Hi,

Looking for opinions. I’m building a commuter mostly from a second hand complete bike and moving parts to a new frame. The brakes I’m moving over are V-Twins.

I’ve been wondering if they’d be overkill for commuting and last night I spent a couple of hours fitting and bleeding them. What a pain in the proverbial to bleed because of the positioning and angle of the cylinders, cable/hoses in/out etc. It was just very awkward and not a pleasant experience.

I’ll continue with the build and see how they perform, however I’m thinking that at some point I might just sell them on and get some cable disc calipers.

What do we think?

id sell em on and get a set of bb7s – much easier to winterproof them from the road grime that will eat the hopes.

I’ve been using V-Twins on my commuter year-round for 2 years now (3rd winter coming up!). They’ve been spot on the whole time. Much prefer them to the BB7s they replaced – ironically because I haven’t had to touch them at all (except one change of pads).

Certainly haven’t noticed anything eating them. I’ll keep my eyes peeled though 🙂

I’ve used Hopes in various incarnations for years now so I have no doubt about their quality and longevity. I was just a bit annoyed at how awkward they are to bleed etc. Plus they make the bars look busy 🙂

I would be vey interested in the V twins if you decide to part with them.

Trp Spyres are now in stock in the UK

Started using BB7’s a few months ago.
Many years too late. They are spot on. No more faffing around bleeding, sticking pistons, rubbing pads etc.

I swapped my bb7s for hopes about a year ago. Haven’t really thought much about them since, but modulation is nice to have whether you’re commuting, racing or whatever. The bb7s were fine, but a bit wooden and noisy.

I’ve no doubt now they’re on the V-Twins will be forgotten about for a good while, however I just spent another hour on the build and had to move things around a lot so the V-Twin master cylinders left enough clearance for my dynamo light.

No doubt none of these issues will be that great on an out and out CX bike, but on a commuter where there’s enough stuff taking up space…. The jury is out but I think they’ll go.

mattsccm – I might drop you a note in the next week or so.

Those Spyres look pretty good.

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I had the BB7s on my Gyphon which (don’t listen to this Sam) mainly does commuting duty (currently with Big Apples to get the rubber down on damp roads).
Hated them – too faffy to make work with a 105 lever (apparently other levers are better than the one I have).
Stuck some VTwins on (with braided hoses I just happened to have lying around) and they are simplicity itself – far easier to live with and loads of power backed up with loads of modulation (and no sticky pistons,brake rub etc).
Others have had other experiences though.

BB7/ Campag levers work fine for me.

I have Tektro Lyras on my Tripster, fantastic brake if set up correctly but like every other brake if they’re set up wrong they’ll feel spongy,ineffective. I have previously owned Avid BB7 and they were every bit as good, the new BB7 version is apparently better still.

With the Tektro Lyra’s I can brake at high speed and roll along on the front wheel with enough control and modulation to feel at ease wi the rear off the ground.

I have run BB7s for 10 years on my commuter. They are good brakes, but I found the single piston design needed a fair bit of fiddling to set up properly, and you have to keep them adjusted fairly regularly or they get slack. In my experience, they don’t stand up to winter conditions very well, corrode badly, and the adjusters tend to seize up.
I have just switched to the hybrid Hy-rd brakes instead. I’ve only run them for a week, but they were easier to set up, no disc noise, and the braking feels better than my BB7s, so I’m happy so far.
A proper winter will be the real test, however.

Had Lyras as they were part of a deal with my Cotic X frame.Couldn’t get on with them. No adjustment of the moving pad apart from tightening the cable and they had a horrible habit of totally loosing braking. As you pulled hard they suddenly went slack, sort of “over cam”. Backing off brought them back but to loose all braking just when it was needed most ws not nice. Swapped to BB7’s which are way better. I still think that hydros will be nicer.

I had the V twins but found them difficult, heavy on the hoods and not as good as I was expecting. I had the new 105’s shifters if that made a difference but now have the BB7’s and they are so much better all round!
IMO

As far as hydraulics go, if i read right then Sram’s are only on the Force 22 groupset and Shimano only on Di2 because of the resevoirs loication in the hoods.

Hy-Rds are topping my list at the moment, anything else in the pipeline?

I’d much prefer a lever to caliper solution with no cable…

Love my bb7s, easy to set up, they do need to be tweeked from time to time but it’s so easy. They are easy to strip and clean. They have great stopping power too. Do you need any more power for commuting? Having gone from centre pull to bb7 discs, they feel awesome. Bring on the snow and ice with cx tyres!!!

I would only move to hydraulic drop brakes when levers are available at a reasonable price. I think the adapter looks terrible And messy and its expensive.

If you are racing, then it’s different.

Damascus,
As you know 😉 I have the BB7’s now and the stopping power is far better than the ones they replaced. My bike has had its cx tyres on for a while and is covered in crap! It also seems to be the first choice when playing these days and is great fun too!

Do you need any more power for commuting?

No, which is why I couldn’t decide wether or not to keep them. Given some other factors I’ve decided they’re too much for a commuter so am going to sell them.

Those Spyres look quite good, and reasonably priced too. Question – looks like they all come with rotors (which I don’t really need) but presumably they don’t come with cables? Would I need to order brake cables (inner/outer) too? I’m assuming not.

Would I need to order brake cables (inner/outer) too?

yes you would, they wont come with cables.

The Spyre rotors are great – and light too. I had some current spec SLX or XT (can’t recall) that I was going to use and opted for the TRP ones as they saved a decent bit of weight. The brakes work a treat – dead easy to set up, very easy to live with, quiet, powerful, good modulation. Like a lot.