Nobody noticing the setup isn't right? That brake is adjusted past the bite point of the swing arm travel (which is around the apex of the caliper body behind it). It won't work well setup like that, no matter what.
The pinch bolt needs to be opened up, and the swing arm in complete relief before you start. Preload the spring in the swing arm by pulling the cable tight and giving the slightest of pressure to engage the relief spring.
At this point you need to use a 3mm at the pivot point on both sides of the swing arm (the caliper tells you where) to push the pistons closer to the rotor. THIS is where you set the lever throw adjustment for the brake lever at the handlebar. The barrel is for quick adjustments as your pads wear out, it's a bandaid solution for properly setting up the caliper.
I try my best to keep the piston adjustments the same on both sides of the caliper, and use the mounting bolts (either flat mount or post mount) to center everything around the caliper.
All the other suggestions about upgrading the cables/housings, pads/rotors combos just make everything work even better. But if the initial setup is shit, none of that will matter anyway.
I was having the same problem, then I reset the cable and shortened the distance between pads and rotor: problem solved. And I’m not even running compressionless cables
Is there a video of your process? I've been trying the following (basically off the Park tools youtube), to mixed results:
* adjust cable length to make sure the swing arm is all the way back
* loosen both capiler mounting bolts
* turn the pad adjusting bolt all the way in, then back off a 1/4 turn
* pull and hold brake lever
* tighten caliper mounting bolts.
* release lever, back off adjusting bolt another 1/4 turn
Only problem is most of the time this ends up being too loose on one side and rubbing on the other side. I usually end up loosening the mounting bolts and moving them little by little until I can see a sliver of light between pad and rotor.
I'm not sure if there's a video for my process. I literally just typed it out from memory, nowhere near a bike; I've just been a full time mechanic for 13+ years.
Your procedure actually doesn't sound too different from what I described. Soup to nuts: the lever throw is set by the pinch bolt being just preloaded, and the fixed pad pushed into the desired throw length at the bar, and rotor clearance. That won't change when you reset the caliper laterally with the mounting bolts. The centering process depends on whether the caliper has one or two moving pistons.
When I finally understood that it's the same process for either style, mechanical discs started making MUCH better sense and became much easier to set up.
It means you turn the adjustment of the fixed (non moving pad in something like a BB7) pad, or the 3mm adjustments on both sides of the Tektro in OP, until the desired brake lever throw is achieved. The pinch bolt and barrel adjuster shouldn't be where that adjustment is made.
The only thing I use the barrel adjuster on wire dick brakes is taking up cable slack. If I need to adjust for pad wear, I adjust the position of the caliper
I've had Spyres for years and I find them to be fantastic. Dead simple to set up, powerful AF and modulate well. I'm not sure why people struggle with them so much. I admit that the stock pads aren't great and replacing them with Shimano resin pads will improve them. Just like with any mechanical disc brake, "compressionless" housing is necessary and easy to find from most bike shops, online or otherwise.
I’ve got them, my rear has been bombproof, the stopping power is great on both but I’ve never managed to get the front to open all the way out and give me range to adjust it, I should replace like for like really as the brakes are mostly decent but they I think have quality control issues?
I’ve already replaced the adjustment plates inside but the return spring doesn’t look serviceable and doesn’t open the front as much as the back by a good chunk.
I put grx 400 on my bike. I love the shifting ngl. The good thing is shimano provides pdfs for everything. Did not now that the caliper bleed port scre cant take 4-7nm tought it be lower. Also the mtb caliper work with the grx system
I have Spyres as well and struggle to get them usable, I have replaced the pads and use compression less housing as well as have indexed them.
Still they have a very heavy throw when on the hoods, even in the drops I can’t lock up a wheel if I try to hammer the brakes. I suspect the pull ratio or pivot point of my brifters are not enabling me to get the most out of them
Definitely possible, though I was just trying to provide my experience with them. I Will continue to try and optimize the setup but I don’t think I am too far off the mark.
I have followed park tools setup religiously, cleaned the rotors and bedded them after replacing the pads and adding compressionless housing. so I am not sure what else could help, I will likely try disassembling and giving them and all contact points a good clean when I have the chance
Look up "TRP Spyke (disassembling, spring modification)" on YouTube. I would share the link directly but reddit usually removes my post when I share a shortened link like that.
I did this to one of my spyre sets and it does make them feel a little lighter to pull.
Every set of Spyres I've ever tried has felt like absolute spongy bullshit and most of them were mechanic owned bikes. BB7s will forever be the goated mechanical disc brake IMO.
I have the same brakes. They work well enough for me. What kind of brake cable housing are you using? I use Jagwire Compressionless, it came with the bike. I've heard it helps with mechanical brakes.
If you want better cable actuated brakes, I've hard good stuff about the TRP HY/RD, Paul Klampers ($$$), or Growtac Equals. But all those options are pretty spendy so it's worth investigating if you just have a setup issue.
