spare_wheel

I'm going to be an early adopter of the new shimano 685 hydraulics. I'll start a thread.

fietsbob

Hopefully they will not do an early release and let the customers find the faults , requiring a Recall .

jaxgtr

I thought about putting on the TRP HY/RD, but ended up going with the Sypres...extreamely happy with them. These were the post recall versions. Simple to install and setup and great stopping power. Got rid of the BB5's that came on the bike. Clearly one of the best replacement parts I put on my Trek CrossRip.

agmetal

I'm looking at bikes spec'd with discs as a replacement wet-weather bike for my drum-equipped Fuji rebuild. The main contender (All-City Nature Boy Disc) comes with Hayes CX Expert calipers, but I've been reading a lot about the Spyres and Hy/Rds the last couple days. Would there be any downside to replacing just the front caliper with one of the TRP options, and then possibly doing the rear later? I generally go with the philosophy of having a good brake in the front, and a present brake in the back (case in point: Fuji rebuild had an SA 90mm drum in the front, and an old caliper in the back).

Andy_K 

I don't see any reason not to mix and match in the way you are suggesting, but I've actually heard pretty good things about the Hayes CX Expert brakes too. Unless your LBS will swap out the brake at the time of purchase, I'd give the Hayes a try and see what you think of them.

agmetal

Yeah, I wasn't necessarily thinking of doing it right away. As it is, the bike and fenders/rack/other accessories will probably put me over-budget to begin with. I'm only replacing the Fuji because it was totaled in a collision with a car.

Andy_K 

I haven't updated this thread in a while because I was waiting to have long term results. Well, now I've just passed the critical milestone -- I wore out a set of brake pads and replaced them with no problems.

The stock pads on my replacement calipers lasted about 1600 miles. I might have been able to push them a little further, but they were below a millimeter of pad material on the front brake and not a lot better on the rear. That's actually not too far off my past experience for pad life with organic pads in my typical riding conditions (lots of rain).

The thing that I'm really happy about though is that in that 1600 miles I didn't have to make a single adjustment. I know that's the way hydraulic brakes are supposed to work, but it's very different from my past experience with mechanical discs, and a huge relief after my bad experiences with my first generation HY/RDs.

Replacing the pads was quick and easy -- just a bit of futzing to get the pistons pushed back in.

So after a roller coaster first year with these brakes I'm now enjoying a long period of being happy with them.

spare_wheel

When I tell people that I go through 3-4 pairs of pairs of pads a year they almost always look at me like I'm nuts.

fietsbob

PDX/ Beverton commutes must have a lot of stops and intersections, to brake so often every day .

spare_wheel

Wet road grit and hills.

Andy_K 

Yep.

kickstart

I totally believe you, its amazing how fast brake shoes and rims wear out in our riding conditions. I seriously considered upgrading my Gazelle to discs, but it would have been way too expensive up front and down the road, so I settled on Shimanos top of the line roller brakes which don't cost much more than most disc pads.

spare_wheel

I buy disc pads from china () by the case (~$6-7 a pair):

4pr TruckerCo s Disc Brake Pads Shimano XT BR M775 M765 Saint M800 SLX M606 T605 | eBay

(i've been buying that brand for 5 years and have always been happy.)

kickstart

That is cheap! they're $20 to $40 a pair at local bike shops and the hardware store. I Paid $70 for a pair of IM-80 roller brakes, but they should last 5-10 years.

benmills

I've been confused as to what Jagwire kit to get. There's a road pro kit, but lots of people say that the housings are too short for road bikes equipped with disc brakes.

You mentioned a Jagwire Ripcord kit, but it seems like they are for mountain bikes. I'm guessing the cables for mountain bike brake levers are different for road bike brifters. Wouldn't they have different terminations?

