Hello,
I’m considering purchasing a 2017 Specialized Roubaix Elite. It has mechanical disc brakes. I’d like to hear some opinions on them if possible. Are they far less superior to the hydraulic disc brakes?
Hope to hear back
Thank you.
My wife has them on her cross bike. They were easy to install/service, and from the little I rode it braking power was good. She hasn’t complained about it so she must think so as well. I’d use them and not be upset about it.
From my experience yes - they are not nearly as good. I’ve had TRP spyre and Hy-rd and I’d take a set of Utegra rim brakes with coolstop salmons pads every time.
I have SRAM hydros on two other bikes and they are very good - huge improvement in every way over the mechanicals I’ve used.
Hydro is superior in every way. That being said, mech disc brakes are pretty good, and if you like the bike, that would probably not stop me. Especially for road; I definitely wouldn’t ride mechanical for CX/MTB (where I think modulation is a little more important).
Were they set up with compression-less housing and high quality cables, or just standard stuff?
Were they set up with compression-less housing and high quality cables, or just standard stuff?
I buy Yokozuna compressionless in bulk, so yeah, I use those on all my bikes. I’ve tried sintered and non sintered pads. They just don’t compare to well setup rim brakes or hydro discs.
There seem to be few cycling products which generate such scatter-shot opinions as the Tektro Spyer mechanical disc brakes. The only consensus on their performance is that there’s nothing close to a consensus. Some people think they’re so good, you don’t need hydros. Others think they’re not quite as good as hydros, but far and away the best mechanical discs and substantially better than any rim brake. Yet others seem to think they’re awful. The number of people in each camp seems relatively equal.
Some say they go through pads like crazy and need frequent fiddling, while others say they ridden them for several thousand kilometers/miles on the original pads with only minimal adjustments. It’s a baffling situation, really, that people can have such different experiences with the same basic product.
Buy the bike, ride it for a while. If you can’t stand the brakes, you can always upgrade to hydraulics later.
Hi Gary,
Thanks for the well thought out response. I’m completely new to this whole disc brake thing. Will it be expensive to swap out to hydraulic if I don’t care for the existing brake set?
Thank you,
Gene
Yes.
Disclosure: I have only ridden hydro’s on a few MTB’s, and do not currently own any bike with hydraulic disc brakes. I have ridden several mechanical disc brake brands/models, and on my own bikes use exclusively the TRP Spyres. Coupled with Jagwire cables and Kool-Stop pads, the performance is great. I’ve had decent life out of the stock pads, in all kinds of weather (though I mostly would consider the terrain to be “gravel” mixed riding, not real MTB type stuff), but the performance of the Kool-Stop pads brings them up a few notches. Adjustment is easy, with dual side actuation you get a lot less pad scrub on the rotors. One caveat though: The size of the calipers can cause issues with spoke contact on some wheels, depending on the flange configuration.
Hi Gary,
Thanks for the well thought out response. I’m completely new to this whole disc brake thing. Will it be expensive to swap out to hydraulic if I don’t care for the existing brake set?
Thank you,
Gene
It won’t be cheap. But it’s not cheap to step up to a Roubaix with factory equipped hydraulic brakes, either.
There seem to be few cycling products which generate such scatter-shot opinions as the Tektro Spyer mechanical disc brakes. The only consensus on their performance is that there’s nothing close to a consensus. Some people think they’re so good, you don’t need hydros. Others think they’re not quite as good as hydros, but far and away the best mechanical discs and substantially better than any rim brake. Yet others seem to think they’re awful. The number of people in each camp seems relatively equal.
Some say they go through pads like crazy and need frequent fiddling, while others say they ridden them for several thousand kilometers/miles on the original pads with only minimal adjustments. It’s a baffling situation, really, that people can have such different experiences with the same basic product.
Buy the bike, ride it for a while. If you can’t stand the brakes, you can always upgrade to hydraulics later.
I would love to see a hydro disc vs. TRP Spyre (w/Link housings) vs. hydro rim on Hed Black Turbine comparison done in a “blinded” methodology (i.e. user can’t see brake lever, wheels, or frame and ear plugs in place).
I bet the results would be quite interesting 
I have the spyre brakes and they suck, my old canti breaks were way better. Go hydraulic or stay with rim brakes
If you did feel the need to upgrade, the TRP HY/RD are a hybrid mechanical/hydraulic brake. I have them on two bikes and think they work almost as good as hydro brakes. They are much easier and less messy to set up too.
The only downside in my opinion is that they are a little big and chunky looking.
I run Spyres on two bikes, my gravel bike and my winter bike (a gravel bike with fenders and dynamo light). I also live in the high mountains, therefore both bikes see a lot of descending. And I race mainly MTB which is equipped with hydraulics.
While the original pads of the Spyres were not that good I can’t tell a difference in performance between hydraulics and mechanical for the use case (paved road and gravel/dirt road). From a service standpoint both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Can you buy better pads for the Tektro brakes? I should add I’m not a racer. I’m a 50+ year old guy who rides roads only. I average on a good day 20 mph. The Roubaix I’m looking at has these brakes. I know nothing about disc brakes. I have gotten a lot of feedback, sadly it’s mixed some like these brakes others say there terrible.
My girlfriend has mechanical discs (6 bolt) on her 2nd bike and hydraulic discs (center lock) on her primary bike. Both bikes were new in 2017. Her old bike was a Fuji with tsp 105.
She says the hydraulics are way better than the mechanical discs. She also says the mechanical discs are much better than her ancient 105 brakes.
hth
yes, I’ve replaced them with very cheap Shimano BS01 pads. Are better but I assume others like Koolstop or so would have fitting pads as well.
and seriously, given your use case for the bike mechanical disk brakes are more than sufficient. If you like the bike I wouldn’t consider these as a deal breaker.
But in the end you will have to decide for yourself. As you can see from the responses here, mechanicals suck to can’t tell a difference (for the intended use case), view points can be quite diverse. Personally I simply do not see significant difference in road use.
I run Spyres on two bikes, my gravel bike and my winter bike (a gravel bike with fenders and dynamo light). I also live in the high mountains, therefore both bikes see a lot of descending. And I race mainly MTB which is equipped with hydraulics.
While the original pads of the Spyres were not that good I can’t tell a difference in performance between hydraulics and mechanical for the use case (paved road and gravel/dirt road). From a service standpoint both have their advantages and disadvantages.
My CX bike came with mechanical disc. Some low end Shimano version. The pads that came with it sucked really bad. Swapped those out and braking performance was more than adequate. Not as silky as hydraulic, but certainly enough stopping power and greater than rim braking on my road bike.