I am buying a new Disc Brake Frameset and I need brakes. One option is to take my current Rim brake Di2 parts and add TRP Hy/Rd Cable Actuated Hydraulic Brakes, that way I don’t need to buy new shifters and I can stick with my current Dura Ace setup, I already have two disc wheelsets/rotors I use for my gravel bike.
Does anyone have experience with this? I assume I would need to run brake housing through the frame where a hydraulic hose would normally go. Any other issues I should be aware of? Will 140mm rotors work?
No personal experience, but I have looked into the Hy/Rd when considering it for my commuter.
The main review comment/complaint is that it has a long free-throw before engaging the pads, so the lever ends up close the bars when braking.
There are mods you can do to the lever arm on the caliper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aBa3sGUUhs
I have the hy/Rd on my surly straggler combined with sram red 10sp levers.
They are fine but tbh I don’t think there’s much improvement over regular cable discs.
I did have regular hydro disc brakes on a flat bar so I can compare. Real hydro brakes are better
For TT bikes getting electronic+hydro brake levers is still a challenge. Choices are very limited, expensive and in my opinion ugly as sin. Increasingly you can hack/bodge remote shifters onto hydro levers but it takes a lot of time and effort to get it all right. Personally I would go cable discs the cable actuated hydraulic discs. Cable discs have gotten a bad name because the very cheap ones that often come OEM are very poorly designed. As long as you go with a design whereby both sides of the calipers move you have everything you need for TT bike. AVOID any design where braking requires a bending of the disc.
For a road bikes its more tempting to go full hydraulic. You should have more brifter options and the expense of changing the brifters will be less than needing to re-jigg a TT bike. Given the cost of cable actuated hyros I just struggle to thing they are a better option than going full cable or full hyro.
Personally I run 160mm rotors but remain completely unconvinced I would ever notice the difference between 140mm and 160mm rotors. If you are 100kg downhill dude who just wants to descend on a 20 kg downhill bike then you probably do abuse brakes hard enough to need bigger rotors. The relationship between braking performance and rotor size is mostly a function of weight. The bigger you go the more metal mass you have and this means you can dump more energy into the rotor before it heats up outside its optimal range. Shimano list their 160mm rotor at 128g and their 140mm rotor at 108g so in theory the bigger rotor can take 18% more brake energy before it suffers from fade. For most riders this 18% addition is a overkill on the road which I believe is why no one has been tempted to go bigger on the road.
If you are looking at cable/hydraulic hybrid brakes, there is another set out there that is smaller and lighter than the TRP hybrids and it seems to be getting pretty good reviews: the Juin Tech R1 and F1 and GT-F.
But, fyi, I have not used or tested them, just considering them for a gravel build …
I’m going suck it up and go the full hydro route. Anyone selling di2 hydraulic shifters? I posted in the classifieds so hopefully someone responds.
Thanks for all the input gang.
Good call, based on my limited experience. I spent a day on a Giant gravel bike with the mechanical / hydraulic disc brakes. They were fine but nothing like the smooth and easy modulation of a full hydraulic brake.
If you are looking at cable/hydraulic hybrid brakes, there is another set out there that is smaller and lighter than the TRP hybrids and it seems to be getting pretty good reviews: the Juin Tech R1 and F1 and GT-F.
But, fyi, I have not used or tested them, just considering them for a gravel build …
I installed a set of JuinTech R1s on my Synapse, replacing the stock Render mechanicals. Great upgrade for the price, I’m super happy with them, and I’m still running the stock cable housing. Apparently compressionless housing improves the feel that much more, but you still get a pretty solid “hydraulic” feel with JuinTechs, and they are quite small/low-profile, moreso than any other hybrid brakes I’ve seen.
I’m going suck it up and go the full hydro route. Anyone selling di2 hydraulic shifters? I posted in the classifieds so hopefully someone responds.
Thanks for all the input gang.
Good call, based on my limited experience. I spent a day on a Giant gravel bike with the mechanical / hydraulic disc brakes. They were fine but nothing like the smooth and easy modulation of a full hydraulic brake.
Is that the one with the cable/hydraulic junction at the stem?
If you are looking at cable/hydraulic hybrid brakes, there is another set out there that is smaller and lighter than the TRP hybrids and it seems to be getting pretty good reviews: the Juin Tech R1 and F1 and GT-F.
But, fyi, I have not used or tested them, just considering them for a gravel build …
I installed a set of JuinTech R1s on my Synapse, replacing the stock Render mechanicals. Great upgrade for the price, I’m super happy with them, and I’m still running the stock cable housing. Apparently compressionless housing improves the feel that much more, but you still get a pretty solid “hydraulic” feel with JuinTechs, and they are quite small/low-profile, moreso than any other hybrid brakes I’ve seen.
Here is the order of braking power: integrated rim brake (ie:shit) < Rim brake < Cable Disc < Hydraulic Disc (ie:overkill for most road application)
On my TT i went from “integrated rim” to “cable disc”, by choice because i need to travel with the bike… not as good as hydraulic, good enough for a TT on a hilly course.
Iused trp spyre (cable actuated mechanical brake) and shimano ult hydraulic sytem. Now I am using Juintech’s F1 (cable actuated, semi hydlauric brake). I am totally satisfied. That is all.
It is smoother and stronger than spyre and little bit lighter.
I got linked cable (for I am an weightweenie) and it provides compression-less routing so there’s almost no cushy feeling when squeezing levers.