Hydraulic or mechanical, and for either, any recommendations?

Avid mechanicals generally rated, esp BB7s, don’t see the need for hydraulic tbh.

Sram hydraulic.

Oh erm hang on…

http://www.sram.com/news-articles/sram-road-hydraulic-brake-recall-stop-use-immediately

Got that in just in time ;0)

I cant remember where but I’ve seen some gizmo that attaches to cable levers so they can work a master cylinder so a cx can run hydraulics. Seems like quite a faff, but I didn’t realise you could get the correct shifter brake combo for the drop bars. Having said that ive only just started a bit of window shopping, nowt serious yet!

Does sir mean these, hope v-twin?

Cable ftw though

I’m running the pre v-twin hope set up with e4 calipers. It’s fantastic. It’s making it very hard to buy another road raid bike with wire string and rubber lump brakes.

I have the sram hydro set on my new CX bike and they are proving to be very very good indeed. I have been lucky on the recall as these have been passed as ok, however I will keep one finger on them, you know just in case 😆

Is the new Giant CX supplied with hydro discs?

Yup SRAMs hydraulic, I think they had a problem with one of the o rings in the levers so the new batch fail, that’s what I’m told.
This is the first time I’ve had discs on a CX and despite my initial reluctance in favour of the change, well they certainly have been rather a revelation. I like them a lot, decent modulation and stopping power and yes they have stopping power..
All good.

Bikebouy, I’ll most likely be going with SRAM Hydro for my build next year…how are the hoods, not ridiculously tall with the reservoir in them? (not seen them in the flesh yet)

Recently switched to TRP Hy-rd brakes on the commuting bike, after 10 years of BB7s. Pleased with them so far; easier to set up and keep in trim without rubbing, because of the hydraulic self adjustment at the caliper, and better braking than the BB7s. I found that BB7s tended to get slack quickly without regular adjustment, and were fiddly to set up tight without getting any disk “tinging”.
Only annoying thing so far is front squeal, so I need to check the caliper alignment/pads I think.

Bikebouy, I’ll most likely be going with SRAM Hydro for my build next year…how are the hoods, not ridiculously tall with the reservoir in them? (not seen them in the flesh yet)

Hoods are fine – they look a bit weird at first glance but actually in use they don’t feel any different to normal. You’ll be waiting a LONG time for SRAM hydro – they’ve just recalled about 19,000 sets with no timeframe published as to when they’ll be replaced.

Does sir mean these, hope v-twin?

That’s what’s on my new CX. Best thing about it is I can run whatever levers I want and if I break one then it’s much cheaper to replace it than if it was a full hydraulic. At the moment, the only options for hydraulic are SRAM or Shimano with Di2. Since SRAM is basically unavailable and I can’t afford/don’t want Di2, the V-Twin makes perfect sense. It’s fantastic – I’d never go back to cantis on a CX bike.

Best thing about it is I can run whatever levers I want and if I break one then it’s much cheaper to replace it than if it was a full hydraulic.

Same here with my BB7s 😀

– I’d never go back to cantis on a CX bike.

Same here – but weren’t you previously a sceptic?

Same here – but weren’t you previously a sceptic?

Not at all.
Had discs on my MTB(s) for 15 years. The only reason I didn’t have them on my previous CX was cos it was a canti-only frame.

So it wasn’t you that came out with “cantis are all you need” on old threads when this came up?

I’m pretty sure it was.

Using TRP Spyres. I was the reason for the recall though.

Had a malfunction with the front caliper in a cross race. Basically once the pads wear the over extension of the calliper arm caused the ball bearings to jump out of their cams. Brakes still worked but the pistons where out of line. It only happened due to having very work pads (was being lazy and had intended to replace them after the race), should be fine if you replace them once about 3/4 worn.

Contacted TRP at the time and got a brief guide on how to strip them. Replaced the missing ball bearings and they worked find. Then heard about the recall a month later.

They are great brakes and definitely an improvement on the BB7. I don’t think they are any more powerful though. Hopefully the new design will eliminate the above issue. Easy to set up and give flexibility on what levers you use etc.

Regards

I ride on the hoods and so far they have proved to be very comfortable, they are quite flat from the bars then turn up at the lever end so what you do have is a very flat “bar extension” if you know what I mean, I like them, but then I’m used to riding on the hoods a lot.
I’ll try to get a pic of them soon, see what y think. I have posted a pic of the bike on the thread “CX bikes are ace” so take a look on there for a view, unfortunately the pic doesn’t show the bars off as it’s taken from the rear quarter…

You’ll be waiting a LONG time for SRAM hydro – they’ve just recalled about 19,000 sets with no timeframe published as to when they’ll be replaced

I have plenty of that, likely to be next winter when the Financial Controller finally gives me the nod.

Di2 is a bit over budget and probably overkill for my intended use – cross, winter roadie and my only geared off-road option.

