joejack951

Did you need to do anything special during setup? That is typically a very problematic pairing of components. I designed short pull arms to be able to use HY/RD calipers with my Campy levers on my own bike. With the stock arms, the brake levers hit the bars before max force could be applied. The Spyre calipers have a similarly long pull actuation arm but the design is such that a shorter pull arm isn't easily swapped in.

Hiro11

No, I haven't had any of these issues. I use the low compression cable housing and keep the pads wound in to proper distance. Note: I live in a very flat area. Not sure how it would work if you do huge descents.

katsup

Are you sure you don't have the TRP Spyke?

TRP Spyke = Long Pull (mountain)
TRP Spyre = Short Pull (road)

Hiro11

No, he's right. The Spyre is designed to work with Shimano road levers, which have ~12mm longer lever pivot and a resulting longer cable pull than Campy road levers. Having said that, I haven't really had an issue. I don't run the pads super close to the rotor, I do use compressionless housing. Again, I live in Illinois and I'm not descending mountains around here. If I pull the lever really hard I can contact the bar but I'm not doing that frequently while riding. I don't think I would recommend this setup if you are doing big descents or frequent hard braking but around here I actually find the modulation of this setup to work well.

Apparently, the best overall solution is Paul Klampers if you are running Campy levers. Paul makes a version of their actuating lever specifically for Campagnolo. Maybe some day I'll splurge and get a set, but at $500 for a set of Klamper calipers... I'll stick with the Spyres for now.

force10

I have to say that I am surprised to hear the love for these brakes. I have TRP Spyre-C brakes on a Salsa Vaya and have been pretty underwhelmed by them.

Maybe its me but I had been hoping/expecting for both more power and modulation from disk brakes but did not want the added hassle of hydraulic.

Suggestions for improvement (w/o going full replacement with hydraulic) that I am seeing in this thread are: 1. replace calipers w/ Yokozuna Ultimo, and 2. Try Deore XT rotor/Decathlon semi-metallic pads. Am I missing any??

katsup

Good to know. I have heard of that with the TRP HY/RD brakes, but not the Spyre.

Juin Tech makes 2 and 4 piston hybrid calipers as well. I believe they are the same calipers as Yokozuna, just with a different name.

Compression less housing may help, but I've never used spyre as I jumped from BB7 to juin tech.

DarKris

I had my budget drop bar 29er built up with TRP Spyres that I had on my first cyclocross build. I've been using full hydros for over 2 years so I was concerned going back to mechanical. I FORGOT how good these brakes feel especially when paired with compression-less housing.

Hiro11

Try compressionless housing. I use Jagwire KEB-SL on the bike I have with Spyres, it's pricey but it makes a big difference.

csport

I have a good exprerience with TRP Spyres and Sora 3503 3x9 levers. The only problem for me is some lack of stopping power during braking from the hoods. From the drops or from the tops (Tektro 721 cross levers) it is adequate. Here I have to admit being a heavy rider at 300#. Housing is compressionless Jagwire Road Pro, I can confirm that it makes a difference.

What do you think: is upgrading from Spyres or BB7s to a 4 piston caliper worth it? I have read that HY/RD is only marginally better than Spyre. In particular, do these 4-piston brakes give better stopping power? FWIW, the bike I have is QR, no thru axles. Yokozunas are $200+ for one caliper, not exactly cheap.

Not nearly as pricey as Yokozuna Ultimo

katsup

I'm using Juin Tech R1 (2 piston) and paid $135 for the pair (pre covid) and both the bikes with the BB7 and with the Juin Tech are QR. I like the Juin Tech much more than the BB7 brakes. I am using normal cable housing and am much more confident in my braking. Compression less housing is due to go on once I unwrap the bars, but it may be awhile.

csport

Thanks! Looks like the price of R1's is the same now, dual piston GT is twice more expensive. Looks like I should also try R1 as people say that BB7 has a slightly better stopping power than TRP Spyre (and Spyre has a better modulation), and R1 is more powerful than BB7.

Yokozuna's price has some overhead for branding and it also includes their Reaction cable/compressionless housing. $450 for a pair of Ultimates comes close to the price of a hydraulic groupset...

csport

Upgraded Spyres to Juin Tech R1's a while ago. Totally worth it.

Lazyass

I had Spyres on a first year Diverge and they were great. I have an '07 Cannondale F4 with BB5's and I actually love them. I like both of them more than the 105 hydraulics on my road bike. But on the other hand, the SLX hydraulics on my newest MTB are the best brakes I've ever owned.

redlude97

Anyone else ever get water in them and have to replace the bearings? I had a pair for awhile that got crunchy over time wet commuting and decided to replace them with HY/RDs then full hydraulic but apparently they can be rebuilt

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/t...rebuild-guide/

Rick

My Co-Motion Pangea Rohloff came with the Spyres. I weighed 376 lbs and the Spyres were not working for me. I tried the Hy/Rds and could not get used to the lack of usable lever travel. I have the Paul Klampers with YOKOZUNA
Reaction brake cable housing and they work great.

force10

I don’t know why but mine got crunchy and then the lever came back to the bar during a ride. LBS said they couldn’t fix them but sent them back to TRP for replacement under warranty. Just got the bike back today actually.

I wasn’t crazy about them before.

redlude97

TRP does have a great warranty service, they sent me a new set of HYRDs when one of my pistons got seized

pbass

I have TRP Spyres on one bike currently--love them. I live in a very steep area, and I have no complaints. I had some BB7s too in the past and was perfectly happy w them as well.

Rick

One of my Hy/Rds blew out the cylinder and TRP immediately sent the replacement with the return box and prepaid postage for the broken one. The Spyres, Hy/Rds and Spykes are setting in my tool box. The Paul Kamper's are on my bicycle. I dropped about seven pounds this week so someday I may use one of the other brake sets.

dwmckee

So far we have only put the Hy/Rds on Shimano builds. We hardly ever see Campy, but we are mostly a gravel shop.

pbass

Inspecting my brakes today (TRP Spyres) I'm about due for new pads. What pads do you folks recommend? What's on there now is what came stock with them on the bike. Have lasted quite a while actually, and it's steep here.

Racing Dan

Me too, to the point I did replace them with hydro. Compression free cables help, but the housing is VERY stiff and a faff to install and still not nearly as good as my hydro discs.

redlude97

Shimano B01s is the same size, readily available anywhere and work well

dwmckee

Who is saying that the BB7 has better stopping power than the Spyre brakes? I think you have this backwards...

csport

I may be wrong.

Anyway, I can confirm that Juin Tech R1 is much stronger than TRP Spyres. After the upgrade I have the stopping power from the hoods I had been missing before. I am not saying that Spyres or BB7s are bad, for me some advantages of Juin Tech R1 are:​​​​​​

• Better stopping power, need it as a heavy rider.
• Hydraulic system will re-center automatically, very convenient for the QR wheels I have on the Double Cross.
• Adjustment for pad wear is done with one knob. With Spyres I had to drill a hole in the dork disk for the 3mm wrench to adjust the pads. Also, these adjustment screws would loosen, making me re-adjust them periodically. Purple Loctite (kind of) fixed this.
• Slightly shorter lever throw, easier to setup.
• No sophisticated mechanical parts which can be contaminated with dirt.

Not sure about oil boiling on long descents, have not tried that. Spyres and BB7s win here.