My braking has always sucked on my Softride, it just feels squishy. I currently have Syntace levers and XLab calipers. I have already ordered some profile levers with the return spring to help out some, but I am wondering how much of an impact a new pair of Dura Ace or Ultegra calipers will improve things?
I know that Cervelo uses thier own house calipers and I have heard of many people replacing them asap. Same idea here?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
Both front & rear squishy? Have you replaced the stock cables? Are your tolerances on the brake-pad to rim pretty close? More info & I can help steer you in the right direction–I have a zipp, and the tortuous route that the cables go on that bike demand exacting setup & premium parts.
Hi,
The cable routing on my trek tt is quite something (winding all over the place), and initially the rear brake was really squishy. I found that zap-strapping the cable housing wherever possible so there was very little movement helped a lot.
Best of luck.
Yes, they are both pretty squishy and I have replaced the cables and housing already. The guys at the bike shop try to convince me that it can’t get any better because of all the twists and turns from the levers to the calipers (I have it mounted through the carbon X bar and through the frame for the rear) but I don’t believe them. I would say the brake pad to rim is as close as I feel comfortable going simply because the squishiness sometimes turns into stickiness and I don’t want any rubbing going on. Thanks for the help.
Is zap-strapping the same as zip-tying? My brother has a Trek TT and his brakes feel much better than mine. He uses the Profile levers with a return spring and Ultegra calipers.
I know this is not that answer you are looking for, but sometimes braking takes a back seat to aerodynamics on a TT bike, from what I have seen. Hey, kind of like the LG aero helmet we all use that really does not help as much in a crash (compared to std road helmets). Internal cables make this problem even worse.
Take my bike for example, I use a Zipp front brake, which is OK, but not as powerful as the DA I had on last year, I use a DA on the back, but may get a Zero G
Now if you want some powerful aero brakes (dont quote me as I just THINK they look aero, they are small) check out the Zero G brakes, Chris Horner uses them on his TT and road bike, so they cant be all that bad
Also, you may want to try some better quiality cables, and some good brake pads, you are’nt using carbon rims are you? Carbon rims are iffy as well, but great for tubular applications
All my TT bikes have crappy rear braking due to the long internal cable runs. But your front brake should not have “squishiness issues”.
I would replace the brake pads and cables and housing with decent stuff (Campy, Shimano, or Quality Bike Parts stainless cables; Kool Stop or Shimano brake pads) to get the front brake working cleanly. Since most of your stopping power comes from the front brake it is the one you really need to worry about. For the rear, I just try to make sure it does not rub.
And all this assumes that your Xlab calipers are a dual pivot design. If they are a single pivot design you will definitely see an improvement in braking by switching to a dual pivot design (Shimano, Mavic, Campy front brake, etc).
Hey,
Yes, zap-strapping = zip-tying. I run Hed bars (levers with no return spring) and cane creek calipers (single pivot) and have no issues with squishy feeling brakes. Good quality cables and housing are always a must.
I am no expert, but I have no problems with the Ultegras that came on my SsoftRide TT
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My setup uses the Hed bars, Nokon cables and DA calipers mounted on a Talon SL with internal routing. The Nokon cables, though expensive, are an improvement over standard cables/housings. Although I generally maintain that the improvement to cost ratio doesn’t recommend buying them, in your case I think they would be a good investment, as would be the QS2 levers you mention. A set of Ultegra calipers should provide all the stopping power you require at minimum cost.
Most likely, the softness comes from standard cheapo cabling that comes on bikes. Start there.
As a MTB’er I need to say “The first one to use the brakes loses.”
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Yeah, my squishy brake problems ended when I replaced my crappy stock pads with Kool Stops.
Thanks for all the input. I am going to mount the new levers and see what happens. If it still sucks, I may buy some new Shimano calipers to replace the XLab ones I have now.
I definetly think the problem is the return of the caliper and not the brake pads. I have to tap the brake lever back to its normal position after each brake?!#@
I have about the same setup. What I do…and this WORKS every time on any bike. Use a shift cable housing for your rear brakes. The shift housing is made to not compress and is MUCH stiffer than a spiral wound brake cable housing. I really like the “Ride On” gore cables and have not had any issues with them at all. Also, if you have Campy Chorus / Record brake calipers you can tighten the spring in the brake to make it feel more like the front brake.
if you look at Shift - brake cables you will see that the houseing is MUCH diffrent. Please note that sometimes the inner wire of a brake cable is thicker than that of a shift cable. This has not posed a problem for me with Campy or Ride On housings.
My Softride braking works fine - Dura-ace dual pivot calipers, X-lab levers (modified DiaCompe). But I was having some trouble on my road bike earlier this year with “sticky” brakes. Turns out it was just dirty, gunked-up calipers (Ultegra dual pivots). After I cleaned and adjusted them, braking is silky smooth.
I definetly think the problem is the return of the caliper and not the brake pads. I have to tap the brake lever back to its normal position after each brake?!#@
There is a shop near me that sells 'Roo and Felt…claims in the yellow pages that he is the “Triathon Expers” (uh huh, sure). I did tech support at a local tri last fall and EVERY bike that I saw that he sold (mostly 'Roo) had rear brake cable housing that was about 4" to long and thus the rear brake would not open properly due to WAY to much bend in the housing at the braze on. Pathetic really that a shop would let that go out that way - over and over again. Serioulsy, there was about 15 bikes I worked on like that.
Funny thing…in the race Adds - it said that there was “Free Race Tech Support”…I has some idiot show up with a busted up falling to bits RSX STI lever who was thinking that since we were offering “Free SUpport” and could not fix his lever at the race that we should give him a free lever…and was quite ireate that we did not have one there…people are odd birds man…odd odd odd
Record. . .I once saw a smart-aleck race tech direct one of these “free parts” types to a strategically placed “SOL” bin. It turned out quite humorous watching the guy ransack through a box full of faded neon lycra helmet covers, BMX plastic saddles, and drillium chainrings. . .
Maybe you should try this at your next tech support session. . .