azza_333

I am not overly impressed with my recent touring bike build's brakes, I currently have TRP Spyre, but I have been looking to replace them with hydraulic brakes. Either TRP Hylex or Shimano ST-R785. Has anyone used these brakes and can make a comparison between them.

J.Higgins 

I'm surprised that you do not care for the TRP Spyre. I've read that they have excellent modulation. The design is certainly excellent; applying pressure with both pads. I like that.

I'd go with the Shimano, but if you wanted to stay relatively maintenance free, you could easily score yourself a set of Paul Klampers, which I have on my Trek hardtail, and I really like them. I also have the Paul cantilevers on my LHT, and I have to say their quality is excellent.

azza_333

Thanks for your input.

I know, I also read that they were the best cabled disc brakes money can buy, even better than the BB7 brakes, but they just aren't good enough. I actually have a set of Shimano ST-R785 on my carbon fibre bike, and I do find them fantastic, but wondering how they compare to the TRP Hyles brakes.

With regards to your comment of cabled disc brakes being "relatively maintenance free" its just my opinion, but with cable brakes, the cables stretch, and you need to adjust often as the pads wear. With Hydraulic, its just a matter of bleeding the brakes once every 1-2 years, that's it. So I find Hydraulic require much less maintenance.

Metaluna

To save the cost of upgrading to hydro brake levers, you might want to look into TRP HY/RD cable-actuated hydraulic calipers as well. I put one on the front of my cross bike a few months ago and love it so far, though I don't have enough miles on it to really give it an unqualified recommendation.

manapua_man

I've got R785s on a CX bike that I've been riding more than my other bicycles and have yet to have any problems with them. I can't say how good those TRP brakes are, but I haven't heard anything bad about em. Never had any issues with the random TRP hydros that came with my hard tail at least.

veganbikes

TRP makes excellent brakes and if you are looking for a system without STI levers Hylex would be the way to go. I have tested a bike or two with them and they were excellent. I have also tested some bikes with Shimano's Hydro system and that is also quite good but you are stuck with STIs or a flat bar set up.

The Hy/Rd's are a good concept and a lot of folks like them but it seems like there are an equal number of folks who dislike them because they are so fiddly to set up and get braking as well as their mechanicals or BB7s.

jeff400650

I switched out the BB7s on my Disc Trucker for TRP Hylex, and couldn't be happier. The shape of the hoods is much better, and the braking is perfect, quiet, light pull. I have Spyres on another bike, and I like them better than BB7, but they are not nearly as good as Hylex.

As others have pointed out, you are kind of comparing apples to oranges with the Hylex and 785, since the Hylex is just road style brakes, the Shimano is brakes and shifters combined, so you would have to go to that type of shifting, or I guess just have unused shifters and flexy brake levers.
The Hylex is the only drop bar hydraulic brake only system I could find on the market except for a SRAM model that only comes for the front (for single chain ring bikes).

jeff400650

Or maybe you already have integrated shifting. What kind of shifters are on the bike?

azza_333

I have bar end shifters, so it doesn't really matter either way.

Metaluna

Going with Hylex sounds like a no-brainer in that case. Actually the Hylex are discontinued in favor of Hylex RS which look pretty much the same but with more ergo-shaped levers with lots of drillium.

One concern I have with the Hylex is they seem to ship with too-short hoses, as jeff400650 points out here:

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...se-change.html

Which means add another $30 for a hose kit and some messy re-bleeding. I don't know if the Hylex RS addresses that.

paulgilmour67

fietsbob

flat to post mount adapters are available...

your online shopping source may be pushing the trendy flat mount ,

so look to your local bike shop, ordering, to get what you want.


TRP Hy Rd came on Trek's 720 , seemed good to me..
not my bike but one ordered by a customer in Hawaii
who flew to Oregon to get it, and, I presume, ride the coast on it..
.....

Metaluna

Unless they've changed something in the past couple of years, the Hylex RS are available in both flat and post mount, front and rear. I think the Disc Trucker has IS tabs, so you'd definitely want the post mount versions. I believe they come with IS-to-post adapters for 160mm rotors.

One thing I like about Shimano calipers is the bleed nipple design which makes opening and closing the bleed port easy. There is no tiny screw to lose, and when you're done you can close off the system while the syringe or catch bag is still attached, with no chance of introducing air back into the system.

fietsbob

SHIMANO ST-R785 HYDRAULIC DISC BRAKE DI2 STI'S - PAIR

way over your needs if you wont go Di2 entirely ..

azza_333

WOW this is one of my threads from over a year ago. FYI I went with he ST-R785 and couldn't be happier with them. I didn't care about them being Di2 since I rock bar ends, so I don't use the shifting on the STis. As a bonus they are also much lighter than there mechanical equivalent.