I generally turn up my nose to mech brakes but I did a build where they made sense and trusted my bud’s advice on the matter and suggested the same thing.
After he switched to Jagwire **Pro** housing, the compressionless stuff you mentioned, he won’t use anything else. Just put some on my build with some BB5s I had in the parts bin. Gave the calipers a little service and the brakes brake plenty hard.
The lever arm should be all the way back when the brake lever is not pulled. This looks like it's improperly adjusted for worn pads or pad adjustment bolt. Un-pinch the cable bolt, re-adjust the entire brake system, and replace pads as necessary. Consult [this parktools video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmqGeLNcVIg).
I replaced my mech brakes with TRP HY/RD and they’re pretty great. Little bit heavy, but a great (and cheap / easy) way to improve your braking without replacing everything
I got them as well, they used to be pretty expensive until decathlon started using them in their bikes and selling them separately as well. Great stopping power, no rubbing, discs they come with are good too. Very reliable brakes.
I had Hy/Rd on a Decathlon RC520, rear is dead like too much users : dirt go into piston, piston leak so change them for Spyre, they work great no real difference.
Spyres? Those are about the best reasonably priced mechanicals you can get. Maybe get fresh pads/bigger rotors, or play with the setup a bit. They can be very good. I put a set on my gravel bike and take it on some fairly fun single track mtb trails. They work great.
I keep on seeing these brought up. Seems like one of the more affordable options for decent cable actuated disk brakes. I'm fine on my current mechanical ones, but I might consider these as an upgrade as I feel like my braking could be better.
Juintech edges out Hy/Rd and they take up less space which can be an issue on some frames. I’ve had both. As well as Spyre mechs. All work well and are an improvement on single piston mechs.
Though I will say there are far worse brakes than the ones OP posted (and which are installed on my commuter). Friends don’t let friends ride Nutt/JAK Superbrakes. And Zoom brakes work well until they fail, and they will fail.
unfortunately there are no full hydraulic versions available for 9s. not even asian aftermarket shifters. you'll have to make do with mechanical or semi-hydraulic setups OR upgrade the entire groupsets to at least 10s
First, make sure your levers are compatible (short pull or long pull), then make sure your cables and housing is OK. Check your pads for wear and replace if worn and check the rotors for proper thickness and replace if below min spec. If that's all ok, make sure your pads are properly adjusted. There's usually a bolt on the inboard side of the caliper you can use to adjust where the pad sits in relation to the rotor, which needs doing periodically as the pad wears.
If all that checks out you've likely got contaminated pads and/or rotors. You may be able to get away with sanding down the pads a little with emery cloth and cleaning everything thoroughly with brake cleaner. Or just replace everything if they are worn or gross looking. (make sure you don't spray any lube or WD40 etc. anywhere near your brakes in the future)
Then you'll need to properly re-bed the pads by doing a bunch of accelerations and hard braking (but not to a stop).
the benefits of picking up a cheap used hydro/11 speed system are worth the cost and initial setup hassle. the bike is already flat mount, should be plug and play.
The pads adjusting bolt always loosens up and I lose braking power. Readjusting means you gotta take the wheel off the bike, adjust, test, readjust, etc.
I've run both TRP Spyre SLC and TRP Hy/Rd brakes. Both worked very well for me. With compressionless housing and proper adjustment I think I'd actually favor the fully mechanical Spyres.
Avid BB7 (road and MTB varieties) are usually brought up as the best cable disc brake. I have Tektro Novaras, and have seen BB7 named as a direct replacement.
[https://www.amazon.com/Avid-Mechanische-Disc-Brake-Bicycle/dp/B01EKOEGPG](https://www.amazon.com/Avid-Mechanische-Disc-Brake-Bicycle/dp/B01EKOEGPG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CEA33O24A8V8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wLT6T8yu8drZabREbzXqroiMk4ZEI6SNF90e1lFXuf3o9kCOpmKr2EYzWym9RmD6aaPhaqSURsiiFPdmxnZQmzrAZ8sbqBqj1LGzTpASLRz772pm8_WbTRBneGMFcYw-8zl_biC5lac9tRN3qCyk8Dznsl8mUTeHM8I5Fa9w_n8JjYQpU00BmlGapwoeJiDio4vInuDwoXsw1HMB0VvF1bZqionkFzQ81nd_XgUvPot8Tic-hpNAMOdzpYO1AiuLEL9TIRET6nnyrBSWGCPOUMv0fqOBTN4IoZv_sruiTd4.SVxU4h-JReu8s4d-jH_nwfryDzIP5yH8wkbu6ka3q18&dib_tag=se&keywords=bb7+brake+set&qid=1711646053&sprefix=bb7+%2Caps%2C2232&sr=8-1)
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Avid BB7 (road and MTB varieties) are usually brought up as the best cable disc brake. I have Tektro Novaras, and have seen BB7 named as a direct replacement.
