voltman

My bike has no name dual pivot brakes with Kool Stop pads. Would there be any feel and modulation benefit going to a 105 or Ultegra caliper? And if so, is there a marked difference between Ultegra and 105?

Thanks

cyclintom

If the "no name" brakes are Shimano then probably not.

Medpilot

My Cervelo came with some no name brakes that worked decent enough but I’m still upgrading to some Ultegra 6600 brakes. IMO they feel way better and take less effort to stop. I think I got a good deal on ebay. I paid $98 for a pair of unused pull-offs.

shoerhino

I upgraded my bike from generic calipers to ultegra calipers and didn't notice a difference. I think that changing to kool stop pads made a more noticable improvment in braking power.

Just my 2 cents. Other people may perceive a difference but I consider it the worst upgrade I ever made, and I got a pair of 6500 ultegra brakes for $70.

Medpilot

I just got back from test riding my new 6600's and there's a big difference. I guess the Cervelo brakes must be really low grade.

cydewaze

Jessica's bike had non-name Shimano brakes (maybe they were Tiagras, I dunno) and they were awful. I threw some Dura-Ace brake pads on there, and it was a world of difference. Crap pads will make even the nicest calipers suck.

rufvelo

If the brakes work fine, assume what you have is actually Dura Ace that someone scrubbed off, and save some cash that you could apply now or later on to some other purchase that you absolutely need - helmet, tires, tubes, shoes?

If the brakes don't work fine, 105 is plenty.

tvphobic

Often, no-name brakes are Tektro dual pivots, which are excellent. Ask a non-teenager in a bike store what they are, someone will fill you in promptly. I perceive no feeling diff between 105 and Ultegra. The difference is finish and a few grams.

voltman

So after my crash this weekend, part of my front brake hardware bent. I guess that's a good excuse to upgrade.

SpongeDad

I have a Trek 1500 that I upgraded with 105 brakes. The original no name brakes were okay, but 105s are easier to center, stay centered, easier to feather and less grabby/noisy. These are all matters of degree not black and white. Still, it's a cheap upgrade and I felt it was worth it.

I have another bike with DA. Brakes feel stronger, but I haven't mounted identical pads to test this.

R900

I swapped my Cannondale branded brakes for some Campy's and the difference is minor. The Cannondales stopped well. The Campy are a dual pivot up front and a traditional caliper in the rear, somewhere I read the front brake accounts for 70% of the braking force. The new setup does feel well balanced, stopping distances are the same if not a little better with the Campy's. Feel is nicer with the Campy's, and the Campy's are very easy to setup and adjust. It wasn't a required upgrade, but I like the new calipers.

John

tekhna

105 brifters are stupidcheap at performance after the 20% off code.
https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...&estore_ID=476

DannoXYZ 

Personally, I think the pads makes a bigger difference than the calipers. KoolStops on the cheapest calipers would work better than the generic/105 even Ultegra pads. I've also notice very, very good results with the DiaCompe smooth rolled cables w/teflon lined housings. Improved feel and modulation ability tremendously.

bernmart

Same experience. Assuming decent quality components, it's the brake pads that count. The ones that came with my bike were awful; changing to Kool-Stops made a huge difference.

hypersnazz

I personally didn't notice anything at all in particular going from Tektro (which is what the no-names usually are) to Shimano, except that the Tektros had pads that could be toed, 105 and 9-speed Ultegra calipers do not. The current crop of calipers in Shimano's 10-speed gruppos do, though.

Pretty much just bling factor. Install good pads and one's as good as the next.