Brake Callipers

thescouselander
Posts: 549
I was wondering what the general view on brake callipers was. There seems to be loads of options relating to the standard dual pivot design with costs ranging from not much at all to well into 3 figures.
What is the difference is though? Clearly the more expensive types look nicer and are a touch lighter but are there any other differences? I would have thought the biggest factor in braking would be the friction material used for brake block.
Is changing the brake callipers on a bike a worthwhile upgrade or it it all about the bling factor?
What is the difference is though? Clearly the more expensive types look nicer and are a touch lighter but are there any other differences? I would have thought the biggest factor in braking would be the friction material used for brake block.
Is changing the brake callipers on a bike a worthwhile upgrade or it it all about the bling factor?
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Mostly about the bling. Really cheap calipers can be a bit flexy and thus crap.0
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Hoping to get some of these http://cycling.ciamillo.com/ at the end of the month. Should be something of a step up from the Soras that i am running at the moment i hope! :?
Have a big ride next month so i want decent brakes for some the hills i'll be tackling. I'll let you know once i get them how much better they are 8)Cannondale SS Evo Team
Kona Jake CX
Cervelo P50 -
They certainly look bling enough - it will be interesting to hear how you get on with them.0
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Unless you can see the arms of your callipers flexing, it's all about the pads.Boardman Elite SLR 9.2S
Boardman FS Pro0 -
Spending money on good calipers will buy you one (or more) of 3 things.. lightweight, power, or aerodynamic.
For short money, the PlanetX lightweight CNC brakes are impossible to beat. 100g per caliper, and tonnes of power.
For aerodynamic, the Simkins are a very interesting design. Bit lardy at 1.5x the weight of the PlanetX for example, but they should, for TT or Tri use, pay for themselves quickly and more than offset their weight with a real aero advantage. The only reservation I have about them is that in their CFD modelling, they didn't have the front wheel in place, only the brake mounted on a fork. Er.. I may be odd, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that the vast majority of us run front wheels and with the front wheel being the leading edge for the rest of the bike really, it would certainly have made sense in my opinion, to have done the CFD modelling with a wheel in place to take into account the air flow patterns and turbulence from the wheel. < / END RANT >
Anyway, those are two very interesting designs.. most of the rest fall somewhere in between, with a few boutique brakes costing inane money, weighing very little, but having greatly compromised stopping power in my exposure to them.
I did a mini-review of the Planet X brakes on my blog if you're bored :
http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinternet.org/2011/03/07/planet-x-ultra-light-cnc-brake-calipers-5-minute-review/
Just my 2c........................
http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinternet.org
Cycle related blog entries, including a few 5 minute reviews:
http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinterne ... y/cycling/0 -
Also, niceties like stainless fittings instead of plated ones and better protection of pivot points from the elements.- - - - - - - - - -
On Strava.{/url}0 -
Sleeping_menace wrote:Spending money on good calipers will buy you one (or more) of 3 things.. lightweight, power, or aerodynamic.
For short money, the PlanetX lightweight CNC brakes are impossible to beat. 100g per caliper, and tonnes of power.
"Power" is meaningless in this context, as it is supplied entirely by the rider's hand. There is only Mechanical Advantage (MA), which is chosen by manufacturers as a balance of various factors which act against each other. It isn't more expensive to make a brake with higher than normal MA, though it will have some disadvantages (hence the norm is lower).
Bicycle brakes are simple levers. Variable-rate brakes (with a rising MA) are "re-invented" every few years: they never work predictably well, for well understood reasons.0