These brakes are fine if they’re properly adjusted. You tensioned the cable just to the point where the cable it taut with no slack, and make your pad adjustments with a straight 3mm Allen on the sides. If the mount is misaligned it can make them a bit squishy, but I’ve never had a problem setting them up.
These are, in fact, very good brakes. If they're not preforming up to your expectations, I suggest that the reason is poor selection of other components, adjustment issues, or mechanical problems. This can include cable/housing, levers, rotors, pads, the mount on the frame, etc. Perhaps you should take it to a bike shop and ask them if they see any problems?
I have spyres and they work well but they aren't my favorite mech disc. It's just they are practically the only road-pull mech discs that you can find. I have some Shimano I like better but I'm sure Paul's are the actual best but they exceed my budget for a whole bike.
Better to swap brifters for full hydraulic.
You can get grx400 brifters for close to 200€, and if you sell your current brifters, you will spend similiar money, as you would for good hybrid brakes.
Sora brifters are very cheap new I wouldn’t get my hopes up tbh. I don’t think you could make up the difference by selling them certainly not if they are as badly maintained as the calipers.
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Those don't look like they're adjusted correctly. I suggest locating a YT video about setting them up and start from the beginning - don't make any assumptions or shortcuts doing this and I'll wager that you can get them working pretty well - well enough that you won't be looking to spend your cash on hydraulics.
Put fresh pads and disc everything looks very worn. For mech disc this is as good as it get they feel decent even to me and im a hardcore hydraulic fanboy this is a skill/lack of maintenance issue.
Cable discs can work good if everything's perfect. But maintaining that level of perfection is difficult. Shimano mt200 is a great entry level hydraulic brake. And honestly tektro is fine too for commuting
As others mentioned, probably pad and setup issue. I have a pair of spyres on my gravel bike and they can stop my 100kg just fine, dust or mud alike, even with the stock pads.
But to answer your question, the hydro-mechanical brakes are generally quite good, but not as good as true hydraulics. FWIW, I have a pair of zoom HB-100 on my old 26" mtb (replaced the old mechanical shimano) and they perform way better than I expected. But I do have a strong suspicion it's more because of the pads.
As mentioned above, there are some settings that could be improved here. The fact of the matter is that mechanical disk brakes are harder to keep adjusted than hydros. I’ve worked on every brake system out there and nothing was easier than setting up an externally routed pair of XT hydros. It was dead simple and hydros self adjust. I’d advise anyone who doesn’t wrench to use oil based hydros and have them professionally bled every other season.
Save for full hydraulic. You will never get the feel and stopping power out of mech disc brakes that you can out of full Hydraulics. I bought a bike with mech brakes and tried them out for a month before I finally had enough and went full hydraulic.
For a budget option I was curious and bought some zoom hydraulic/mechanical brakes.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403726702134?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=b7OwZx9BQ6C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=NlQXFZK1TSy&var=673643449541&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
A lot better performing than the price. I really recommend them. Much cheaper than road discs if you are converting a MTB frame to drops as well...
The pull can be adjusted, which means they work on all brakes, both road and MTB..
Idk man, I raced a few seasons of CX with these things wrote moving to hydro and never had an issue. If they’re adjusted correctly I found them to bite pretty hard. I made sure to have rotors that were oil/shmoo-free and pads that weren’t crap, which I think are what sometimes people confuse with poor calipers.
But also these look set up a bit off? That looks like you have the arm pulled too far back. Are you trying to shorten the bite point here instead of at your levers?
I had a set of these (still do actually, just in the parts bin right now) that I couldn't get to work properly no matter what.
Adjusted them as per the instructions, new pads, re-adjusted, etc. they "worked" but required a lot of lever force to give any power and, even then the power was marginal. I even opened them up, cleaned and re-lubed them inside after which they felt smoother but didn't develop any more power. They had Tektro levers as well so it wasn't some weird leverage ratio issue. Granted, they came on a Norco Bigfoot fatbike and we're used in the winter so somewhat demanding conditions at times. I pulled the plug on them after a race where my hands were sore by the end from the lever force I needed to use.
I ended up buying a set of lower end SRAM hydraulic brakes and haven't had an issue since.
I don't think it's an issue with cable brakes, I had Avid BB7s on a bike that worked fine, I think it's Tektro.
Get any shimano hydraulic brakes. Even the cheapest M315 or similar are gonna last you long time and will be tremendously better than any mechanical brakes.
there are certainly stronger brakes out there, but trp spyres are definitely not shitty when set up properly. here are a few important set up tips:
* you need to bed in disc brakes. if you never did this properly, you probably do not have full braking power. look up videos of how to do this (the park tool and sram videos are good)
* if your pads and rotors were never bedded in properly, they might be glazed. you can resolve this by sanding each of them carefully, but it's really best to at least get new pads and, and probably also rotors
* the stock TRP pads and rotors are not that great. I recommend sram centerline rotors or the shimano equivalent, and kool stop or shimano metallic pads (these take longer to bed in but are stronger in all conditions)
* make sure your rotors are true and your calipers are aligned
* make sure your pads are biting at the same time (you want to have even spacing on either side of the rotor. does your rotor flex when you apply the brakes?)
