Was looking at a new Giant road bike which has all Shimano spec except for the discs which are Giant Conduct. I have no experience of Giant own brand discs so are they another make with the Giant logo or are they just Giant and if so how do they compare to the usual suspects, Sram and Shimano? Oh and are pads easy to come buy outside Giant dealers?

Discs are discs. They are just stamped out bits of steel.
Easily swapped to discs from your preferred manufacturer if you want.

Don’t know about the discs but I have the Giant Conduct hydraulic brake system on my Arkose, and it’s great.

Discs are discs. They are just stamped out bits of steel.
Easily swapped to discs from your preferred manufacturer if you want.

Only if you actually look into it you will find that these are a hybrid brake , so they use STI shifters designed for calipers or cable discs which work with a hydraulic brake at the business end. They may be a really good brake system , I don’t know but your options for upgrading are going to be TRP HY/RD or perhaps somebody else who does a similar brake otherwise you are going to have to bite the bullet and splash out a few hundred pounds for a fully hydraulic set up which I suspect will be lighter , need less maintainance and work better .

A TRP HY/DR wouldn’t be an upgrade more a sideways move. It’s basically the same concept but the cable runs are shorter on the giant design.

Slight thread hijack if anyone has a set of the giant brakes for sale I’d be interested in them (postmount version).

They are a hybrid system as Ramsey Neil says. Great for converting a mechanical system fairly cheaply, but if I was buying new, I’d think I’d rather have a complete system. I haven’t had them on my Arkose for long and the performance is excellent, but they aren’t the most elegant solution (the stem is very wide, not leaving much space for attaching lights etc to the bars) and of course, it’s too early to comment on reliability or ease of maintenance thus far.

I had 2 sets of the conduct system on 2 different bikes and they were both fantastic. It’s a good option for using standard levers and still getting hydro breaks. The pads were standard Shimano deore ones and for the 18 months I had them for they were faultless. I would recommend them. Currently have Shimano 105 hydros and can’t really tell that much difference to be honest.

I bought a set of these brakes from rhid.
I did a little review here

I know nothing about Gravel bike disc brakes

I have them on a tcx. They work well but are very wooden feeling. I would probably avoid buying anything with them on again but don’t dislike them enough to bother changing to full hydraulic on the tcx.

I’ve had them on my Contend SL Disc. Pretty reasonable. I changed them for the Shimano RS505 hydraulics – very little difference in braking performance IMO, and using the proper 105 controls with it meant the shifting was nicer than on the RS505s.

Main complaint was being the ‘head-unit’ taking up space where I’d have put my lights on the handlebars. There’s a few attachments that helped negate this.

I’m possibly getting a Defy to replace the Contend – it’ll have the Conduct system and it’s not putting me off getting one.

You’re also tied into using the Giant stem which houses the master cylinder gubbins (I think).

Master cylinder is in the face plate. You can use any stem as long as it has the same bolt spacing and pattern as the giant one (they indicate what that is somewhere).

Looks very similar to the hope v-twin system.

These were fitted to my Revolt Advanced. I had always intended to swap them out as I already had RS685 shifters to fit but was pleasantly surprised at how well they worked. Very quiet and almost as powerful as the Ultegras (though as mentioned not as much feel and they do take up a bit of bar space). Still got them and 105 shifters if anyone’s interested?

@faz I’d be interested in the brake system will PM you.

@ads768 same concept but neater integration with brake cables that go under the bar tape. The V-twin doesn’t give a good cable routing unless the cables come out of the side of the hoods.

Each to their own, but when I was looking at Giants last year I couldn’t get past the aesthetics of the system. Shallow I know, but I like to ride a bike that I feel looks ‘right’.

@ads768 same concept but neater integration with brake cables that go under the bar tape. The V-twin doesn’t give a good cable routing unless the cables come out of the side of the hoods.

And about half the price!!

Hi

I’ve converted a Giant Revolt and a Defy with the conduct hydraulic converter kit.
Both bikes originally came with TRP Spyre mechanical disk brakes which were ok but on wet days weren’t very confidence inspiring.
Upgrading for me has given me more confidence in stopping quicker, not quite MTB standard but very close.
Tenfoot is right about the reduction of space on the handlebars for accessories but i can get an Exposure Joystick bracket on under the cables and my Garmin goes on the stem so i don’t need any more space.
I don’t mind how they look either as i spend more time looking where i’m going rather than at my bars…. 😉
Mine work well with the discs that came with the bikes and the pads are Giant branded but can be swapped for Shimano B01S pads, although i haven’t bothered as mine are fine.

So all in all i’m very happy with them, hope this helps.

Useful comparison, thanks. TRP Spyre mechanical is what I have now so glad to here the Giant system is better.

Currently I’m trying to work out what the difference is between the Conduct and Conduct SL systems. The master cylinders look different so think there is a difference.

I’m slightly puzzled how one disk system could be better than another in the wet?