I am building up an adventure gravel bike. I have a preference for Campy brifters. I don't have anything against Shimano, but Campy is my first choice and SRAM would be my next choice.
I am consider buying a road group and using cable actuated hydraulic brakes from Juin Tech or Yokozuno. On the face of it, I can save several hundred dollars, weight should be very close (within ~100-200 grams), and with only a small compromise in braking performance.
+ save several hundreds of dollars = weight looks to be close to a wash on paper - small braking performance compromise (from what I have read)
Are my initial assumptions in the ballpark? spot on? Is dedicated hydraulic brake feel and overall stopping power worth several hundreds of dollars?
It’s really a question only you can answer. I’ll give you my opinion. When braking from the hoods braking power is not great from hydraulics or mechanicals, at least compared to a mountain bike where hydraulics are noticeably better. Also the type of gravel riding I do rarely requires lots of braking so it’s not that big an issue. On a mountain bike you use your brakes constantly and they can mean the difference between crashing or not. At least for my gravel riding that is not the case. I have one bike with BB7s and two with SRAM hydraulic, for the riding I do the difference really is not noticeable at all. Having said all that I prefer SRAM hydraulics because I find the larger brake hoods much more comfortable, but that has nothing to do with brake performance. I do know there are many people who say they will not buy a bike without full hydraulics just based on brake feel. So as I said at the start, it’s really something you need to decide for yourself what matters most to you.
Thank you, I appreciate your opinion and experience. I have BB7s on my commuter with Yokozuna cables, and they work quite well. Using the compressionless housing made a big improvement.
My "gravel" build will do most of its duty as an all arounder and rain bike. While I love the hydraulic brakes on my mountain bike, I will be riding it on long technical descents and not likely my adventure bike.
The price difference is somewhere around $400, that can either go to better wheels or in the bank.
From what I can gather from online research Juin Tech R1 are better than Spyre's which are preferred over BB7s. My question is how much of a step better, and how much of step behind dedicated Hydraulic?
I ride with JuinTech (R1) and compressionless housing. To get the most performance out of this setup I'd make sure you don't go weightweenie on the rotors e.g. Ashima ai / KCNC Razor. Use rotors with a bit more surface e.g. Centreline or Avid CSX (about 20gm more in weight than the first two. Sintered pads also (I like Swisstop) for wetter rides. Swisstop organics are great in the dry.
How far off full-hydraulic? Also can't comment.
JuinTech does their pricier X1 now (improved piston seals?). Not sure if any better in performance.
You can tune the calipers (ti bolts); lose about 30gm.
Personally I'd save that $400, as that's a lot of money to put into other components if you shop around.
I have TRP Spyres with compressionless housing and SwissStop pads on my gravel bike. They're perfectly fine when I use the bike on pavement, gravel, light offroad. The problems come when I think it's a mountain bike and do descends where I should be on an MTB. IMO you should be fine. Full hydros are nice and on a straight bar bike i'd say it's a no brainer, just go hydro. But drop bar hydro prices are absolutely ridicioulous.
For example I have a Rival 1 group, and a pair of hydros would cost around €490. Remember, one shifter mechanism, and no discs. Well, for €490 I could also get a pair of SLX M7000 brakes with discs... and an entire 2x11 M7000 groupset!
I have a bike with TRP Spyres and a bike with SRAM Force1 hydro and they both have pros and cons.
What I like about the TRP Spyres is the ease of use. They have a lot of pad clearance so I never get rotor rub if adjusted properly. The downside is that on extended gravel descends they tend to be a little under powered. And they are heavy.
What I like about the Force1 hydros is the great modulation and improved stopping power. The downside, pad clearance is really tight and set up can be quite finicky if you don't want any rotor rub.
Despite the hydros being more difficult to setup, I would definitely choose hydros over mechanicals if I had the choice. But like others said, only you can really answer the question.
ljsmith wrote:It’s really a question only you can answer. I’ll give you my opinion. When braking from the hoods braking power is not great from hydraulics or mechanicals, at least compared to a mountain bike where hydraulics are noticeably better. Also the type of gravel riding I do rarely requires lots of braking so it’s not that big an issue. On a mountain bike you use your brakes constantly and they can mean the difference between crashing or not. At least for my gravel riding that is not the case. I have one bike with BB7s and two with SRAM hydraulic, for the riding I do the difference really is not noticeable at all. Having said all that I prefer SRAM hydraulics because I find the larger brake hoods much more comfortable, but that has nothing to do with brake performance. I do know there are many people who say they will not buy a bike without full hydraulics just based on brake feel. So as I said at the start, it’s really something you need to decide for yourself what matters most to you.
I have to disagree with this. My experience with road hydraulic is with Shimano, and these brakes from the hoods to me seem by far better than any brake I've used on a road bike. I'd say the closest second would be Campy rim brakes. I feel there is lots of power and control there, even from the hoods, and it is appreciated when you really need it. And I also feel the ease of braking contributes in a small way to less fatigue over really long rides.
I'm using Chorus and TRP Spyres. No complaints other than the stock pads are garbage. I'm using some cheap organic Shimano ones because I kept messing the sintered pads. I used to use SwissStops but couldn't find them last time I looked.
I had issues with TRP HY/RDs freezing shut in the winter before (I live in Minneapolis)
I'm also using Jagwire elite links which help a lot with keeping the housing compression.
Also since I live in Minneapolis we don't have real hills so I don't need the same braking power as people in the mountains.
EDIT- Campy front derailleurs don't play well with super big tires and short chainstays. The pulling arm thing is much bigger than Shimano. Just something to consider before dropping a ton of cash, but my Campy 1x is fairly dope.
Hi Volsung, yes I am totally with you regarding the pads on the Spyres. One good wet/muddy ride is all it takes to completely wear them down to the backing plate.
