Ultegra 6500 shifter / caliper problem

tonytiger81

Hi all,

I'm building up a frame and have an Ultegra 6500 groupset, all but the brake calipers, and am wondering about what brakes I can source as 6500 is now as rare as hens teeth. I have read about compatibility issues with regard to the amount of cable pulled when braking so apparently most new calipers are pretty much useless. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Borderfox

I have new 105 levers coupled with dura ace 7800 brakes and they work a treat. I had the 105 5700 brakes before and not bad but not a patch on these.

tonytiger81

Thank you borderfox but from what I can gather using older 9speed systems with a 10 or 11spd brake calipers create situations where you are either full brake or no brake mode and no in between. I'm wondering if anyone has mixed 9 speed shimano with 10/11spd calipers, or maybe using sram calipers might be better vs say newer ultegra models ?

Cee-Jay-Cee

I would have thought older brake levers would have pulled more cable and newer ones have shortened the pull ratio for quicker and more effective breaking so while fitting newer brake levers and old calipers won't worl it should work with old levers and new calipers...non?

tonytiger81

That i'm not sure of. I assumed the calipers wouldn't be a problem until I started to look into it!! So if I end up not finding a matching (6500) brakeset would it be ok to buy a new pair of sram calipers for instance?

Puggy

I've an old set of Shimano BR-R561 calipers, front and back, which are non series 105's (10 speed levers, which I don't have). Your welcome to try them, I'm based in north county dublin. Pm me if your interested.

tonytiger81

Hi Puggy - I've managed to find a pair of NOS ultegra calipers on german flea bay. Thanks very much for the offer. Still interested in whether anyone has mixed 9spd levers with new '11' speed calipers (as some shops advertise them that way). anyone?