Brake Upgrage

enoonan

Lo All,
I am thinking of upgrading the brakes on my bike. I currently have Tiagra calipers on it and am thinking of going to Ultegra.
Is there any other calipers I should be considering SRAM/Campag/other that would be better or as good as the Ultegra and in the same price range(€100ish)? Cannot afford to go down the Durace/Red/Record road I'm afraid.

Thanks in advance

Eoin

Idleater

Sram are supposed to be more powerful than shimano. They look stiffer with two prong cable holder half than shimano single arch. I certainly like the feel from my force calipers compared to my duraace.

AstraMonti

Have a look at these as well: http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/BCPXULCNC/planet-x-ultra-light-cnc-brake-calipers

Very strong but quite tricky to setup and keep them centered but when you figure it out they are fine and they have very good stopping power, certainly better than my previous Campag Centaur. They are also by far the lightest at this price range.

TinyExplosions

AstraMonti wrote: »

Have a look at these as well: http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/BCPXULCNC/planet-x-ultra-light-cnc-brake-calipers

Very strong but quite tricky to setup and keep them centered but when you figure it out they are fine and they have very good stopping power, certainly better than my previous Campag Centaur. They are also by far the lightest at this price range.

I wondered if anyone here had them... am lusting after the pink ones and wondered if they were worth it... may have to pull the trigger!

CheGuedara

AstraMonti wrote: »

Have a look at these as well: http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/BCPXULCNC/planet-x-ultra-light-cnc-brake-calipers

+1 - fitted them as an upgrade to the OHs bike last year. Loathe to admit it but the difference in braking power between them and my Chorus brakes is very minimal. Certainly a bargain for the money (and they're not as bad to set up as you might think either)

Lemag

Above your budget but very nice. I have them. Cheapest place I've found them after a very brief search is here. You may be able to find them for cheaper elsewhere.

blorg

He has Tiagra now on the bike and you guys are suggesting €100+ fancy light brakes? I really wouldn't bother, personally.

@OP- what is wrong with your current brakes that you seek to improve by moving to Ultegra calipers?

AstraMonti

He asked for circa 100€ brakes! And we are on boards! Would we ever stop anyone of spending money for cycling stuff? I think you 've been away far too long blorg, come back please, we missed ya

Lemag

I'm with Astra on this. What you're suggesting blorg is against the boards ethos.



I do appreciate your sensible perspective on things though.

blorg

It is just a waste of money IMO. Far be it for me to stop someone spending money but if he is looking at this sort of thing I think he would be better off saving a bit and replacing the entire bike (with a Planet X, naturally.) I really don't see the point of spending €100 to upgrade Tiagra calipers which I imagine work fine. Tiagra > Ultegra calipers will net around a 25g weight saving... on a bike that weighs what? 10kg? Waste of money.

Lemag

..ah, the voice of reason..

OP, if you want to be sensible go with blorg. If you want some blingtastic brakes go with one of the other suggestions.. *cough* TRP *cough*..

Tau

There's nothing wrong with Tiagra callipers. If you want to upgrade your braking power, you need to upgrade your pads. I got a pair of these recently:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/swissstop-flash-pro-green-high-performance-pads/

It really makes a big difference.

enoonan

Thanks for all the replies lads and sorry I've not come back sooner but the pc got a little sick.

Idleater - Thanks for the info on the Force calipers. I know a guy that has upgraded to RED calipers but he got em half price, lucky. His bike will stop at the moment in about 1/2 the distance my one will.

AstraMonti & Lemag - Thanks for those guys. They are both lovely looking sets. The Planet-X ones would be the preferred choice of the two though. Anyone else got any reviews on them?

Blorg - 25g = a good fart for me. Weight saving is not the reason for wanting to upgrade. Better braking performance is. I agree I would prob be better off upgrading the alu bike I have but money wise thats not an option. I have tried various pads etc but to no avail. Having seen the difference that SRAM RED made I was hoping that there might be a more affordable upgrade that would give me some of that performance.

Tau - I've not tried the swiss-stop pads but I have tried the Durace ones and was told that they are similar. Did not get much of a noticable improvement with the Durace ones so am slow to go buying more pads. Was there a definate improvement in your braking?

Thanks again guys.

Eoin

blorg

I suspect you need adjustment; Tiagra should stop the bike fine. Also bear in mind that the brakes and levers are a system and you need the right amount of cable pull from the lever for your chosen caliper. I transferred calipers which has been excellent with 105 levers onto a fixie where I found the braking spongy and it didn't help (I did not replace the levers.)

enoonan

Thanks for that Blorg. I had a feeling that might be a problem as I read that the Durace brakes had to be used with the Durace levers.
Need to think about this one a bit longer. I might try those Swiss-stop pads that Tau was on about before investing in calipers.

Eoin

blorg

You don't need to use DA brakes with DA levers, but they changed the cable pull in the latest generation, of which DA 7900 came out first. So before Ultegra and 105 were upgraded it was a DA 7900 with DA 7900 thing. 7900/6700/5700 all work together.

Braking is much better from the tops in the new generation.

dooverylittle

Tiagra are fine, just upgrade the break blocks. I recomemd swisstop green ghp http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=42658. I think they are a big upgrade.

enoonan

Thanks again Blorg.

Doverylittle - thanks for that. I reckon that might be worth a try before I go sending big bucks.

Thanks again all

Eoin

petethedrummer

I'm with blorg on this. Put on new cables and new pads and they'll be right as rain again.