The lever model number is on the side of the body (not lever) under the hoods so if be surprised if you’d scratched it off. You could help by saying if they’re 11 speed (6800) or 10, and if 10 whether the gear cables are external (6600) or under tape (6700).

The brake model number is in the back of the brake so again should be checkable.

For info, the difference between pull ratios over the years has been in the region of 10-20% * enough to notice if you’re pairing parts the ‘wrong’ way, and made worse if you have any other issues like cables etc.

Draggy (even if not easily felt in the stand) cables, coupled with badly finished outer cable ends or wonky seating can also rob a significant amount of power.

Cable ends should be cut with the cables either in situ, or pre bent to whatever contour they’ll be on the bike, and then the ends need grinding flat and ferrules fitting. Otherwise over time the strands will creep and you’ll end up with a bad fit that gets worse over time. Changing inners won’t help if your outlets aren’t right.

*FWIW the difference between pads st top of slots vs bottom can be in the region of 15-20% too so if you’re unlucky enough to be at the wrong end of the slots, with a bad lever pairing and dodgy cabling you can see how you could easily lose a LOT of braking power.

Also…

but I can’t see how this would affect the ultimate power if they are smooth in operation?

Friction under service loads can be VERY different to what you can feel in the stand, and any friction you need to overcome is effort wasted and not transferred to the rim. That goes for pivots and cables too, once there’s some load involved friction can increase dramatically*

* think about fork bushings as an (unrelated) example, smooth when bounced, but jam a front brake on and apply some force, not so smooth now, and in extremis they can even bind. Pivots suffer similarly, put a load through them and they can behave very differently.

What’s your rim surface like? How old are the rims? Can you still see the wear indicators? Have you cleaned the rims?

Shimano don’t do a 57mm drop brake in anything other than the old ratio so the difference is mostly going to be in long drop vs short, not old vs new.

In my experience:

Hope RX4 hydros> Shimano hydros> Spyre cable discs> 5800 calipers> 6600 calipers> R650 calipers.

Rims are ok. Not too old, clean.

You could help by saying if they’re 11 speed (6800) or 10, and if 10 whether the gear cables are external (6600) or under tape (6700).

10 speed, cables under tape, so likely to be 6700. If so, then it sounds like they match my brakes. I’ll check numbers later. Thanks for the tips.

I’ve got Ultegra calipers of uncertain but significant vintage, and Ultegra levers from approximately.. 2008-9 ish..? And they are poor.

My summer road bike is 2008 Ultegra and the brakes are still excellent, in the dry on a par with discs, in the wet still pretty good. Wheels are Zipp 404s with the Al braking surface. I’m still using the original stock pads (the bike did spend 10 years barely ridden), so is only 1-2 years old in terms of actual use.

I stripped the calipers down (bit of a palaver that was), fitted new Shimano pads, probably set them up a bit better and cleaned the rims.

They are quite a bit better now but my feeling is it’s probably the pads. Still nowhere near discs obviously but much improved. Will have to see how they are on a proper ride.

I opted not to use grease on the calipers. It would have gunked up before long, so I’m using light PTFE lube and it’ll have to be reapplied.

FWIW when I was running cheap-ass tektro calipers (OE) on my old road bike bike I used ultegra pads for a bit because they were cheap. I later found BBB roadstop to be an excellent improvement and didn’t pick up as much rim-damaging grit/sand etc.

Obviously not going to be as good as salmon kool stops but way way cheaper.

After nearly having an incident coming down Newlands Pass I swapped to Swisstop pads and they were night and day better.

Agreed that shimano stock pads are rubbish and big improvements to be had from swiss stop or salmon kool pads. Also use that small screw adjuster to ensure both pads contact the rim at the same time.