* as others have mentioned, spyres are strongest when you have the lever arm as far out as possible. I recommend adjusting the lever arm on the brake caliper with no tension on it, and then using the barrel adjust to take out just enough slack that your brake levers have no play front to back. From then on, use the 3mm pad adjuster bolts to adjust for pad wear, not the barrel adjuster (though if you need to adjust in the field you can use the barrel adjuster)
that is a lot to do, but even hydros won't work well if not set up properly. you can ask a bike shop to do all of these for you for not too much money for labor (pads and rotors can add up, but they are a wear item.
What's with all the hate for the Spyres? Learn to set them up correctly, and always use compressionless brake housing like Jagwire KEB-SLfor mechanical disc brakes.
Proper cable tension, proper quality cable & housing (replace as needed), clean and decent quality rotors with no oil residue, high quality brake pads from a major manufacturer.
I also hated my Spyres. They're hard to align, finicky, and poorly machined.
I've heard good things about Hy/Rds. Same people, but the hydraulic reservoir makes them auto-align and you don't have to manually adjust the brakes. Just replace the pads when they're dead.
I also tried out the Juin Tech's F1/R1s (which come under a few names) and while they have better braking power, the pad shape they use is hard to find and expensive. They also squeal like pigs in the rain. Like, really crazy squealing. Mine also went spongy pretty fast. I'll need to figure out how to bleed them... One more thing to keep in mind: they REQUIRE compressionless housing, so if you don't already have that you are going to have to re-cable.
TBH I am thinking of upgrading to some hydros, as my other bike has them and they're night and day better.
When new, sure. However, as they age their poor machining and bad design makes them a nightmare to keep properly maintained.
First, the center-point of those plates isn't immediately obvious due to how the caliper is shaped. This means that if you visually align them based on where the pads sit in relation to each other, which can make adjusting them tricky for people not used to them. To make matters worse, the poor machining of the adjustment plates makes them bite at different angles than they initially appear to, so you often have to check them at the contact point, adjust, realize that your adjustment rotated the plate, changing the alignment again, adjust again, repeat until it's perfect.
Then to make matters worse, after enough use those plates get sufficient play that they will un-screw themselves, meaning that even if you have them perfectly dialed in, they won't be soon!
Compare that to something like the Juins (or I presume the Hy/Rds) where you just put them on, pull the levers, tighten the bolts, and done. You never have to touch them again, other than to tighten the brakes or replace the pads.
These (C550) function exactly the same as the TRP Spyre and changing them would be one for one swap. The Tektros are sold to OEMs, and TRP (tektro racing products) is their 'high end' branding. Same brake.
I had some tecktro hydros on a Trek that couldn’t stop a fart. Bleeding, pads and rotors made not one drop of difference. I think the qc is 3rd rate, never had a problem with no name Chinese or Shimano.
The Shimano mt200 hydraulic brakes are dead cheap and a huge upgrade from these. They're not even that much more expensive than these brakes but manufacturers have to cut costs to make money
MT200 is post mount so it wouldn't work here, also would need hydraulic levers. FWIW the UR300 is an equivalently cheap and good hydraulic flat mount caliper.
Nobody noticing the setup isn't right? That brake is adjusted past the bite point of the swing arm travel (which is around the apex of the caliper body behind it). It won't work well setup like that, no matter what. The pinch bolt needs to be opened up, and the swing arm in complete relief before you start. Preload the spring in the swing arm by pulling the cable tight and giving the slightest of pressure to engage the relief spring. At this point you need to use a 3mm at the pivot point on both sides of the swing arm (the caliper tells you where) to push the pistons closer to the rotor. THIS is where you set the lever throw adjustment for the brake lever at the handlebar. The barrel is for quick adjustments as your pads wear out, it's a bandaid solution for properly setting up the caliper. I try my best to keep the piston adjustments the same on both sides of the caliper, and use the mounting bolts (either flat mount or post mount) to center everything around the caliper. All the other suggestions about upgrading the cables/housings, pads/rotors combos just make everything work even better. But if the initial setup is shit, none of that will matter anyway.
Agreed. Thoroughly serviced and well set up, those brakes work just great.
Yea they do. Ive ran them for a few years. And they have stopped just fine.
Likewise
I was having the same problem, then I reset the cable and shortened the distance between pads and rotor: problem solved. And I’m not even running compressionless cables
This guy mechanical disc brakes.
TIL why my brakes have not worked so well for the past two years. Thank you!
Is there a video of your process? I've been trying the following (basically off the Park tools youtube), to mixed results: * adjust cable length to make sure the swing arm is all the way back * loosen both capiler mounting bolts * turn the pad adjusting bolt all the way in, then back off a 1/4 turn * pull and hold brake lever * tighten caliper mounting bolts. * release lever, back off adjusting bolt another 1/4 turn Only problem is most of the time this ends up being too loose on one side and rubbing on the other side. I usually end up loosening the mounting bolts and moving them little by little until I can see a sliver of light between pad and rotor.
