davei1980

Anyone with first-hand knowledge of these?

They come to me highly recommended. I see they're WAY cheaper than Paul Components Klamper calipers. Unlike the Klamper they 1. take tools to adjust and 2. actuate both pads

The brakes my bike came with are entry-level Tektros which are a nightmare to get adjusted correctly because the only way to move the outter pad is by loosening the entire caliper and sliding it left or right, then the inner one has a threaded adjuster. Stupid design IMO.

Thanks for your feedback. I am not totally opposed to going hydrolic either, I just don't know if the care and feeding of a hydro system is something I am in to right now. Thanks again

qclabrat

Go with tried and true BB7s. Have two sets and they have been bomb proof. Don't get the BB5, they don't adjust like your current set

katsup

You could get cable / hydro calipers. The Juin Tech M1 is one example.

qclabrat

Hope makes some thing like this as well, have you had personal experienc with the Juin? Seems like a new overseas company looking to fill a niche. Priced well

katsup

I have the Juin Tech R1 (road version) on my Fog Cutter. They feel / stop better than the BB7 that were on my last bike. I've only been using them for about 600 miles, but they have given me no trouble. They don't stop as quickly as full hydro which I've had on mountain bikes.

qclabrat

Please follow up after a maintenance. Interested in the longevity

Kapusta

After some hydro frustrations last year, I considered going back to mechanical, and the Spykes were the ones I was thinking of. The fact that the Spykes move both pads takes care of the biggest drawback of the BB7s (and most other mechanicals). My one hesitation was that I have heard that the adjustments for the pads sometimes move, which kind of sucks.

I used BB7 mtb calipers for years and if you know how to keep them adjusted, they work great, in my experience. Yes, those Tektro calipers kinda suck. My Surly Wednesday came with Tektro calipers, and I replaced them with a set of old BB7s, and it was an improvement. The BB7s let you adjust both pads with knobs at the caliper.

If my XTs give me any more grief this coming season, I may have a set of Spykes in my future.

BTW, don't pay much attention to reviews in road versions of this or other mechanical brakes. MTB mechanicals work better than road mechanical, due to the cable pull ratio. I have bb7 road calipers on my gravel bike and they are not nearly as good as the bb7s on my mountain bikes.

davei1980

Interesting.
My levers on my bike have two cable pull settings; one of these days I'll try the longer one to see if that gives me a better lever feel. The bike came set up on the shorter pull setting so I assumed that was correct for the calipers. Right now I am able to bottom both levers out against the grips which I have heard is a no no, even if not, I don't like it.. Then again, stopping has not been a problem in even the steepest of trails where I needed to stop to see how to proceed......Thinking I'll change out the calipers about the same time the pads wear out and try to sell the old ones to defray the cost

katsup

TRP Spyke = Mountain bike version, long pull
TRP Spyre = Road bike version, short pull

Avid used the same name (BB7) for mountain and road so it is more difficult to tell.

Bottoming out the levers is not the fault of the brakes, the cable needs to be tightened. Moving the cable to the long pull setting on your levers may be enough.

davei1980

... Or the pads being too far from the disc because they're a b**** to adjust

Mmartin0617

Adding on to the bike?

Kapusta

Well you do have a cable tension adjustment at the brake lever, right?

Not as good as having one on the caliper, but I should give you some fine tuning abilities.

davei1980

Yeah looking to upgrade brakes when pads wear out. I like disc brakes so far but the calipers seem crappy which came w/ the bike.

davei1980

Yeah, been messing around w/ the barrel adjuster a little but I don't wanna run myself outta cable either (heard that's a no no too...). There's actually two: one on the caliper and one on the lever. not new to bikes but completely new to discs (can you tell?) I love they give you so many more tire size options and they dissipate heat better than any other brakes but man are they finicky to setup.

I CAN modulate my braking and lockup the rear pretty much at-will so kinda just choosing to ignore as well until I can get some calipers which are easier for me to work on. Had it in to my LBS a few times too. He swore at it too. Got the front pretty good which does the lion's share of the stopping anyway.

Thanks so much for your feedback by the way!