[Closed] Specialized Diverge hydro brake conversion?

Further to the cable activated hydros, anyone got the trp hy/rd? any good? I'm reading good and bad reports about them.

Or better mechanical brakes? Avid bb7?

I've got BB7s on the commuter. They're ok. If I don't ride the MTB for a while they seem pretty good. After the MTB they seem a bit rubbish.

Basically you have three choices, in ascending order of cost.

1. Get some BB7 or similar brakes. Probably not much better than your existing setup.

2. Get some cable actuated hydros. So TRP Hydros or there were some Juan Tech brakes doing the rounds a while back. Various reviews of both these all across singletrack forums and the internet at large.

3. Bin off the existing groupset and get a hydro set. Don't think anyone does these in 9 speed so you're looking at new shifters/sti units, new casette, new derailleur and the brake calipers themselves. Probably cheaper to buy a bargain planet X bike with all these bits on and sell the left over parts than buying individually.

I had the BB7s, TRP Spyres and TRPs Hy/RD before I finally bought a bike with 105 5800 & Hydro (RS505 I think).
I was never happy with any of the mechanical discs I had. The BB7 and the Spyres were no better than my rim brake bikes, in fact the BB7s performed as bad as my rim brakes on carbon wheels in the wet - but I also had to keep fettling with the BB7s to actually make them work. The Hy/RDs were OK, they worked, but didn't even feel as confident as the Hydro brakes. I spent a lot of time and money trying to get the mechanical brakes to work as good as what I expected them to be - compression less cables, juan tech cables, new rotors, new calipers etc.
I learnt that I was just throwing money at a problem that the only genuine solution for me was a new bike. I ride mountain passes in the winter and wanted to be confident in my braking. For just commuting duties on reasonably normal rolling roads I'd have been fine with the Hy/Rds.

I have BB7 road brakes on a couple of bikes and BB7mtn on one too - with good outer cable (i.e. compression"less") they work fine, though you do have to manually adjust the pad spacing every now & then.

I recently got a great price on a ultegra 8000 series front brake for the road bike that had BB7s on it. really not that much difference, just a little less effort at the lever

Not sure about your Tektro brakes - they own/are also TRP aren't they (Tektro Race Products), so may well be decent functionally even if possibly heavier/uglier/whateverer. If you don't have compressionless outer cable I'd try that first. Failing that you could buy & try a BB7r or a Spyre or HyRd with good cable for the front only and resell it if still not good enough. After that I think you're onto new 11sp shifting and "proper" hydraulics

One of the bikes is my commuter so gets a lot of shite sprayed onto it but the brakes survive this just fine. I "service" after winter (take off, pads out, spray up with neat muc-off equivalent, leave for a while, nylon brush down the internal gaps, rinse and refit) and that's it. I ONCE took apart a really rough mtb version and properly regreased the internals - it worked great again after that.

Forgot to say, I don't ride mountain passes much but my mtb with them on now & then does 20 minute continuous downhill runs in 25-30 C temperatures without any problems

I have BB7s on my Amazon. Fitted with compressionless outers, they are very good indeed. However, they are very fussy about pad/rotor clearance and need to be adjusted whenever I change wheelsets (which I frequently do). I'm slowly piecing together a Shimano hydro groupset after acquiring some second hand levers and calipers. The Praxis Alba chainset is one I've considered.

I have a 2x 10 Gevenalle/ Hylex system for sale with very few miles on. Thats hydraulic brakes, MTB gearing

Thanks all. Looks like i'll just have to put up with them. It does have compressionless outers. Will cost a bloody fortune to replace everything to get proper hydros on there. I will have a play with them.

Looks like the inner pad is fixed and the outer seems to bend the disc over quite a lot so ill adjust the inner as close as possible. They a very firm/not much lever throw so will try backing the outer pad out a bit to get more lever throw. I ride mostly on the hoods so obviously not the leverage you get on the drops but they seem utterly shite.

Thanks djflexure but not sure what those are. mtb shifting?

Anyone got shimano sora r317 mechanical calipers? Don't know why they don't come with these as the rest is sora. I guess they won't be much better but who knows.

I swapped my mechanical disc brakes on my diverge for a giant conduct set up which was much better than the mech brakes. Then when the 9 speed stuff wore out I went 11sp shimano 105 but use post mount SLX brake calipers as its not always easy to get the post mount road calipers. I got most of the expensive stuff 2nd hand so to be honest it was not that bad, maybe 300 all in.

The final option would be the full hydro (TRP I think) system without shifters and then bar end shifters on the drops. Not ideal as you loose the integrated unit but would give you what you want brake wise.

I did the change from the supplied TRP Spyres to TRP HY/RD on my Diverge because I was unhappy with the braking power of the mechanical brakes.The HY/RD’s were a definite improvement and for me lasted two years of mainly winter riding with one oil flush.

Eventually they made their way onto my trike,replacing mechanical disc brakes again with same improvement.After one winter low down on the trike they needed a good service with sticking pistons so I replaced with Shimano full hydraulics (BR 395) which are the best by far,with outstanding braking.

I always run my disc brakes on Swissstop pads,expensive but good with little brake squeak.

If you want a giant conduct system there is somewhere selling a full brand new set of the first version for £90 (post or flat mount calipers). The second gen 'Conduct SL' version is a bit more at £150. I contacted giant to find out the difference and it seems the just the addition of barrel adjusters on the master cylinder and slightly different hose attachment to the master cylinder.

Interested in this as I'm in the same boat for my gravel bike, so looked at that Giant system - £96-ish on CycleStore, but by god its' fugly!