The brakes are actually better than I expected. They're definitely better than cantilevers. It has 140mm rotors front and rear. (Notice the weird adapter that's necessary to drop the brake caliper low enough to use 140 in front. I'm wondering if that might also help with fender installation.) I've been using a BB7 with 160mm rotor on the front of my 2008 Jake, so I expected a big drop off in braking experience. When I took it out for the test ride, it didn't even feel like the brakes were going to stop me from rolling down the slope of the LBS parking lot, but the spokes were also pinging like mad so I quickly realized this just meant that I got to be the one to bed in the brake pads. Within a minute or so they were performing pretty well.

I've only ridden the bike for about 8 miles so far, but my first impression is that when applying both front and rear brakes the stopping power is similar to applying the front BB7-160 and rear Shorty 4 cantilever on my old bike. With just the front brake, I think it's noticeably weaker than the BB7, but even that could be my imagination to some extent. I'll have a better evaluation in a couple of weeks. I had been toying with the idea of switching over to BB7's right away, but I decided I'd give the Lyras a try. After one ride, I'm not really in hurry to change them. I think I'll at least wait until the first rain and see how they do.

One thing I will say is that the LBS mechanic spent a good 5 minutes tinkering with the front brake, truing the rotor and such and it still had a bit of a scrape this morning. By the time I got to work I didn't notice it anymore. I am of the opinion that disc brakes are self-truing within the range of minor adjustments, but it's something I'll be keeping an ear out for.

As you can see in the pictures, the Lyras have a built-in barrel adjuster. They have slots for an allen key on both sides of the brake caliper. I can't seem to open the user manual from the Tektro website, but an old manual I found online somewhere else indicates that only the fixed pad is meant to be adjusted with the allen key, with the barrel adjuster being used to move the other pad. I'm not sure if the outside bolt is there for assembly purposes or if it also move the pad. The manual also claimed there was something on the caliper to let you adjust the spring tension, but I can't find that.

I also think the Lyras are better looking that the BB7's, but that doesn't help stop the bike.