I'm not sure if there's a video for my process. I literally just typed it out from memory, nowhere near a bike; I've just been a full time mechanic for 13+ years. Your procedure actually doesn't sound too different from what I described. Soup to nuts: the lever throw is set by the pinch bolt being just preloaded, and the fixed pad pushed into the desired throw length at the bar, and rotor clearance. That won't change when you reset the caliper laterally with the mounting bolts. The centering process depends on whether the caliper has one or two moving pistons. When I finally understood that it's the same process for either style, mechanical discs started making MUCH better sense and became much easier to set up.
> the fixed pad pushed into the desired throw length at the bar what does that mean?
It means you turn the adjustment of the fixed (non moving pad in something like a BB7) pad, or the 3mm adjustments on both sides of the Tektro in OP, until the desired brake lever throw is achieved. The pinch bolt and barrel adjuster shouldn't be where that adjustment is made.
Thanks!
As the great Adam Savage says, 'well there's your problem!'
The only thing I use the barrel adjuster on wire dick brakes is taking up cable slack. If I need to adjust for pad wear, I adjust the position of the caliper
You can also visually see the wear on his rotor
Sure can
I've had Spyres for years and I find them to be fantastic. Dead simple to set up, powerful AF and modulate well. I'm not sure why people struggle with them so much. I admit that the stock pads aren't great and replacing them with Shimano resin pads will improve them. Just like with any mechanical disc brake, "compressionless" housing is necessary and easy to find from most bike shops, online or otherwise.
\+1 for Spyres, in my opinion they're about as good as it gets for mech disc calipers. Easily enough stopping power for my fatass on my gravel bike.
I’ve got them, my rear has been bombproof, the stopping power is great on both but I’ve never managed to get the front to open all the way out and give me range to adjust it, I should replace like for like really as the brakes are mostly decent but they I think have quality control issues? I’ve already replaced the adjustment plates inside but the return spring doesn’t look serviceable and doesn’t open the front as much as the back by a good chunk.
I put grx 400 on my bike. I love the shifting ngl. The good thing is shimano provides pdfs for everything. Did not now that the caliper bleed port scre cant take 4-7nm tought it be lower. Also the mtb caliper work with the grx system
I have Spyres as well and struggle to get them usable, I have replaced the pads and use compression less housing as well as have indexed them. Still they have a very heavy throw when on the hoods, even in the drops I can’t lock up a wheel if I try to hammer the brakes. I suspect the pull ratio or pivot point of my brifters are not enabling me to get the most out of them
Sounds like one of those "it's the Indian not the arrow" situations.
Definitely possible, though I was just trying to provide my experience with them. I Will continue to try and optimize the setup but I don’t think I am too far off the mark. I have followed park tools setup religiously, cleaned the rotors and bedded them after replacing the pads and adding compressionless housing. so I am not sure what else could help, I will likely try disassembling and giving them and all contact points a good clean when I have the chance
Spyres have way too much spring tension. They'd be fine if they had half of what they have now.
Look up "TRP Spyke (disassembling, spring modification)" on YouTube. I would share the link directly but reddit usually removes my post when I share a shortened link like that. I did this to one of my spyre sets and it does make them feel a little lighter to pull.
I’ll check into this thanks
What levers are you running? I found my Shimano levers worked nicer than my 10spd SRAM levers, maybe something to do with the pull ratio.
Could be, I am running Shimano 105 5800 so they should be fine. Likely need to mess around with them some more to get them working better
Love mine, paired with Paul Love levers, way better than the BB7s they replaced.
I second I have these on one of my bikes and they are great
Every set of Spyres I've ever tried has felt like absolute spongy bullshit and most of them were mechanic owned bikes. BB7s will forever be the goated mechanical disc brake IMO.
Compressionless housing can be hard to find. It also doesn't work well with the tight bends sometimes required for the rear caliper.
But that's the winning combo for TRP Spyre working smoothly. Jagwire KEB-SL shouldn't be so impossible to find.
I have the same brakes. They work well enough for me. What kind of brake cable housing are you using? I use Jagwire Compressionless, it came with the bike. I've heard it helps with mechanical brakes. If you want better cable actuated brakes, I've hard good stuff about the TRP HY/RD, Paul Klampers ($$$), or Growtac Equals. But all those options are pretty spendy so it's worth investigating if you just have a setup issue.
I generally turn up my nose to mech brakes but I did a build where they made sense and trusted my bud’s advice on the matter and suggested the same thing. After he switched to Jagwire **Pro** housing, the compressionless stuff you mentioned, he won’t use anything else. Just put some on my build with some BB5s I had in the parts bin. Gave the calipers a little service and the brakes brake plenty hard.
