Tpcorr

I have these exact brakes on my SR 500. Shimano 105 BR 1050 Road Bike Brake Set Good Condition Short Reach 49 39 | eBay

Instead of buying these, I was wondering if the newer Shimano 105 BR 5800 brakes would fit on my bike. If so, would they be plug and play, or would I need to make them work?

Thanks

Tom

Homebrew01

You may need a longer or shorter nut in the fork. The rear may need a different nut setup also. Should be doable though.

I have modern Campy calipers on my SR500 and needed a couple of washers on the rear caliper to stop the recessed nut from bottoming out.

Ronno6

Virtually any new short reach caliper brake should fit with no hardware problems.
In 1987 Cannondale used the same allen socket nut design widely used today.
I have several of them myself.

Tpcorr

Thanks guys. Would I need to run new cables and housing, or would I be able to utilize the existing ones. They are fairly new, I put them on in March of this year.

Homebrew01

Can't think of any problems with existing housing & cable.

alcjphil

Without knowing what brake levers you will be using, it is difficult to tell you if these brake callipers are a good match. Shimano 105 BR 5800 brake callipers are designed to work with brake levers that pull more cable than previous Shimano brakes. What this means is that your brake levers might bottom out against the handlebar before you achieve maximum braking if they are not designed to work with those brake callipers. Any Shimano brake/shift lever that routes the shift cables UNDER the bar tape will work. Otherwise you may be out of luck

Tpcorr

These are the brake levers. Shimano 105 Road Brake Levers SLR BL 1051 Aero Japan Silver Black Drop Bar | eBay They are aero levers and they do route the cable under the bar tape.

Tom

RoadGuy

If you want something that similar in appearance to your BR-1050 single pivot brake calipers that will work with the existing brake levers, considering buying some Shimano RX-100 A550 dual pivot brake calipers. the come with a silver finish that will compelment your silver brake levers. You won't have a problem using them with the wider wheel rims that were popular back then or the narrow rims that are in style today. A nice pair of calipers will cost you $20-$40 on eBay.

Besides using/needing more cable travel, the newer dual pivot brakes are also made for narrower wheels and tires, and can cause some fitment problems.

RX100 brake calipers are some of my favorites and I have them fitted to many of my bikes. They work perfectly on the 88 Trek 1000 that I built up for my oldest some that originally came with Shimano BR-1050 single pivot brake calipers and the matching 1050 brake levers.

alcjphil

Wasn't talking about brake cables. For those brake callipers you need brake/shift levers whose SHIFTER cables are routed under the bar tape

Tpcorr

Thanks, I misread/misunderstood what you were saying.

Tpcorr

Thanks roadguy, sounds like a good solution

alcjphil

Your brake levers are not compatible with those brake callipers

Tpcorr

Got it, thanks.

Homebrew01

How do you determine this, and how "uncompatible" are they ??

alcjphil

Older Shimano brake levers have a higher mechanical advantage then their newer shift/brake levers that have concealed shift cables. The newer brake callipers are designed for brake levers that have a lower mechanical advantage. What this means in practice is that the older levers don't pull enough cable to operate the newer callipers so your brake levers will likely bottom out against the handlebar without fully actuating the brakes. So if you have old brake levers, whether they include shifters or not, newer brake callipers be they 105, Ultegra, or Dura Ace will not work properly. Older Shimano brake callipers do not share this problem and neither do brake callipers from lower end component groups. As well, brake callipers made by other manufacturers like SRAM, Tectro and Campgnolo will work with older Shimano brake levers