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ATTN: Drop to Flat Bar Converters: Mechanical Disc Brake Calipers & Levers

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ATTN: Drop to Flat Bar Converters: Mechanical Disc Brake Calipers & Levers

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Old 03-17-19, 12:27 AM
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michaelm101
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ATTN: Drop to Flat Bar Converters: Mechanical Disc Brake Calipers & Levers

I have another thread involving brake levers, brakes and flat bar conversion.

I left my TRP Spyre (road) mech disc caliper on the front. I installed a TRP Spyke (mtb) caliper at the rear.
I just received my Avid Speed dial levers and got everything dialed in. My rear brake is now far superior to my front brake in all departments (even compared it with a separate canti -style lever on the front). A new TRP Spyke for the front is on the way...

Moral of story: Get MTB levers & MTB calipers for the best braking with flat bars on any terrain/surface!
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Old 03-17-19, 08:41 AM
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Originally Posted by michaelm101
I have another thread involving brake levers, brakes and flat bar conversion.

I left my TRP Spyre (road) mech disc caliper on the front. I installed a TRP Spyke (mtb) caliper at the rear.
I just received my Avid Speed dial levers and got everything dialed in. My rear brake is now far superior to my front brake in all departments (even compared it with a separate canti -style lever on the front). A new TRP Spyke for the front is on the way...

Moral of story: Get MTB levers & MTB calipers for the best braking with flat bars on any terrain/surface!
I will be able to make a Spyre to Spyke comparison soon. I already have a Spyre setup in use on my Lynskey touring bike. I am building a Lynskey MTB with Spyke right now. I like the Spyres just fine for the kind of riding I have done so far. They are a bit soft, but do an adequate job of bringing the bike to a stop. They are very linear in their performance. No surprises at all even under aggressive braking.
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Old 03-17-19, 09:06 AM
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Originally Posted by michaelm101
I have another thread involving brake levers, brakes and flat bar conversion.

I left my TRP Spyre (road) mech disc caliper on the front. I installed a TRP Spyke (mtb) caliper at the rear.
I just received my Avid Speed dial levers and got everything dialed in. My rear brake is now far superior to my front brake in all departments (even compared it with a separate canti -style lever on the front). A new TRP Spyke for the front is on the way...

Moral of story: Get MTB levers & MTB calipers for the best braking with flat bars on any terrain/surface!
Wrong moral. Get the levers that match the brakes. Assuming that your bike had discs before your conversion, why remove the rear one and replace it with a different cable pull brake? There are any number of brake levers that work with flat bars and road pull brakes. SRAM and Shimano make many of them.
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Old 03-17-19, 09:52 AM
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I've kept the Avid Speed dial levers, when changing from BB7 Mountain, to TRP Hy Road ..

the speed dial is another available adjustment, .. cable pull ratio ..., I have more on the rear than the front..

with longer cable pull shorter demand on the other end,
using cable slack before pads hit the disc, adjusts where the hand grip falls in the lever swing..


Bike Friday .. with Trekking bars ... 160 disc on 20" wheel is relatively huge..






...

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Old 03-17-19, 11:36 AM
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Originally Posted by cyccommute


Wrong moral. Get the levers that match the brakes. Assuming that your bike had discs before your conversion, why remove the rear one and replace it with a different cable pull brake? There are any number of brake levers that work with flat bars and road pull brakes. SRAM and Shimano make many of them.
Thanks for the tip, but there's a whole thread I started on levers for my existing Spyres. I have a drawer full of levers, many cantilever type, that were suggested that did Ok, but just OK. There's a gnarly, off-road hill near me and what I had didn't cut the mustard on the long and tiring descent.

When the TRP rep told me the Spykes, pound for pound, all things being equal, provide better stopping power, I stopped monkeying around and spent the 60 bucks on a rear one to try. I became a fan. I'm ready to spend another 60 on a front, unless you can convince me otherwise, because I like the aesthetics of the Spyre better than the Spyke :-)
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Old 03-17-19, 12:54 PM
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What you found makes sense to me.

When looking at flat bar setups, the longer cable pull used in MTB disc brake systems works better than the short cable pull of road systems.

I noticed this with BB7s. The mountain versions work better than the road versions.

It does not surprise me that the rep said what he did about Spyres vs Spykes.
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Old 03-17-19, 01:15 PM
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Saw in a parts breakdown drawing, an 'exploded view' a ring is rotated by the lever arm on the caliper,
the ramps in that crown like ring are steeper with short pull version, than the longer pull ..

Unlike BB 5&7 spyre /spyke has 2, 1 for each pad ..



...
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Old 03-17-19, 09:22 PM
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There are brake handles in whatever pull you need that have more or less reach. My Paul Canti levers have more reach than any other straight bar brake levers I have tried. I know that TRP has or had MTB levers for the Spyke.
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