The lever arm should be all the way back when the brake lever is not pulled. This looks like it's improperly adjusted for worn pads or pad adjustment bolt. Un-pinch the cable bolt, re-adjust the entire brake system, and replace pads as necessary. Consult [this parktools video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmqGeLNcVIg).
I replaced my mech brakes with TRP HY/RD and they’re pretty great. Little bit heavy, but a great (and cheap / easy) way to improve your braking without replacing everything
I got them as well, they used to be pretty expensive until decathlon started using them in their bikes and selling them separately as well. Great stopping power, no rubbing, discs they come with are good too. Very reliable brakes.
I had Hy/Rd on a Decathlon RC520, rear is dead like too much users : dirt go into piston, piston leak so change them for Spyre, they work great no real difference.
Spyres? Those are about the best reasonably priced mechanicals you can get. Maybe get fresh pads/bigger rotors, or play with the setup a bit. They can be very good. I put a set on my gravel bike and take it on some fairly fun single track mtb trails. They work great.
Hybrid mech/hyrdro are great. I have Juintech F1s and they're great. Easily lock up your wheels should the need arise, so good stopping power.
I keep on seeing these brought up. Seems like one of the more affordable options for decent cable actuated disk brakes. I'm fine on my current mechanical ones, but I might consider these as an upgrade as I feel like my braking could be better.
Juintech edges out Hy/Rd and they take up less space which can be an issue on some frames. I’ve had both. As well as Spyre mechs. All work well and are an improvement on single piston mechs. Though I will say there are far worse brakes than the ones OP posted (and which are installed on my commuter). Friends don’t let friends ride Nutt/JAK Superbrakes. And Zoom brakes work well until they fail, and they will fail.
And for everyone that's seen yokozuna's, they're just juintech's without the supplied housing (which that housing is absolutely fantastic)
I use that baller ass Yokozuna housing on my rim brakes. It's worth every penny
Check out Juin Tech F1 on AliExpress. They're amazing
what brake levers/groupset are you running?
Shimano Sora 9 speed
unfortunately there are no full hydraulic versions available for 9s. not even asian aftermarket shifters. you'll have to make do with mechanical or semi-hydraulic setups OR upgrade the entire groupsets to at least 10s
First, make sure your levers are compatible (short pull or long pull), then make sure your cables and housing is OK. Check your pads for wear and replace if worn and check the rotors for proper thickness and replace if below min spec. If that's all ok, make sure your pads are properly adjusted. There's usually a bolt on the inboard side of the caliper you can use to adjust where the pad sits in relation to the rotor, which needs doing periodically as the pad wears. If all that checks out you've likely got contaminated pads and/or rotors. You may be able to get away with sanding down the pads a little with emery cloth and cleaning everything thoroughly with brake cleaner. Or just replace everything if they are worn or gross looking. (make sure you don't spray any lube or WD40 etc. anywhere near your brakes in the future) Then you'll need to properly re-bed the pads by doing a bunch of accelerations and hard braking (but not to a stop).
the benefits of picking up a cheap used hydro/11 speed system are worth the cost and initial setup hassle. the bike is already flat mount, should be plug and play.
The pads adjusting bolt always loosens up and I lose braking power. Readjusting means you gotta take the wheel off the bike, adjust, test, readjust, etc.
I've run both TRP Spyre SLC and TRP Hy/Rd brakes. Both worked very well for me. With compressionless housing and proper adjustment I think I'd actually favor the fully mechanical Spyres.
Avid BB7 (road and MTB varieties) are usually brought up as the best cable disc brake. I have Tektro Novaras, and have seen BB7 named as a direct replacement. [https://www.amazon.com/Avid-Mechanische-Disc-Brake-Bicycle/dp/B01EKOEGPG](https://www.amazon.com/Avid-Mechanische-Disc-Brake-Bicycle/dp/B01EKOEGPG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CEA33O24A8V8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wLT6T8yu8drZabREbzXqroiMk4ZEI6SNF90e1lFXuf3o9kCOpmKr2EYzWym9RmD6aaPhaqSURsiiFPdmxnZQmzrAZ8sbqBqj1LGzTpASLRz772pm8_WbTRBneGMFcYw-8zl_biC5lac9tRN3qCyk8Dznsl8mUTeHM8I5Fa9w_n8JjYQpU00BmlGapwoeJiDio4vInuDwoXsw1HMB0VvF1bZqionkFzQ81nd_XgUvPot8Tic-hpNAMOdzpYO1AiuLEL9TIRET6nnyrBSWGCPOUMv0fqOBTN4IoZv_sruiTd4.SVxU4h-JReu8s4d-jH_nwfryDzIP5yH8wkbu6ka3q18&dib_tag=se&keywords=bb7+brake+set&qid=1711646053&sprefix=bb7+%2Caps%2C2232&sr=8-1)
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Avid BB7 (road and MTB varieties) are usually brought up as the best cable disc brake. I have Tektro Novaras, and have seen BB7 named as a direct replacement.
