step up and must be some 2nd hand around…have run HyRds and still have Juins…back to OP if can pick up cable/hydraulic cheap and prepared to also sort quality outers good to carry thru if really unhappycbut given at some point prices will recede saving the outlay to go full hydraulic is a good option

cable discs are fine, great even.

if someone wants to buy me a new bike, with Shimano 105, and Hydraulic disc brakes, then i won’t complain.
But with my own money, i’m more than happy with Shimano 317’s – and my old sora sti levers.

they need a little bit of attention, but it amounts to nothing more than adjusting the static pad every couple of rides. it takes about a minute. certainly less time than oiling a chain, or checking tyre pressures, etc.

i did have trp spyres, but i found them a little too … flexy, i like my brakes a bit more ‘wooden’.
(i sold the spyres to a friend, he’s very happy with them)

i did have bb5’s, and they were good too.

I had BB7s, they were fine.

Upgraded to TRP spyres, with their “Disc-connect” cable kit, and they are fantastic. Highly reccomended.

They’re amazing! Been battered and abused and they work just perfect. I sold my crap BB5 calipers on eBay for £20. What a difference!

Mine got replaced cheap cable tektro’s, they performed far better and are currently on their 3rd set of pads. Need to odd cable tweek, but nothing I don’t sort on the hoof. Out of all the stuff I have bought bike wise, these have been some of the best money I have spent ( there has been a lot spent over the years). They were purchased as a budget brake option and have performed well and been reliable. I make no pretence they are anything like a high end full hydro set up. I did get them as a stop gap whilst I got the cash for a full hydro groupset, but they have done a good enough job that I still haven’t bought that groupset.

northenmatt: Zoom cable hydraulics £34 on ebay for front and rear which is nearly a quarter of the price of a single HY/RD caliper.

Have you got a link for them on ebay, i can only see them for £35 per end. Thanks.

Timely thread as I have Spyres on my gravel bike and while I have them set up pretty well I’m still tempted to try a pair of cable operated hydro callipers. I found this review on YT which got me thinking about the Juin Techs….

I do like the Giant system which I can get from my LBS with a bit of discount, and I’ve also seen the Zoom ones on Amazon at decent prices but I haven’t seen a flat mount option yet. Was going to have a look on Allie Express as well to see what pops up on there.

I quite liked the giant system but I found the cable adjustment fiddly and you need to make sure the levers have the correct cable pull. Not quite sure why people are needing to adjust bb7 or spyre brakes so often, been riding my awol in all sorts & don’t find the need 🤔

My experience has been with BB5s and Spyres then moving to TRP Hy/Rd. Both the BB5s and Spyres worked well when first set up but required constant fiddling to keep working well. The Hy/Rds were slightly more faff to set up but once they were on and working they stayed sweet for a couple of years of abuse (winter road, commuting and a bit of CX).

If the cheaper hybrod options are anywhere near as effective as Hy/Rds then I’d suggest tehy’re an ideal solution for the OP.

@papamountain these are the ones I went for https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403087945200 – loads of sellers showing up I just went with one that wasn’t in China

@Yetiman thanks for that video, I think all said and done i’ll probably end up going for the Juin tech ones, they just seem to be slightly better quality, and who wouldn’t want peace of mind when it comes to brakes.

I used the Zoom ones for a couple of years without bother, until they both failed quickly, at which point it was a choice between crashing unto a bush at the top of a hill instead of the barbed wire fence at the bottom. It should be possible to bleed them, but decided the Giant were the better option, which they have been.

@Bazz – no worries and yeah I think I’m erring towards them as well.

they need a little bit of attention, but it amounts to nothing more than adjusting the static pad every couple of rides. it takes about a minute. certainly less time than oiling a chain, or checking tyre pressures, etc.

Fine if you’re not riding a lot, but for me, doing 100 miles a week commuting, fiddling about with brakes every few rides meant fiddling with brakes every other night. I was spending far more time playing with my Spyres than doing anything else to any of my bikes. And the older they get the worse they perform.

I moved to a bike with hydro GRX, which perform superbly – I can lock up either wheel on any surface, if I really wanted to. Even when brand new my cable discs couldn’t do that. And I haven’t had to fiddle with brakes – or replace pads – for almost 1000 miles!

@northernmatt Many thanks.