Cross-post: Long drop brakes

MisterMuncher

(Cross-posting from Road Buying Advice)

Are there any long drop brakes out there likely to give me a better pound/performance ratio than the Shimano BR R-650 currently available for £50-odd a pair from CRC? I'm growing rather weary of the maybe/maybe not performance of the no-name parts (probably bottom-shelf Tektro) fitted to my bike at present.

cyclingprop

Ultegra (and 105) brakes were a noticable upgrade for me from tiagra and tektro. Including R550s (at the time) on the bike which needed a long drop.

£50 is a good price. Also look at merlin or ribble for component deals.

rolf_f

What pads are you using?

sketchley

The R-650 are probably just about the best long drop you can get, I change the tektro on my genesis equalibirum for them and the difference was immense. Plus I'm 18stone so need good stopping power. The only issue (for some) is they don't come in black. If you are happy with silver calipers go for it. Normally v.cheap per pair at Ribble. (edit: £55.56 at Ribble)

An upgrade to SwissStop "Blue" BXP pads, or greens if you can't get BXPs, for wet weather make a big difference from stock shimano which are ok in the dry but no where near as good as SwissStop in the wet. Assuming that is you are running aluminium rims.

If you want other options take a look at the Genesis Equalibrium thread viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12780959 long drops have been done (to death) in there serveral times as the stock brakes were rubbish on early models. I believe they use Shimano 450 now.

MisterMuncher

At the moment, I'm using Swisstop Greens in Ashima Aluminium shoes. The braking is better than with the stock Ashima pads, or the regrettable solid rubber blocks that came stock, but is still pretty poor. There's simply too much flex in the calliper, and it's all but impossible to get a setup that will brake well with any modulation whatsoever. It's either barely any brake, or way, way too much.

chilling

Are you talking about the stock calipers or the 650's? That sounds weird if you are talking about the 650's. I use Swisstop Greens in mine and they have plenty of modulation.

Good braking performance too, I can generally lock both front and rear wheels on demand, wet or dry.

sketchley

I think he means the stock Tektro's mentioned in the OP....

If they are same as 2011 Equalibrium then they have way to much flex, my first upgrade was to green's it improved things but the flex was the killer. The r650s sorted all that out, no flex, powerful braking etc, throughly recommend them. As above the stock pads are ok, unless it's very wet where the greens (good) or BXP "blues" (better) will come into thier own.

Also for me coming from vbrakes on a flat bar to drop bar and calipers I found a bit more distance between pad and rim than I used with the vbrakes was needed to get the right feel, this is because of y short fat fingers and something about mechanical advantage that I don't quite understand as I was chasing girls and drinking rather than paying attention in lectures at uni.

sketchley

chilling wrote:

Are you talking about the stock calipers or the 650's? That sounds weird if you are talking about the 650's. I use Swisstop Greens in mine and they have plenty of modulation.

Good braking performance too, I can generally lock both front and rear wheels on demand, wet or dry.

Good braking performance is not the same as being able to "lock both wheels on demand" as anyone with disc brakes will be along to tell us shortly

MisterMuncher

Yeah, the stock callipers. Apparently made of blu-tac.

Kieran_Burns

Sketchley wrote:

chilling wrote:

Are you talking about the stock calipers or the 650's? That sounds weird if you are talking about the 650's. I use Swisstop Greens in mine and they have plenty of modulation.

Good braking performance too, I can generally lock both front and rear wheels on demand, wet or dry.

Good braking performance is not the same as being able to "lock both wheels on demand" as anyone with disc brakes will be along to tell us shortly

Disc brake = predictable in any weather which is a godsend

chilling

Sketchley wrote:

chilling wrote:

Are you talking about the stock calipers or the 650's? That sounds weird if you are talking about the 650's. I use Swisstop Greens in mine and they have plenty of modulation.

Good braking performance too, I can generally lock both front and rear wheels on demand, wet or dry.

Good braking performance is not the same as being able to "lock both wheels on demand" as anyone with disc brakes will be along to tell us shortly

I did say they have plenty of modulation too. The lock both wheels on demand comment was just to illustrate that their performance generally outstrips the amount of friction available.

650's are the kings of long drop calipers.

MisterMuncher

That seems pretty conclusive then.