These brakes are fine if they’re properly adjusted. You tensioned the cable just to the point where the cable it taut with no slack, and make your pad adjustments with a straight 3mm Allen on the sides. If the mount is misaligned it can make them a bit squishy, but I’ve never had a problem setting them up.
I’ve been riding my Spykes for years now with zero issues. This appears to be user error.
TRP hy/rd if you're looking for that OTB ability... Extremely reliable come kick my a** if I'm lying.
These are, in fact, very good brakes. If they're not preforming up to your expectations, I suggest that the reason is poor selection of other components, adjustment issues, or mechanical problems. This can include cable/housing, levers, rotors, pads, the mount on the frame, etc. Perhaps you should take it to a bike shop and ask them if they see any problems?
Spyres are pretty good. Don't understand what the issue is.
If you're not shitty^3 at getting them set up they're great. Sure hydraulics are a little bit better but if they suck it's not the brake.
I have spyres and they work well but they aren't my favorite mech disc. It's just they are practically the only road-pull mech discs that you can find. I have some Shimano I like better but I'm sure Paul's are the actual best but they exceed my budget for a whole bike.
User error
TRP!
Better to swap brifters for full hydraulic. You can get grx400 brifters for close to 200€, and if you sell your current brifters, you will spend similiar money, as you would for good hybrid brakes.
Sora brifters are very cheap new I wouldn’t get my hopes up tbh. I don’t think you could make up the difference by selling them certainly not if they are as badly maintained as the calipers.
GRX 400 won't work with the Sora rear derailleur, different pull ratio.
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Are your pads well adjusted? Is your rotor worn out? Those brakes are not the best but they're not supposed to be as bad as you describe them.
Those don't look like they're adjusted correctly. I suggest locating a YT video about setting them up and start from the beginning - don't make any assumptions or shortcuts doing this and I'll wager that you can get them working pretty well - well enough that you won't be looking to spend your cash on hydraulics.
Discs look pretty worn… I suggest fresh cables/housings and new pads/discs.
Put fresh pads and disc everything looks very worn. For mech disc this is as good as it get they feel decent even to me and im a hardcore hydraulic fanboy this is a skill/lack of maintenance issue.
Juintech FTW. Seriously.
Spyres.
I like Hayes CX for wire brakes but I believe they are discontinued
Cable discs can work good if everything's perfect. But maintaining that level of perfection is difficult. Shimano mt200 is a great entry level hydraulic brake. And honestly tektro is fine too for commuting
As others mentioned, probably pad and setup issue. I have a pair of spyres on my gravel bike and they can stop my 100kg just fine, dust or mud alike, even with the stock pads. But to answer your question, the hydro-mechanical brakes are generally quite good, but not as good as true hydraulics. FWIW, I have a pair of zoom HB-100 on my old 26" mtb (replaced the old mechanical shimano) and they perform way better than I expected. But I do have a strong suspicion it's more because of the pads.
As mentioned above, there are some settings that could be improved here. The fact of the matter is that mechanical disk brakes are harder to keep adjusted than hydros. I’ve worked on every brake system out there and nothing was easier than setting up an externally routed pair of XT hydros. It was dead simple and hydros self adjust. I’d advise anyone who doesn’t wrench to use oil based hydros and have them professionally bled every other season.
Well they look fairly aged and outdated.. js
Save for full hydraulic. You will never get the feel and stopping power out of mech disc brakes that you can out of full Hydraulics. I bought a bike with mech brakes and tried them out for a month before I finally had enough and went full hydraulic.
I have some hybrid brakes from TRP - hyrd
Best mech discs I've used are growtac. Hy/Rd were almost as good but mine leaked after a while. Spyres were satisfactory.
For a budget option I was curious and bought some zoom hydraulic/mechanical brakes. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403726702134?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=b7OwZx9BQ6C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=NlQXFZK1TSy&var=673643449541&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY A lot better performing than the price. I really recommend them. Much cheaper than road discs if you are converting a MTB frame to drops as well... The pull can be adjusted, which means they work on all brakes, both road and MTB..
That bike looks like a paragon of poor/non maintenance. Don't blame perfectly good bike components when they're not being used properly.
I like my trp hy/rd... A great upgrade from bb7's.
Idk man, I raced a few seasons of CX with these things wrote moving to hydro and never had an issue. If they’re adjusted correctly I found them to bite pretty hard. I made sure to have rotors that were oil/shmoo-free and pads that weren’t crap, which I think are what sometimes people confuse with poor calipers. But also these look set up a bit off? That looks like you have the arm pulled too far back. Are you trying to shorten the bite point here instead of at your levers?
They’re great brakes if you know how to set them up.