Hope they get it sorted by then…

Hmm, link above says the problem relates to “sub-freezing temperatures”.

Worth a gamble if you could get hold of a set for a knock down price?!

Um. It does freeze in the UK.

I can’t believe we’re STILL waiting for the big players to give us sorted hydro discs for drop bars.

The TRP HY/RD are absolutely brilliant, the feel is way better than the hopes. Bit bulky but until i i win the lottery i wont be using a £300 rear mech and running di2 and until SRAM pull their fingers out and sort out their system they are probably the best around. They self adjust which none of the cable ones do but you dont have the box under your stem. I used the hope last year and was going back to mechanical until these came along

As a result of this new finding, SRAM requests that anyone who has a bike equipped with SRAM Hydraulic Disc or Hydraulic Rim Brakes stop using the bike immediately.

Is that ALL Sram brakes then ? (Mtb also ?)

Can’t help think some of this is driven by the marketing men, a bit like 650b’s. If you look at the front row of a european grid, the only one on discs is Lars Van De Har from Giant, other than that everyone is on cantilevers, some have toyed with discs but so far it’s only been once and they haven’t used them since.

Had a brief ride on a disc braked cross bike, and wasn’t wowed by them, also not been impressed by the number of recalls, personally am definitely leaving it till next year until the teething problems are fully resolved as it’s not slowing down that is costing me places, it’s the speeding up.

Can’t help think some of this is driven by the marketing men, a bit like 650b’s. If you look at the front row of a european grid, the only one on discs is Lars Van De Har from Giant, other than that everyone is on cantilevers, some have toyed with discs but so far it’s only been once and they haven’t used them since.

Thing is with European CX races is that each rider has several bikes and each bike has several wheelsets. The main thing slowing down the uptake of disc brakes there is simply kit availability (or rather the lack thereof).

Um. It does freeze in the UK

Yeah, luckily I have more than one bike 😉

Get BB7s if you can get hold of them. I gave up and got Shimano BR 515s

I did Lands End to John O’ Groats on them, they seemed pretty poor which wan’t ideal going downhill fast with panniers…

Turns out they needed to be recalled too!!

http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/publish/content/global_cycle/en/nl/index/news_and_info/news/voluntary_recall_by.html

New ones are fine but BB7s have the edge on ease of adjustment.

BB7 rear here, HyRd front.

BB7 lever was noticeably going further by the end of the race due to rain and mud as pads wore in a muddy race, but the HyRd was flawless. If starting from scratch, I’d recommend HyRd both ends.

I’ve had TRP Spyres since July. In spite of the recall, I can’t think of a better bet. The feel, ease of setup and confidence they give – over the BB5s that I had before on the Tripster – is everything you’d need with a 28mm tyre. They’re light weight, look good, work with any lever (mine are running with Ultegra STIs) and just do the business. I’ve always kept an eye on pad wear on mine, just replaced a set actually, and that amps the performance even more. Highly recommended.

Thing is with European CX races is that each rider has several bikes and each bike has several wheelsets. The main thing slowing down the uptake of disc brakes there is simply kit availability (or rather the lack thereof).

I think you will find the american racers have a similar amount of equipment and that is predominately disc, just their racing scene is more sponsored by the manufacturers rather than other industry sponsors, hence my possibly cynical viewpoint it is marketing led. Yes sponsorship is a form of marketing, but sometimes the equipment choice can be skewed by it.

TRP Hy-rd here after a couple of years of bb7. So much better. Not so much the power but the ease of fit and maintenance plus a lovely light feel at the lever.

But…. The bike is now used as a do it all. If it was still a CX race bike where braking isn’t really a big deal it’d probably still be on cantis.

Having spoken to riders in Top euro teams earlier this year I believe there was some angst over moving to 11spd.. Its down to budget of teams and what the big group set manufacturers want to provide,If I could replicate my set up with disk at no extra cost or weight I would, but I’ve got 3 race bikes and 12 pairs of wheels..a collection I’ve built up over years.I wouldn’t hesitate in jumping on DI2 hydraulic if mr CEO of Madison is listening but currently I’m happy with my set up as is.
Id go hope or DI2 if I was going disks…
Bruce

You looked to be having a good ride yesterday Bruce at Sherwood Pines, out of interest what tubs were you running?

Well I had a couple of very good rides on my TCX at the weekend and I’m reporting that both brakes still work fine. 😆

I’ve been using the Hayes mechanicals on my CX bike. They’ve been fine, the pads wore out on the last race of season but they’d managed about 600km of general riding and six CX races before that with nothing other than a bit of cable adjustment. They definitely don’t have the same nice feel and modulation as good mtb discs. They work for cyclocross when all you’re trying to do is scrub a bit of speed off every so often

Sorry for lack of reply Benji.. I was on 33mm dugast small birds,at 25 psi front 26 rear