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Hi guys first post here!
This must be a widely discussed topic I realise but in my defense I must have spent about 4 to 5 days on and off scouring various forums and youtube for an answer.
Perhaps the issue is that everyone's components dilemma is slightly different. Here's mine:
I bought my first ever drop bar bike last summer - Specialized Diverge A1. It a basic spec but as its my first road(ish) bike I was going to be fairly reserved with my spending. I absolutely love it except for the mechanical Tektro Mira disc brakes!!
The spec is a mostly shimano claris groupset. 8 speed cassette, double compact rings on a FSA Gossamer crankset.
I can't really afford more than about £250 right now but I'm a "buy once" sort of person so I'm not looking for a compromise set up if I can help it (hybrid cable actuated hydro systems) because it will bug me I've spent money on a temporary option.
My bottom line question is, what would it take to get a fully hydraulic front brake only? My reasoning is I can be more gradual with upgrading this way rather than having to go and spent £500 on a groupset in one go.
Most full hydraulic set-ups I've looked at are now 11 speed. I'm guessing shimano will not make it that easy for me to just hook a R785 or Rs685 straight up to the claris front mech?
If I bought an appropriate front mech that was compatible with the new brake, would it work with my existing chainset/chainrings/chain?
Many thanks for any advice you can give.
Dave
I’m guessing shimano will not make it that easy for me to just hook a R785 or Rs685 straight up to the claris front mech?
Obviously, front brake Sti is rear shifter, unless you go European with your brakes..
That option from Merlin is pretty reasonable : https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-st-rs685-hydraulic-disc-brake-stis-br-rs785-disc-brakes-post-mount-75654.html
You have two main options. Neither is particularly cheap. The obvious way forward involves replacing the levers with ones incorporating hydraulic brakes but as you say this will leave you replacing pretty well everything bar frame, post and saddle by the time you’ve dealt with the various incompatibilities and replacing the bike would probably be cheaper - note that 11sp requires at least a new hub for your 8sp rear wheel so really you’re looking at replacing shifters, brakes, derailleurs, cranks/rings and wheelset which ups the ante somewhat.
There are possibilities for driving hydraulic brakes from mechanical levers though. The older and more expensive method involved mounting a hydraulic cylinder on your top tube or stem and routing brake cables to it and hydraulic lines to whatever hydraulic callipers you liked. Hope V Twin is an example. There are also brake callipers that are driven directly by cables but have their own master cylinder on board and operate hydraulically. TRP HyRd’s and the Juin Tech R1 are examples and you should be able to replace front and rear with such a solution for your £250 ...
I wanted Hydro brakes on my bike and went with 1x9 SRAM Rival, seemed to one of the cheaper ways of getting Hydro road brakes.
However, what are the problems with the mechanical brakes? They can be fussy things to set up and although hydro are more 'fit and forget' many of the problems apply to both cable and hydro systems.
Actually switching to 11 speed may not need a new hub. Your hub may well be 11 speed compatible with a spacer to run 8 speed.
I think there's now tiagra hydraulic 10 speed, although they've got the same "acquired taste" look as the 105 stuff.
All I can say is keep hunting for bargains. Merlin quite often do an extra 10% or more off all shimano, and also check the German sites. I ended up getting the shifters and calipers from different sites when I did this a year ago.
To add to what's already been said, AFAIK there are just two options for 10 speed full hydro: SRAM S700 or Shimano RS405. Both would require component upgrades from Claris, but the rear hub/wheel can be preserved. Especially the SRAM option seems rare enough to be even more expensive than 11 speed offerings.
Another (possibly) cheaper option is TRP Hylex with bar-end shifters.
@daveg23 - I was looking into this, recently, for a friend, and came across the Giant Conduct brakes
Now, I've not used them myself, but they do seem like a reasonable solution - this is the nearest I could find to a review
Bear in mind that you also need a compatible Giant Contact stem, and that you need to order the correct version of the brakes for your caliper mounting technology - which I suspect is post-mount.
Good luck!
School boy error! Let me ask the above question again about changing the REAR brake to hydraulic. (Same question applies about front mech compatibility)
Apologies, was just thinking Front brake/Front gears. Never really thought about it with MTB's as I'm not used to an integrated unit.
I know the TRP/Hope set up is available. Perhaps I need to just settle on that for now but it just bothers me that its kind of a compromise rather than what I wanted.
Absolutely right though, may as well just go out and buy a new bike! So if that's the obvious option, perhaps settling for a cable actuated hydraulic set up IS the "top end" decision for my particular bike and I need to look at a new bike in a year or two and hand this one down.
Also, some mechanical callipers are better than others. Before spending too much it might be worth seeing if something like different pads or even a set of Spyres where both pads move is an improvement? After years of fiddling with brakes where only one pad moved and the other needed weekly adjustments, Spyres were a revelation for me.
I did wonder about spyres but for the money they cost I'm unsure if a TRP Hy-rd set up is worth just that little extra. What do you think?
I have hope hydraulics on my MTB bikes & would prefer full hydros but on my Trek Domane 4.3 Disc I have the Trp-hyRd’s and they are very good. I thought about upgrading to all hydro - but couldn’t really justify it.
If you already have the discs & calliper mounts then I’d be looking on fleabay for a set of Trp-hyRd callipers which would be pretty cheap as others will upgrade from these to hydro.
I’m happy with Spyres and personally wouldn’t swap them unless I was going for a full hydraulic group. HyRd’s seem fine, as price is so close now it’s probably a decision on whether a little extra weight and needing to bleed occasionally as well as cable maintenance is a problem. Standard Shimano pads are probably an upgrade worth making to Spyres the first time you need to change pads and the stock rotor flexes too much for my liking, replaced mine with Shimano RT66’s and a vast improvement under heavy braking (40mph plus). The stock items were probably fine but frightened me 😁
A friend who is a much larger unit than me runs HyRds on a GT Gravel. He hasn’t had major problems and stops as well as I do.
If you haven’t investigated yet, quality cables can make a huge difference to mechanical discs too. Regular road rim brake stuff tends to flex a bit too much.
I found the Spyres to be good enough for year round cycling. Just two caveats: compressionless outers and regular pad reach adjustments.
Good mechanical brakes and really good (Dura Ace) cables will make the world of difference for less than £100. Going hydro would cost ~ 3-4 times that.
another vote for some HyRd calipers and some decent compressionless cables (these make a difference you will appreciate), i've had this combo on a bike for quite a few years and it's not a temporary option by any means
upgrading a 8 speed claris groupset bike to anything better/more current is going to be expensive and a fair amount of trouble, best ride this bike until it dies and then upgrade to a whole new bike with all the speeds and hydraulic doodads
TRP Hylex right brake lever with a bar end shifter for the cassette, similar to the Pinnacle Arkose X, would be your cheapest option for a true hydraulic front.
You can get customised Hylex with a shifter, but they aren't cheap...
https://www.gevenalle.com/product-category/shifters/
I bought a pair of 785 brakes from Merlin one Xmas on sale for under £250. Then sold my Tektros and 105 shifters for around £125 making the switch another brainer.
If your bike is running Claris then you probably want to budget for an 11sp cassette and 105 mech to combine with the 785 which ups the cost some.
Personally, I hated the Spyres. You still needed armfuls of brake to slow down on steep hill I ride with a hairpin half way down. With the 785s it just like an MTB, relaxed 1 finger braking so I can focus on the corner entry.
Try hybrids and sell on if they don't suit? Got some as new Acor (same as Juin Tech R1) in the Classifieds for not much cash.
Thanks all. It sounds like I should give the hybrids a go and settle on those for this bike.