Originally Posted by
photonick
I have cheap cane creek brakes on my trek 1500 I upgraded to Kool Stop Salmon pads and really enjoy them but as of lately have gotten a lot more gutsy on my descents. Last night I felt like my brakes were being really squishy and sort of soft, they just didn't seem to be stopping me as comfortably as I'd like. I'm assuming this could be because I'm taking turns at such higher speeds now and really pushing the bike.
My question is would moving up from my cheap cane creek calipers in this situation make much of a difference, I was thinking Ultegra, or any other type of brake you guys would recommend. I did a search and found some info but I was curious what you guys would do, am I going to notice more precision and stopping power? I've tried to avoid upgrading this bike but in this situation I'm cool with dropping these on there. Also where's a good place to get them?
After sprinting, my favorite thing on a bike is descending; routinely hit mid to upper sixties (and hope to break 70 this year). Trust me on this, the climbers may get respect, but those who can truly scream down hill and outsprint all takers are held in
awe.
As you get more ballsy on the descents, your confidence in your brakes will play a significant role. And I'm not just speaking in terms of stopping power. You also want to factor in modulation, ability to adjust spring tension, etc.
I'm not familiar with Cane Creek brakes (I do use their headsets and greatly admire them). Coming from a mtb/XTR background, I just went straight to Dura Ace. The reliability, modulation, adjustability, stopping power makes it a decision I'm very comfortable with. The Ultegras, which you're considering, should not too far off in performance.
I'm highly skeptical of bargain brakes. And I've yet to see a rider on gucci brakes impress me on the down hill. The best descenders I know use the big four (Shimano, Campy, SRAM, Mavic).