Difference between brakes?

Bwgan

Looking to build up my first road bike (mtb-ing for years) and am looking at parts on ebay. There were some Shimano Tiagra 4400 calipers last night that didn't sell for £15. What is the difference between them and some Ultegras at £50?
Do they have more braking power or are they simply lighter?

Cheers

smidsy

They are just a hinged bit of metal that apply the blocks when the lever is pulled, so it's hard to see what can be better other than less weight. I suppose there may be a correlation between feel and flex for a given set of calipers.

For your first one I would say Tiagra are perfectly fine.

Trev The Rev

Some brakes are more aerodynamic than others.

keef66

I'd say the difference is about £35

Ultegras should come with the cartridge type inserts in a metal holder whereas Tiagras are the all in one moulded jobbies; some people reckon the former are a bit better.

John.T

The Ultegra ones have better bearings / bushes and will be slightly easier to pull on and less likely to seize up. using the same blocks you would notice very little difference in braking performance. I have 2 sets of Ultegra and one set of cheap Tectro using Koolstop Salmon blocks and all are good. Most one piece block and shoe assemblies are inferior.
Koolstop blocks here. http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s104p822

marcusjb

I think it's pretty much been nailed here - the biggest difference in braking performance comes down to blocks (which you can replace with decent cartridge units once you wear out the one-piece ones) and cabling/maintenance.

Nowadays, pretty every caliper gives good performance (especially with some decent blocks). Unless you're really bothered with weight and bling factor, there isn't much advantage in higher cost units.

drlodge

Some brakes are dual pivot, some single pivot. Felt a MASSIVE difference between new Ultegra dual pivot and old Shimano 600EX single pivot calipers, and that was using the same blocks so its clearly not just down to the blocks. Probably due to combination of increased stiffness of the caliper, and mechanical leverage.

John.T

drlodge wrote:

Some brakes are dual pivot, some single pivot. Felt a MASSIVE difference between new Ultegra dual pivot and old Shimano 600EX single pivot calipers, and that was using the same blocks so its clearly not just down to the blocks. Probably due to combination of increased stiffness of the caliper, and mechanical leverage.

Quite right, but there are not many single pivot brakes around now aimed at the road bike market. The ones the OP quoted are both dual pivot.

MattC59

smidsy wrote:

They are just a hinged bit of metal that apply the blocks when the lever is pulled, so it's hard to see what can be better other than less weight. I suppose there may be a correlation between feel and flex for a given set of calipers.

For your first one I would say Tiagra are perfectly fine.

You're absolutely right, other than weight, there's nothing between Tiagra and Dura Ace. :roll:

But yes, Tiagra are fine.

Bwgan

Excuse the ignorance, again, what is the difference between single and dual pivot?

Gizmodo

Bwgan wrote:

Excuse the ignorance, again, what is the difference between single and dual pivot?

The number of pivot points (sorry, couldn't resist)
See http://sheldonbrown.com/calipers.html

For more information on rim brakes and the difference between using quality materials and design vs. cheaper components, see http://sheldonbrown.com/rim-brakes.html

drlodge

John.T wrote:

Quite right, but there are not many single pivot brakes around now aimed at the road bike market. The ones the OP quoted are both dual pivot.

There aren't many single pivot front brakes perhaps, but my Super Record 11 rear brake is single pivot.

John.T

drlodge wrote:

John.T wrote:

Quite right, but there are not many single pivot brakes around now aimed at the road bike market. The ones the OP quoted are both dual pivot.

There aren't many single pivot front brakes perhaps, but my Super Record 11 rear brake is single pivot.

Campags idea for reducing the power available at the rear. They lack consistency with it through the range though. A bit of a gimmick in my opinion.

lef

tiagra with shimano pads = pants. Tiagra with koolstop salmons = perfectly fine.

simon_masterson

Think in terms of 'minimum spec'. You can expect inexpensive brakes to allow you to stop hard when you need to, and generally do what brakes do. My favourite bike has Tektro 747s on; not expensive at all but they do the job very well.

If you spend more you can expect to get better response, lower weight (the premium in cycling tends to be in this attribute) and improved aerodynamics (in some brakes, anyway; hardly something to lose sleep over!)

smidsy

The average rider on here is probably 12 stone plus and we are talking about aero brakes ..... you gotta love forums :-)

Pigtail

Well I tend to disagree on the difference. I have an allez with tiagra and the brakes were the major weakness. Pads for it come all-in-one and they were awkward to set-up. Despite regular cleaning the rear pivot was a bit dodgy - I don't think the spring was up to it. I tried ultegra all in one pads, the ones in the plastic case and they made a little difference but not a lot.

Eventually I bought 105s with separate cartridge and pads and they're much better. I'm still on stock 105 pads and they are working fine. I'm a bit of a thrill seeker and like descending quickly. I feel much more confident in my brakes with the 105s.

Bwgan

Cheers for all the help guys, bit a reading for later

simon_masterson

smidsy wrote:

The average rider on here is probably 12 stone plus and we are talking about aero brakes ..... you gotta love forums :-)

Indeed.

But I'm 6'0 and about 10 stone 6, and that's after putting a little weight on. What do I win?

Bwgan

Mars bar

simon_masterson

Done. Don't bother to post it; I'll come and collect.