Brake upgrade advice

Dazza993

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 2nd hand (but in as new condition) Specialized Allez (base model with the triple crankset)

I'm new to road cycling but one of the weakest areas on the bike seems to be the brakes. I'm guessing their non-branded items and as such there's better to be had.

I seems like you can get a decent set of calipers (I'm thinking Ultegra 6600 SL) for around £60.

The brakes in question have a 49mm drop. Where do I measure on my existing brakes to see if they're the same 49mm drop? (or can anyone confirm if they'll fit).

I presume that going from non-branded to Ultegra I'll notice a significant difference in stopping power. I presume that the Ultegra calipers will happily work with the 2200 series levers on my Allez too?

Any advice on the brakes and future component upgrades appreciated

Thanks in advance

gkerr4

to be honest you don't need to go as far as ultegra - you would notice a difference by moving to some 'series' parts - even tiagra and certainly 105 - not sure any will be a "significant" upgrade though.
personally I'd buy some tiagra calipers and some koolstop 'salmon' pads to go with them and pocket the difference.

topdude

Regarding calipers, I went from Tiagra to Ultegra and there was a definite improvement. Not a huge difference but less flexing and better braking.
I had some Tektro calipers on a previous bike and the Tiagra ones were better than those.
So if you are going from unbranded to Ultegra you should notice quite an improvement.

Cranks

The Allez is classed as a Racing bike, so is a 49mm drop.