Giant Defy 1 (2014) and 105 Brakes

newtonuk

Hi folks, my Giant Defy 1 (2014 model) came with Tektro R540 Giant Specific brakes and I'd like to upgrade them to 105. However, Tektro list the R540 as having a drop of 39-51mm, but Shimano list the drop on the 150 5700 brakes as 49mm.

Does anybody have any experience of fitting 105 brakes to the standard Defy? Do they fit and work and can I still fit Giant's mudguards?

TIA

k-dog

The brakes will fIt fine - they're both just regular drop brakes.

If the mudguards fit at the moment they should still fit with the 105 brakes.

dj58

Are you referring to the 5700 105 Calipers or the 5800 105 Calipers? I use Ultegra 6700 calipers on my Defy which have the same 51mm reach as the 5700 and 5800 calipers , I use the Defy specific mudguards without problems with the Shimano brake calipers.

newtonuk

DJ58 wrote:

Are you referring to the 5700 105 Calipers or the 5800 105 Calipers? I use Ultegra 6700 calipers on my Defy which have the same 51mm reach as the 5700 and 5800 calipers , I use the Defy specific mudguards without problems with the Shimano brake calipers.

Hi, the 5800 calipers are listed on every site I can find as 49mm as do the Ultegra ones. However, you ask if I was referring to the 5700 or the 5800 calipers. I was referring to the 5700, but you then state that the 5700, the 5800 and the Ultegra 6700 calipers all have 51mm drop anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter which ones I was referring to if they all have the same drop.

However, if you're using the Ultegra and they all have the same reach, then that's good enough for me :-)

dj58

Yes, you could use any of those calipers, FYI the technical specs can be found on the Shimano website.
http://productinfo.shimano.com/#/spec/1 ... er%20Brake)

newtonuk

Great link, thank you!