mstateglfr 

A year ago when I was building up my current frame, I had to choose between new hydraulic shifters and brakes or keeping my awesome Gevenalle shifters and buying some Juintech cable actuated hydraulic calipers.
I went with the cable hydraulic because I could still use my 11sp Gevenalle shifters that are super comfortable and easy to use in all hand positions.

I finally decided to make the switch to full hydraulic and got some 105 7020 shifters with 7070 calipers.
They say in the box for a few weeks and I hurridly set them up a couple days ago to have them for a short 4 day family trip to Gravelville(Whiterock Conservancy).

I will always have a soft spot for the Gevenalle shifters, but these 105 hydraulics are incredible. Shifting is as good as ever, braking is noticably better, and the hood design feels good(and looks better than the old version). They seem to spray out more than my old setup on the bars, but its comfy still.

$380 shipped to me in 2 days becausebeeline is awesome. I'll end up selling my old stuff for $175 and call it a serious win.

This is probably mostly preaching to the choir, but its a nice change/upgrade for sure.
...now to just shorten the hoses when I get back.

scubaman

Gevenalle also offers hydraulic levers with their shifters, so that's an option for folks too.

GrainBrain

I need to throw the bike in my truck and head out to whiterock for a day trip again I love hydraulic because they just work, and I have yet to give any thought to the brakes throughout my ride.
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DorkDisk

Thats a nice setup.

As an old MTBer that resisted disk brakes BITD, I find it odd how long it took for drop bars to go hydraulic for non racers

wheelsmcgee

I’ve certainly been pleased with the R7020 setup on my warbird. Braking is great and requires almost no pressure. In fact, they are so good that when I first rode the bike I briefly thought something was wrong with shifting...every time I downshifted on the cassette the bike jerked...I was just ever-so-slightly braking when I’d swing the shift/brake lever.

That being said, even now, I’d probably have chosen a decent cable actuated setup has it been an option, all else being equal. Nothing wrong with hydraulic, just have never had problems with cable actuated and know how to work on them...Also, in my part Kansas, I have few opportunities to actually use my brakes enough to where it matters. I’m sure when the hydro brakes need maintenance I’ll figure it out.

Koyote

Just watch those shift cables. If they are like the 105 11sp mechanical cables, you should probably replace the RD cable every few thousand miles.

msu2001la

I love hydro disc brakes and doubt I'll ever buy a rim or mechanical disc brake bike again. They are super powerful and smooth.
Also, 105 11sp hydro groupset is just about the perfect blend of performance, weight and cost. Shimano packs so much performance into that tier that it becomes hard to justify the cost of higher tier groupsets.

I am curious though... did you consider GRX shifters/brakes?

mstateglfr 

Its a great place to get outdoors. Hilly gravel everywhere you look, canoe/kayaking the river, like 30mi of MTB trails, multiple fishing ponds, tons of hiking, etc.
The river is too low to kayak right now, so we hike the river for a couple hours each day which is a hilarious and fun experience.

mstateglfr 

I have 5800 and 6800 shifters on road bikes and these feed the same way. Are you referring to the quick wear due to the cable bend within the shifter? I've read about that before, but curious if there is something more.

mstateglfr 

Briefly. A cursory look at grx810 shifter and brake caliper costs put grx at more than double the cost. I figured even if the sites I found were expensive, I wouldn't find anything close to the $385 shipped from Merlin for what I got.

Between my old shifters and current ones, I have yet to wish my lever pivot point was different, so I figured the 105 would work for me.

Koyote

Yes, you get the reference. My RD cable has frayed/broken (within the shifter) twice in about 8500 miles: first time was at about 4,000 miles, second time was on a cable that had about 1,500 miles on it. Apparently it's pretty bad on the Shimano 11sp group. Granted, I shift a lot, as I live in a very hilly area, but it's pretty ridiculous. Prior to this, I had not had a shift cable failure (9sp and 10sp) in about 65k miles.

