Tektro Lyra's v BB7's on my Cotic

The Cotic X has Lyra’s fitted. Partly as they were a decent price.As Cotic fit them them on complete bikes I thought them would be worth a try and the one person I spoke to who had them was happy. They felt good on his bike. Having now done 900 miles I am wondering. Of course that could be based on the very good press that BB7’s get. My Lyra’s are better than V’s but dunno if they out do modern dual pivot road brakes or not. Forgetting the off road bit, I was hoping they might match at least . I do like my brakes hard so maybe I am after the wrong thing. I use Campag Ergos which may have a different pull. All things being equal, eg decent cables etc , does anyone have a first hand comparison as opposed to experience of just one. Or has anyone got the Lyra’s working well?

I have road BB7s on a RoadRat with road levers and they’re excellent, loads of power and enough feel not to lock things up inadvertently. Also ridden a Cotic X with Lyras – same Sora levers btw – and by comparison the Tektros felt really feeble, to the point where I think the brakes on my road bike, Campag Chorus, are significantly better. Not only do the Lyras lack initial bite, pulling on the lever doesn’t actually seem to increase stopping power at all. The BB7s are also a lot easier to adjust.

So basically, if you’re asking if the BB7s are better than Lyras, in my experience, yes, they’re massively better. I guess you could argue that feeble brakes are in keeping with the cross bike ethos and I wonder if different, softer pads might help, but I’m pretty underwhelmed with the Lyras to be honest.

Lyras on 105 levers here. Find them really good but I’m only 75kgs. Also find they need to be setup just so. Pads need to be be literally whistling the rotors otherwise the levers pull right back to the bars with no power.

Must admit that the one thing I have no trouble with is lever travel. Plenty fo room between the levers and bars so I can keep on pulling but I just want some rock hard pull. I would be first in line for some hydro STI/Ergos.
BB7 I reckon.

I’ve got Lyras, never used BB7s but previously had BB5s so probably not very useful for you. But anyway! The Lyras I’ve got are pretty much the same as BB5s power and feel wise. Both are a bit of a faff to set up, but once it’s done they do the job as good as any rim brake.

One day I’ll upgrade to BB7s, their reputation seems second to none.

On thing to note, someone else mentioned it too, the sintered pads on Lyras are rubbish, get some organics and you’ll be fine. Also the discs the Lyras come with aren’t great (think fork judder) so factor in a better brake disc too!

might be worth playing with the set up of the Lyras – it’s important on cable discs that the cable is perpendicular to the articulating arm when the pad contacts the disc for max power.

BB7’s here – had to choose between BB7’s and Lyra’s when speccing the bike and the consensus on here at the time was BB7’s over Lyra’s for all the reasons above. The initial set-up of the BB7’s and trimming each pad individually as it wears means they are as close to zero maintenance as you can get.

Ah . Pads.
Setting up the Lyras is a piece of ****.
Ditched the wavy discs almost immediately as I had spare kicking around. You could really feel the difference on the front. Carbon fork might not have helped there. You can set the non moving inside pad easily with an allen key.
Suppose I need to try a set of 7’s.