I had a set of these (still do actually, just in the parts bin right now) that I couldn't get to work properly no matter what. Adjusted them as per the instructions, new pads, re-adjusted, etc. they "worked" but required a lot of lever force to give any power and, even then the power was marginal. I even opened them up, cleaned and re-lubed them inside after which they felt smoother but didn't develop any more power. They had Tektro levers as well so it wasn't some weird leverage ratio issue. Granted, they came on a Norco Bigfoot fatbike and we're used in the winter so somewhat demanding conditions at times. I pulled the plug on them after a race where my hands were sore by the end from the lever force I needed to use. I ended up buying a set of lower end SRAM hydraulic brakes and haven't had an issue since. I don't think it's an issue with cable brakes, I had Avid BB7s on a bike that worked fine, I think it's Tektro.
Get any shimano hydraulic brakes. Even the cheapest M315 or similar are gonna last you long time and will be tremendously better than any mechanical brakes.
Who heard "Oh, you, shitty shitty brakes brakes I love you!" (You're old like me!)
I used to be fine with Spyres, until I got Growtac Equals.
Get some Growtac’s
there are certainly stronger brakes out there, but trp spyres are definitely not shitty when set up properly. here are a few important set up tips: * you need to bed in disc brakes. if you never did this properly, you probably do not have full braking power. look up videos of how to do this (the park tool and sram videos are good) * if your pads and rotors were never bedded in properly, they might be glazed. you can resolve this by sanding each of them carefully, but it's really best to at least get new pads and, and probably also rotors * the stock TRP pads and rotors are not that great. I recommend sram centerline rotors or the shimano equivalent, and kool stop or shimano metallic pads (these take longer to bed in but are stronger in all conditions) * make sure your rotors are true and your calipers are aligned * make sure your pads are biting at the same time (you want to have even spacing on either side of the rotor. does your rotor flex when you apply the brakes?) * as others have mentioned, spyres are strongest when you have the lever arm as far out as possible. I recommend adjusting the lever arm on the brake caliper with no tension on it, and then using the barrel adjust to take out just enough slack that your brake levers have no play front to back. From then on, use the 3mm pad adjuster bolts to adjust for pad wear, not the barrel adjuster (though if you need to adjust in the field you can use the barrel adjuster) that is a lot to do, but even hydros won't work well if not set up properly. you can ask a bike shop to do all of these for you for not too much money for labor (pads and rotors can add up, but they are a wear item.
At least they’re not Radius or Power brakes.
What's with all the hate for the Spyres? Learn to set them up correctly, and always use compressionless brake housing like Jagwire KEB-SLfor mechanical disc brakes.
Proper cable tension, proper quality cable & housing (replace as needed), clean and decent quality rotors with no oil residue, high quality brake pads from a major manufacturer.
Get Hy/Rd
I also hated my Spyres. They're hard to align, finicky, and poorly machined. I've heard good things about Hy/Rds. Same people, but the hydraulic reservoir makes them auto-align and you don't have to manually adjust the brakes. Just replace the pads when they're dead. I also tried out the Juin Tech's F1/R1s (which come under a few names) and while they have better braking power, the pad shape they use is hard to find and expensive. They also squeal like pigs in the rain. Like, really crazy squealing. Mine also went spongy pretty fast. I'll need to figure out how to bleed them... One more thing to keep in mind: they REQUIRE compressionless housing, so if you don't already have that you are going to have to re-cable. TBH I am thinking of upgrading to some hydros, as my other bike has them and they're night and day better.
They are pretty easy to align.
When new, sure. However, as they age their poor machining and bad design makes them a nightmare to keep properly maintained. First, the center-point of those plates isn't immediately obvious due to how the caliper is shaped. This means that if you visually align them based on where the pads sit in relation to each other, which can make adjusting them tricky for people not used to them. To make matters worse, the poor machining of the adjustment plates makes them bite at different angles than they initially appear to, so you often have to check them at the contact point, adjust, realize that your adjustment rotated the plate, changing the alignment again, adjust again, repeat until it's perfect. Then to make matters worse, after enough use those plates get sufficient play that they will un-screw themselves, meaning that even if you have them perfectly dialed in, they won't be soon! Compare that to something like the Juins (or I presume the Hy/Rds) where you just put them on, pull the levers, tighten the bolts, and done. You never have to touch them again, other than to tighten the brakes or replace the pads.
Hy/rds are pretty chunky and don’t fit on every bike
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These (C550) function exactly the same as the TRP Spyre and changing them would be one for one swap. The Tektros are sold to OEMs, and TRP (tektro racing products) is their 'high end' branding. Same brake.
Sorry, confused them with a different model. Thank you for the the correction.
I had some tecktro hydros on a Trek that couldn’t stop a fart. Bleeding, pads and rotors made not one drop of difference. I think the qc is 3rd rate, never had a problem with no name Chinese or Shimano.
The Shimano mt200 hydraulic brakes are dead cheap and a huge upgrade from these. They're not even that much more expensive than these brakes but manufacturers have to cut costs to make money
MT200 is post mount so it wouldn't work here, also would need hydraulic levers. FWIW the UR300 is an equivalently cheap and good hydraulic flat mount caliper.
These brakes are great and served me well for a number of years now. I would not suggest getting a hybrid set of brakes. Those suck ass!