According to my shop, when the cable breaks inside the shifter (and that's where it will break), it sometimes splinters apart and bits get stuck in the mechanism; if it can't all be removed, you may have to buy a new shifter. So, according to them, the key is that, when your bike stops shifting properly, STOP CLICKING on the shift lever - as that will make it worse.

DorkDisk

Only the Di2 versions have the different lever point. The differences are a matte texture on the brake levers and textured hoods.

mstateglfr 

Good to know, that's how littleni considered them- didn't even realize the lever point is only on di2.
I really wasn't interested in paying almosy 2x for textured levers.
If it had been a new build and 105 or grx were offered for the same price though, i would go grx cuz why not.

bonsai171

Oddly enough that happened to me on my Shimano 105 5700 road bike while on a 50 mile ride. The derailleur wouldn't shift to the 4 highest gears on the cassette. The cable also frayed in such a way that a piece went thru the brake hood and got my finger. Didn't figure out what happened till the end of the ride. Pushed back the hood, carefully cut out the inner cable, lubed up a new one, and then re-indexed the derailleur. Only a couple bucks for a cable, so I can't be mad about it. Interesting to see others have the same issue. For reference, the cable frayed after 5,000 miles.

Dave

Koyote

Yeah, when that strand of cable stabs you in the hand, it’s a bad sign. 😀

scubaman

This is one problem the Gevenalle shifters eliminate. They're obviously not everyone's taste. But I think there's no argument that they are simpler and easier to maintain than Shimano, SRAM or Campy brifters - plus a friction mode - which for me are very big pluses for gravel & bikepacking.

996

Clean setup! I'm thinking of going 105 hyrdo shifters for my Fairdale Rockitship, GRX derailleur in the rear, with an MTB crank for lower 1x gearing. Still figuring it out. What bars are you running?

mstateglfr 

Salsa cowchipper. Its the middle of their 3 flared bars

996

Thank you! Also - one thing I am worried about is the post mount front fork on the Rockitship - will a post mount to flat mount adapter work? Kind of feel like they may be a bit unsafe. Maybe I can just use a Shimano post mount hydro caliper in the front and a 105 flat mount caliper in the rear??

zen_

I had this happen recently on a 5800 shifter that had around 3,500 milrs on one of the really expensive slick Shimano cables (hilly area with lots of shifting). PITA to get the head out, and I kinda broke the door under the lever not know exactly how it came out, but I did get it out without breaking the whole lever. Think I'm just going to do cheaper cables every 2,000 miles from now on, because I let my rear brake cable (actuating a TRP HY/RD caliper) in a full housing go too long, and it rusted + ruined the expensive compressionless Jagwire housing.

Which brings me to my next point, the TRP HY/RD cable actuated hydraulic brakes are pretty good, but I think my next brakes will just be full hydraulic to not mess around with any steel cables.

tdilf

Hydraulics for the win! Been running Ultegra with hydraulic brakes and love it.

zen_

I blame this thread for an impulse(ish) buy of ST-RS685 shifters (non-series Ultegra) + BR-RS785 calipers (non-series post mount) last night! When I bought the HY/RD calipers for like $120 back in January instead of converting to real hydraulics, this combo was still like $600, while buying 105 hydraulic shifters with the BR-RS785 calipers was about $500. There is still one kit left on eBay for $290.

fietsbob

There are hydraulic shifters for bikes , to really be fully hydraulic..


Hoses not cables,,

https://bikerumor.com/2011/06/26/vid...ing-in-action/




...

996

mstateglfr Just bought Shimano R7020 Hydraulic shifters & calipers for my Rockitship build... Will post pics once done.

mstateglfr 

Definitely post em!
Are you installing or having a shop do the work? I installed and rode for a couple months with long hoses, then took it to a shop to cut the hoses to size and properly bleed the line. Itd been a few years since I took a bike to a shop for work, but I dont have a bleed kit and dont think I really need one quite yet. It was cheaper for them to do the work than for me to buy the kit.