Andy_K 

I generally buy the outer housing in bulk and get the inner cables as I need them. You're correct that the brake cable ends are different for road brakes than MTB brakes, but you can use the same housing with either one. Jagwire originally marketed their Ripcord housing toward mountain bikes, but they have since come out with compressionless brake cable housing for road bikes, which I would guess is equivalent.

It looks like Jagwire's "Road Pro" cable kit comes with compressionless brake housing. It is available in an "XL" version which has longer housing for use with disc brakes.

tietze

As Andy I also use Jagwire housing - the compressionless kind is called CGX and can usually be bought in 9m rolls in a range of colors, some braided. As brake wire I use Shimano polymer coated wire BC-R680.

81Forest

First time poster here. Just ran across this thread after yet another terrifying morning commute in which my Hy/Rds totally failed. I have about 1000 miles on mine also, and they have never worked properly for more than about 100 miles at a time, I think I must be having similar problems as Andy K. First the actuating arm slipped off the little push-rod on the rear, rendering the rear brake useless. Got that fixed, but noticed that the front was requiring constant adjustment on the barrel. Trying to stay on top of that, then this morning the rear brake disappeared completely. I stopped in the rain, late for work, thinking that the arm had slipped off again. When I watched the caliper while squeezing the brake, I saw little bubbles appearing from the top of the reservoir. What the heck??? Continued my commute with front brakes only, and by the time I got to the office the front brake was barely working again and hardly slowing the bike down. No brakes is OK on my fixed gear, not on my rain bike!

Sketch-balls! It is frustrating. I had not done any research until now, but this thread explains a few things. Guess I will be calling TRP...

PatrickGSR94

As far as housing goes, I got a shop roll of Jagwire's KEB compressionless brake housing, and use it for both my utility bike's BB7 disc brakes and my newly-resurrected gravel grinder (90's alu MTB) with V-brakes. Brake feel is excellent on both.

10 Meter Compressionless Brake Shop Rolls | Jagwire

fietsbob

Well, 81Forest, they are subject to the air bubbles, still, just there is no long Hose

between the Master and the Slave cylinder.

Both are in the Hy Rd Caliper.

Andy_K 

You really should never use the barrel adjuster, IMO. At the very least, you should never use it without first locking down the lock knob. The barrel adjuster effectively closes off the hydraulic system. My guess is that you've been using your barrel adjuster to adjust for pad wear and the system has needed to eject excess hydraulic fluid and so has breached the seals. These brakes are supposed to self-adjust for pad wear (which they will when functioning properly). The barrel adjuster is just meant to get the cable taut (which you really can do without the adjuster).

Check out this tech bulletin from TRP: https://www.trpbrakes.com/userfiles/f...%20Rev%20B.pdf

But definitely give them a call. They should fix this for you.

81Forest

Andy, thanks a ton. TRP has been super responsive and it looks like they will be sending me at least one new caliper. Good tips on the barrel adjuster too, I appreciate it.

geckobike

Just found this thread. I bought a new Whyte Suffolk in 2014, which came with these disc brakes. I had waited for ages to buy a road bike, worthy of commuting all year round that had decent discs, and these new hydraulic ones seemed the ticket.

I cant overstate how disappointing they have been. Suffered total failure; constantly having to top up the oil; leaky seals leading to contamination of the oil; fast wearing of pads; squealing that can be heard from ten blocks away; awful power at times, especially in the wet.

Like the open poster, at first I found them to be great (in the dry), but after a short time they seem to deteriorate quite quickly and seem to need constant maintenance, and pad replacement.

I've never had a situation with normal road rim brakes where I havent been able to stop, even in the wet. These brakes have failed me on many occasions, where I've overshot a junction on a steep descent.

Massively disappointing product.

fietsbob

Still Ok with just MTB BB7's , But My Miles are low since I got a House in Town.. small town.

Trek Is shipping their 720 with Hy-Rd calipers..

Andy_K 

It sounds like you got a lemon or two, probably from the original design/production run. The new ones really do work better than that.