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Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike
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  Hi folks,
I need some advice..
I am not familiar with disc brake, I am looking to build a tt bike but when I start looking for a groupset I can't find one with a tt lever.
All tt disc brakes are hydraulic? Hydraulic lever are extremely expensive on my opinion.
Can I just get a mechanical disc brake and switch the rest of my groupset from my old bike? Don't know if will work.
Thank you.
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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I'll give a quick response to this before it gets buried!
I'm in the process of building up a disc TT bike which is also my first disc brake bike ever, so keep in mind I'm a total noob when it comes to that. My thought process was that as long as I'm going with disc brakes, I might as well go all out and get the best braking performance possible with hydraulic. Now as I'm working on a pretty strict budget, I didn't want to shell out for the sram levers and brakes so I ended up ordering the TRP HD-T910 off of amazon for less than $100 each, that includes the levers and calipers. Now the levers are big and heavy, but nothing about this bike screams lightweight so I wasn't worried about it. I'm a little bit wondering if I should have just gone with mechanical ones because the install would be much easier but I just need to suck it up and learn how to install and service hydraulic brakes anyways, it's the future after all.

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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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You can absolutely do that, it is a pretty easy switch. One note though is that the hydraulic lines will be a little easier to route, as they are much less susceptible to sharp bends and the cable dragging on the inside of the housing.
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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Yes you can absolutely do that. I built up a disc TT bike this year and did just that. I used the sram aero levers I already had and ordered these:

TRP Spyre-C Flat Mount Mechancial Disc Brake Set 160mm Rotors (Front+Rear) #ST1487 https://www.amazon.com/...p_apip_c83JIcWCZ4vNI

Now full disclosure on these, they are shit compared to the hydraulic disc brakes I have on my road bike. I will swap over to hydraulic on the TT bike when they make some levers that are more attractive and aero looking than the current offerings.
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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Yokozuna is cheaper, smaller, and 100g lighter than TRP. I would be looking at that one if I had a disc bike.

https://cyclingtips.com/...new-levers-required/
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [Sean H] [ In reply to ]
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Sean H wrote:
Yes you can absolutely do that. I built up a disc TT bike this year and did just that. I used the sram aero levers I already had and ordered these:

TRP Spyre-C Flat Mount Mechancial Disc Brake Set 160mm Rotors (Front+Rear) #ST1487 https://www.amazon.com/...p_apip_c83JIcWCZ4vNI

Now full disclosure on these, they are shit compared to the hydraulic disc brakes I have on my road bike. I will swap over to hydraulic on the TT bike when they make some levers that are more attractive and aero looking than the current offerings.


I understand they will not be quality like hydraulic , but how compare to rim brake?
Thank you
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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loganvass wrote:
I understand they will not be quality like hydraulic , but how compare to rim brake?
Thank you
Discs generally clear muck from the brake track more effectively than rim brakes, so like hydraulic discs you'll see modulation stay more consistent between wet and dry conditions than rim brakes.

Beyond that, it all just depends on how good the setup is. I've used rim brakes that are spongy and weak, and I've used rim brakes that feel about as good in dry weather as the hydro discs on my mountain bike. The same situation exists for mechanical discs.
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [HTupolev] [ In reply to ]
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HTupolev wrote:
loganvass wrote:
I understand they will not be quality like hydraulic , but how compare to rim brake?
Thank you

Discs generally clear muck from the brake track more effectively than rim brakes, so like hydraulic discs you'll see modulation stay more consistent between wet and dry conditions than rim brakes.

Beyond that, it all just depends on how good the setup is. I've used rim brakes that are spongy and weak, and I've used rim brakes that feel about as good in dry weather as the hydro discs on my mountain bike. The same situation exists for mechanical discs.

Do you have any recommendation what is good?
About shimano mechanical brake?
Thank you
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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My Tri bike is mech disc... DADi2 9080 levers with sprye brakes... lever feel and strength is meh... but they work. Eventually I will but ultegra calipers and DA 9180.. but man those levers are ugly and $$$. I have the calipers already just not the levers.
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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If you use compressionless housing, high quality (lubed!) cables, and your cable routing is relatively clean, cable actuated disc brakes are pretty great. The big pluses of hydro brakes are the fact that cables never get gummed up,"cable stretch" (which is a misnomer, but nevermind) isn't a factor, and that they are completely immune to convoluted cable routing issues. Cable actuated discs obviously don't solve any of these, but they are in the same ballpark in terms of braking power and modulation when these issues aren't present.
I recommend the TRP Spyre brakes to most of our customers over the HyRd, as they are less "picky" about cable tension and easier to adjust. The Paul Component Klampers are also quite good.

Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [fredly] [ In reply to ]
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fredly wrote:
If you use compressionless housing, high quality (lubed!) cables, and your cable routing is relatively clean, cable actuated disc brakes are pretty great. The big pluses of hydro brakes are the fact that cables never get gummed up,"cable stretch" (which is a misnomer, but nevermind) isn't a factor, and that they are completely immune to convoluted cable routing issues. Cable actuated discs obviously don't solve any of these, but they are in the same ballpark in terms of braking power and modulation when these issues aren't present.
I recommend the TRP Spyre brakes to most of our customers over the HyRd, as they are less "picky" about cable tension and easier to adjust. The Paul Component Klampers are also quite good.

I will follow your recommendation.
Just one more stupid question.
I went to check prices and I found different kinds.
Trp spyre c , or spyre slo. Spyre post mount ir flat mount.
What size rotor would you recommend?
Thank you so much for your help and everyone in this forum. I really appreciate.
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Re: Hydraulic vs mechanical disc brakes on tt bike [loganvass] [ In reply to ]
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Spyre models are all functionally the same, different models have different weights/construction.

I can't tell you whether you need flat or post mount, will depend on your bike. Vast majority of current road/tri bikes are flat mount.

140 rotors are just fine for most triathletes, but 160 is the neutral support standard. Very little downside to going with the larger size.

Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/
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