Justify the Difference
 

Can anybody justify the difference in dual pivot brakes? For this example, Nashbar Jail Brakes are more than $50.00 less than Centaur brakes, which is the other choice. They weigh about the same. They're both dual pivot. Would I be asking for trouble, i.e. plummeting down a cliff, because I bought cheaper brakes?

Quality vs. features.

Generally the difference boils down to manufacturing processes and care and to the quality of the materials used for manufacture. In this case, I imagine the Centaur brake will have better fasteners and fewer burrs etc. That usually results in smoorher, crisper operation.

On the other hand, all brakes do is slow you down so you try not to use them all that much on a road bike. You might not notice any difference at all while you're riding.

It might be worth it to order both and return the ones you don't like. The cost of doing this will be minimal. You can then look at them together and decide if there is significant difference visually. If the Nashbar brakes look like significantly lesser brakes, don't even install them. If they look OK, put them on and give them a try. If they don't perform, switch to the others.

I think you will find that most knockoff/house brand parts to be perfectly fine. A lot of name-brand stuff comes from the same factory. My KHS tandem has no-name brakes and cranks and they work just great.

Just don't wait until you are screeming down the northside of Topanga Canyon during rush hour before you figure this out. :)

55/Rad

centar or veloce brakes are about the best around. I found them more powerful with the stock pads then my shimano brakes with koolstop pads. I got them for 50.00 new.

i can certainly tell the difference between my old no name and new ultegra calipers

Actually, I have reason to believe those Nashbar Jailbrake Calipers are the same as used by Felt on nearly all of their bikes. I ordered a pair of the Nashbar jailbreak brakes when building up a bike and then took the brakes off of a Felt I used to own and low and behold they looked identical, same black color, same blue on the bolt and the same different parts. The Nashbar brakes work fairly well. I ordered another pair for my next project so I must feel kind of safe with them.

Some house brand brakes may be ok but some really suck. Cervelo branded dual pivot brakes are complete crap even with better pads. With ShimaNo and Campy at least you know what you're getting.

Do you really want to try and save money on brakes? Surely this would be somewhere where the piece of mind afforded by a name brand part is the a few extra bucks. The name brand stuff is used by thousands of riders and any deficiencies would be well documented, and the finish quality is usually better.

Campy brakes have the cable tension release on the brake levers, while Shimano and knockoffs have a lever on the brake caliper. Something to think about when trying to use Campagnolo brakes with Shimano levers.

Can you tell me why you think they suck? I've got these on my new bike and am so-so on them, definately not entirely happy but not sure why. I don't hate them, but I definately don't love them either. They're not any worse than my 105's from my old bike, but I'm not sure what a 'superior' brakeset is supposed to feel like, other than saving weight.

I was wondering what makes a brake better or worse. I started with the same thought as glevii, what's the difference? and I'm still not sure. I have the option to upgrade, at a cost, but I'm not sure what the difference would be. Better stopping power? Smoother brakes? Are some quieter (mine squeal a bit when under medium load, not cool)?

I'm contemplating moving up to Chorus (which will match my groupset) or to the Mavic SSC. I'm not in it for the Weight Weenie upgrade, just want the brakes to work as crisp as the rest of the setup.

So, can anyone give a more detailed "justify the difference"?

Thanks
f

There are two things I want from my road brakes.
1 - Power, enough that I don't have to pin the lever to the bars when push comes to shove.
2 - Modulation, they need to come on predictably and even.

We have road races with 40-50 mph descents that are followed by hard right turns, not a good time to be questioning your brakes

Cervelo brakes did nothing to instill confidence. They lack the power of good brakes (Record,Chorus,DA,Ultegra - I have not experience with Mavics but have heard good things) and modulation was not predicable unless you consider the lack of power predicable. I’m not sure what is really wrong with them but they don’t work well at all. It could be the cable pull ratio, flex in the brake arms or just not a smooth power curve but they don’t work.

YMMV…

when you go abouve datona on the brakes you get a simgle piviot back brake. not as strong as the veloce or daytona.

I think you've nailed what I'm feeling, not a smooth power curve. The force applied on the levers does not transition into a smooth stop. You can't just tap the breaks to slow down, you have to fully depress them and go directly to an abrupt change in speed.

Anyone else?

f

Here is a (non)typical campa product.
Invented in 1966 by campanolo himselves

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../Campa_BIG.jpg

The brakes ? Think theire supose to be good as well.

I was test riding bikes at a shop that had a big hill that came down to a stop sign at a very busy street. I rode a couple Shimano equipped bikes, no problem. Then I rode a bike with some no-names. I had to squeeze so hard that I thought something was going to break before I could get that bike to stop. I was actually getting close to bail out mode. Shimano for me, thanks.

i bought an '05 Cervelo Soloist Centaur last week after considerig and trying out several other possibilites. i have been really enjoying it and am very happy with the Soloist.

my LBS guy told me that Cervelo had improved the spec brakes they use on '05s v. what was used on '04s. he said in the past he would swap out the Cervelo brakes for 105 brakes and charge a small premium. during my ride yesterday there was a need to stop somewhat quickly going down a steep hill and i felt more scared than i should have. it made me wonder if the '05 Cervelo brakes were actually improved enough. if i decided to switch to different brakes should i change the brakes, the pads or both to make a significant enough difference. how much should this kind of upgrade cost cost me if i purchased the bike 10 days ago? thanks for any help.

One of the easiest things to do to improve modulation is adjusting your brakes so that they sit a little further away from the rim so it takes a little more lever travel to get them to engage. You get more power in your grip the more your fingers are bent, plus this will allow you finer control of your braking instead of squeezing the levers slightly and having the calipers bite in all the way.

I've heard good things about tektro brakes.

http://www.lickbike.com/searchsite.asp?SEARCH=tektro

you are correct in that campy brakes are overpriced. another option would be to go Shimano 105, slightly cheaper than Veloce. if you don't mind mixing component manufacturers.

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

that said, I got a pair of Centaur brakes that were used for a single ride for $60 off eBay. Veloce and Centaur brakes seem to go for pretty cheap there.

Felt uses Tektro dual pivots. It is possible the nashbar brakes are made in the same place and just branded with a different name. My Felt's brakes are fine, but I have never used DA brakes or anything like that, so I dont have a lot to compare to. Much better than the brakes on my old bike though.

Don't forget about the wheel rim, not all rim surfaces are the same, and it is the other half of the complete brake system. Different rim surfaces can make a huge difference in brake pad friction and their stopping power.

I know how to use my brakes and the Cervelo brakes I've used are junk, plain and simple.

Don't get me wrong, I love Cervelo bikes, but the *****ty house brand brakes they use are nothing more than a cost cutting measure to hit a price point. The new P3SL TT rig I'm on this year came with the same crappy brakes and I had them pulled for the new Ultegras before I even picked it up. I think my cost on the Ultegras was around 80 bucks which is worth every penny if I don't have to use the Cervelo house brakes.