sjanzeir

So, I've been looking at Shimano's range of flat-bar road brake levers: Claris (BL-R2000) Sora (BL-R3000,) Tiagra (BL-4600 or BL-4700,) and Ultegra (BL-R780.)

The feature that these levers all have in common is one that I'm interested in: Adjustable cable pull, similar to Avid's Speed Dial and some Tektros.

Thing is, the Ultegra levers tend to retail at three times the rates of the lowly Claris. Looking around eBay, it's pretty much a wash between Claris and Sora (~$20 a pair or thereabouts,) with Tiagra tending to hover somewhere around the $40 mark, give or take. Just looking at pictures, it's hard for me to discern a meaningful difference in quality between an $10 Claris brake lever and an $32 Ultegra lever. I do own a couple of pairs of 105-level flat-bar levers (BL-R550, which are the only flat-bar levers in the range that are _not_ adjustable and are short-pull only) and in terms of perceived quality and feel, they're about what you'd expect from Shimano: Solidly made, but not much in the way of that snappy, tactile feel of an FR-5 or Promax's older levers (I love the feel of those!)

So, in your experience, us there any difference in actual quality going up from Claris to Ultegra, or is it just a matter of them all being the same lever just branded abd finished differently?

veganbikes

No things do improve and not just via looks but depending on the brakes you are using them for I would go with Avid Speed Dial levers. For some reason they were terrible with brakes for a long time but their levers are fantastic. I absolutely love the SD7s on my hybrid running in this case linear pull brakes and have used about 3 pairs of the SRAM S500 road levers and the TT levers and all have been absolutely excellent in terms of their ergonomics and feel and really do a great job.

If I was going with Shimano I would go Ultegra because I find Ultegra and XT to be a very high end set up for a lot less then the top tier groups and they function super well for a really long time and I value that over purely initial cost because if I have something for 10 years or more and break down the cost over that time it is very low usually. However in this case Avid SDs or Paul Levers are my go to and honestly SDs might slightly beat out the Pauls on some things and I don't say that lightly because I love Paul and all of his wonderful components and they are a treat to look at but work very well.

DorkDisk

Generally, XT/Ultegra does have/has had better quality brake levers over LX/105 but these flat bar levers are different. I've owned every XT lever, and I went with the Ultegra version of this to run a V front+ U rear and was pretty disappointed in the quality; nowhere close to XT/Ultegra I'm used to. In fact, the Ultegra flat bar levers are the same as the Tiagra flat bar levers with a different paint. These are also not "adjustable" but have two fixed positions.

sjanzeir

⬆️ Thank you! Just the kind of insight I was looking for. It's definitely worthwhile for me to be able to save a few bucks with Tiagra levers over Ultegra, which I can spend on ceramic pads!

That's what I meant to say - two positions for long pull and short pull, as opposed to adjustable pull; I should've worded my original post better for that.

The reason I'm interested in the feature is that, should I decide to get me some cable-actuated hydraulic calipers in the future (and I'm not saying that I will; I'm just saying that I might 😁 ) I'll have more freedom to choose which calipers I get. Currently I'm considering a Juin Tech GTP (short pull) up front and an M1 (long pull) out back, but I may just go for an R1 (short pull) as well.

This is for a folding bike that's my modded daily rider, which doesn't see anything near the rigors of hardcore mountain biking, so the likes of NOS or lightly used Deore LT - which a couple of sellers on eBay ask upwards of $250 for - is distinctly overkill. Heck, if those Juin Tech GTPs were long-pull, I would've looked no further than the the old-style reversible Promax levers that are my favorites!

DorkDisk

Perhaps because Speed Dial is from before the SRAM acquisition? Wayne Lumpkin produced some pretty innovative products like the Tri-Align. Luckily the brake levers live on

pre SRAM speed dial

veganbikes

Correct that is true but SRAM also does some nice brake levers as well under the S500/S900 both in a standard road lever and then their TT levers.

All of the pre-SRAM acquisition stuff has generally been pretty good though. SRAM was pretty smart in that getting some good stuff and then maybe stupid getting rid of a bunch of it.

katsup

I'll mimic what DorkDisc said, the only difference I've noticed is the paint. I have set of BL-R780 on my bike now and have used BL-4700 in the past.

If buying from the US, it's only $5 difference from the Bl-R780 compared to the BL-4700
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=65931

It sounds like things are different in Saudi Arabia

bwilli88 

I have both the Ultegra levers and shifters on a couple of bikes and I highly recommend them.

50PlusCycling

I like the Speed Dial levers, they are best which I have used. I installed a set of 1.9L levers on my Birdy, another set on my daughter's Trek, and then a set of SL (Super Light) levers on my Moulton. I have also used XTR, Paul, and TRP levers, but the Speed Dials are the best performing, and are more reasonably priced. They are still available on Amazon as far as I can tell.