shoota 

What's the latest and greatest? I really like my TRP Spyres. Was thinking about moving up to the Hy/Rds, but is there anything better out now?

tangerineowl

Juin Tech R1.

With compressionless housing.

sgtrobo

if you're going to move up from mechs, may as well just jump to hydros. If you're going to stay mechanical, keep the spyres and get 180mm rotors. I'm a 250 lber, and I would barrel down hills on my loaded Fargo (about 300 lbs between me, the bike, and all my crap), and the spyres with the 180s front and rear did a pretty darn impressive job of stopping me. This, coming from a dude who abides by hydros on every other bike he owns

ATPAH

The Hy/Rd is a solid upgrade. You do need the compressionless housing for then to work optimally. It won't be as good as full hydros, but it will be better than any mechanical disc.

shoota 

Yeah I guess I didn't word my original post quite right. I like the Spyres on my Tamland but need a pair of good brakes for my SuperX, so that's why I was asking what the best mechanical brakes are out now.

furiousferret

Hayes are solid.

fietsbob

Paul's Clampers.. CNC in USA, aluminum pad adjustment dials that are easy to use..

redlude97

HYRD is for sure an upgrade in performance. If you are going to be racing cross, then having a self adjusting pad is good, especially if you plan to stick to organic pads. People have burned through a set in a single day of racing and been left with almost no brakes with mechanical setups. They also modulate a lot better with a compatible lever

RockiesDad

Spyre is it. Well that's because I have them... :-)

HY/RD might have better modulation but would be only half a step improvement over Spyres for everyday riding if upgrading. But if starting out with a new build, I would go full hydraulic...

Scooty Puff Jr

I've had the TRP Spykes on my Ogre now for quite a while, even loaded down with a bunch of gear they stop with no issues. Though nothing beats a good set of hydros.

Andy_K 

I've had Hy/Rds and they're a solid brake. I liked them better than the other mechanical brakes I've used, though my only experience with Spyres was with a rental bike and I'm pretty sure they were poorly adjusted.

About 18 months ago I got a Kona Jake the Snake which came with Hayes CX Expert brakes. I had the Hy/Rds on the shelf but didn't feel the need to swap the in versus the Hayes because the Hayes did pretty well. On the other hand, I continued using my old 2008 Major Jake with cantilevers for CX racing because the braking with mechanicals just didn't seem like a game changer. Then last month I upgraded my Jake the Snake to Gevenalle hydraulics (which are TRP Hylex with Gevenalle's shifter and widget attached). This setup was a game changer. I've done 10 races with the hydraulics and don't plan on going back to the bike with cantilevers.

So my opinion is that while Hy/Rds are a good choice for a new build (probably the best choice for mechanicals), I probably would get them to replace existing mechanicals that were working well. Hydraulics, on the other hand, are definitely worth the cost of an upgrade.

shoota 

Hmm I might have to consider going hydraulic then. I haven't felt the need to go hydro because I've been happy with my Spyres and I didn't want to mess with the fluid and hoses and stuff of hydro. But then again I've never used hydro so maybe I should try it first.

Texico

I like the Spyres on my gravel bike, but it mostly gets used for commuting. For commuting I like the ease of maintenance of mechanical disks and tubed tires. In the future when I build up a dedicated gravel bike I will go with a full hydro set up. Then I will have my current bike for commuting and touring, where ease of maintenance is again a big issue. Easier to carry a spare cable than a bleed kit and oil for that kind of stuff. The new crop of hydro stuff from SRAM and Shimano is really nice. I prefer Shimano for their bleed process and use of mineral oil instead of DOT fluid, but when working properly both are they are good stuff.

I'm hoping to get the Ultegra R8000 mech shift/hydro brake combo for an eventual build.

redlude97

not sure I agree, to me HY/RDs paired with 11 speed shimano levers feel 90% as good as my Sram Red HYRD setup, whereas spyres work but lack the modulation that the hydraulics have

shoota 

That's strange because I feel like my Spyres' modulation is pretty good. I mean I never even think about it and I'm as picky as they come. Hydro must be unbelievable.

redlude97

You can brake and modulate with a single finger. With mechanical I still feel like I have to grab the lever with 3 fingers to get the full range of braking power. That is the major difference in modulation to me, and being able to adjust with both the number of fingers and the amount of lever force necessary the modulation is significantly better. HYRD falls inbetween

shoota 

This is true. Good explanation, thanks.

fietsbob

I have to be careful with the front disc or over the bars I'd go... I use the Avid speed dial levers to advantage there,
dial changes cable pull leverage and so front pulls less, rear pulls more (within it's range of adjustment..

I have no reason to buy new calipers, yet, in quest of 'best' ... adequate works well enough. bike came with BB7 Mountain.





....

ATPAH

This. A gravel road I was riding yesterday devolved into technical, rocky singletrack and that last downhill would have gotten ugly if I didn't have three fingers free to grip the bars. I then took my bike for a lovely, short walk through the woods, but that's another story.

shoota 

I wonder how much heavier/lighter an 11s Ultegra hydro group is compared to its mechanical version..

RocThrower

I don't know about calipers, but my RS685 STI's are heavy compared to the mechanical 105s I replaced. For reference, I see my levers listed around 650 gram per pair, and 6800 STIs at 425 grams per pair. For me, the weight was worth the performance and since the initial setup, there has been no maintenance needs except for 1 change of the brake pads.

redlude97

whats the weight once you factor in housing and cable? Generally the calipers on hydros are a lot lighter too

BluesDawg

What is best is always up for differences of opinion. BB7s have always worked well and still do. Spyres also work well and have some at least theoretical advantages. I'm not sure what is best, but I do know that the only ones I lust after are Paul Klampers. But my bike has Rival hydros and I won't be changing them.

fietsbob

Re # 20) If you wonder enough you will put out the effort to find out ...

Andy_K 

When I switched my Jake the Snake from 5800 105 STIs + Hayes CX Expert mechanicals to Gevenalle hydraulics (TRP Hylex with a Gevenalle-shifter bolted on) the total bike weight dropped by half a pound. On the other hand, when I picked up the box with the RS685 STI + RS785 calipers that I have on my 2013 Jake commuter my first thought was "Holy crap these things are heavy!" I think Shimano went a bit overboard beefing up those levers to protect the master cylinder.

Shimano lists the weight for the RS685 STIs at 649 grams per pair, and the RS785 calipers at 271 grams per wheel (so 1191 grams total). I don't see a list weight for the TRP system, but CX Magazine put it at 850 grams for shifters + levers + hoses + calipers. So I've got a bunch of estimates and hand waving here, but based on that data and the weight change I measured for my Jake the Snake, I'm going to guess that a Shimano STI hydraulic system is around 100 grams heavier than their mechanical STIs plus nominal mechanical calipers.