Modern caliper brakes ... how bad?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Just wondering how good / bad modern caliper brakes are ... my experience ended with a 10spd racer 30 years ago

[Dan_K]

I've got SRAM red on my road bike. They are very good. The limit tends to be with the contact patch of the tyre.
They're obviously not as good as disc brakes but I'm happy comfortable going at 40-50mph and knowing they'll stop me.

[TheBrownDog]

Campy Super Record 11 on my road bike. Very powerful and great feel, but still not a patch on discs thanks to those 700x23's. If I ever get another roadie it'll have discs on it, so it'll probably be one of the lighter CX bikes.

[Bearbonesnorm]

That's quite encouraging ... the brakes will need uprating on my shopper and my initial instinct was to add disc mount tabs (ball-ache), then I thought V brakes (slightly less ball-ache but I'll still need to add mounts). If I go for calipers all I'll need to do is fab a rear drop mount to account for the smaller (than standard) wheels.

[Lmorgan87]

They should be more than adequate for 99% of riding. I don't think that the brake mechanism itself makes too much of a difference to stopping power but a good set of pads is definitely worth investing in over hard, plastic-y stock ones.

Personally I don't see the need for disks on a slim wheeled bike. Reduced traction (compared with a mtb tyre) and more braking power = higher risk of skidding/ wheels slipping.

[ScotRoutes]

Personally I don't see the need for disks on a slim wheeled bike. Reduced traction (compared with a mtb tyre) and more braking power = higher risk of skidding/ wheels slipping.

I've seen two common arguments against disk brakes on road bikes.

One (as above) is that they offer no improvement in stopping distance as the limit is the contact area of the tyre. The other is that it would be dangerous to have them in a Peleton as following riders wouldn't be able to stop in time if the leaders braked hard.

My own experience, from having non-disc-braked riders sail past me a couple of times, is that the latter holds more weight.

[Artie Fufkin]

Glad to see your fettling with the Raleigh 20, cool bike!
Really fast acceleration, which brings us nicely onto stopping it.
I did a couple of decent (well, I think so!!!) conversions, one with mechanical discs and the other with V-brakes. The disc brake conversion was quite a ball ache as there aint much room to play with at the back end and they also have very thin sloping dropouts!!
Go for V's, they will stop you and its a lot less work.
Have you worked out what you're gonna do with the BB yet!! (he says opening that can of worms!)
Will get you some pis of Mrs Fufkins shopper, and you can see for yourself.
Have fun, it will be worth it in the end.

[TheBrownDog]

Personally I don't see the need for disks on a slim wheeled bike. Reduced traction (compared with a mtb tyre) and more braking power = higher risk of skidding/ wheels slipping.

Yep I agree but Its not really about stopping power. Its more about taking the work and stress of stopping away from the rim. Apart from meaning rims will last longer and you can still ride with a busted spoke or buckled wheel, road discs will mean manufacturers can start to get innovative again, especially in carbon fibre. None of my bunch have ridden carbon rims since Emanuel The Frenchman's front rim overheated, delaminated and spat him over his handlebars at 40mph.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Have you worked out what you're gonna do with the BB yet!! (he says opening that can of worms!)

From the available (limited) options I'm likely to go with shortening and rethreading. I'm sure a Velo Orange threadless BB could be made to work with a shortened shell but if I'm wrong then it's money wasted.

Will get you some pis of Mrs Fufkins shopper, and you can see for yourself.

Would love to see some.

[Artie Fufkin]

I went for the shortening and retreading option, not really that difficult if you have the kit and decide on a 73mm shell BB (5mm less to shave off!) Or you could get a FAG type BB, the ones with the black plastic cups and go in with a Campag style tool, and screw those in, being plastic they will take the thread pattern and won't knacker your frame.

[Matt]

Do want some?

I'll have a look in my box of old bit but pretty sure I've got some old Shim 105 Callipers

Might even have some MTB levers aswell??

Any use?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Do want some?

I'll have a look in my box of old bit but pretty sure I've got some old Shim 105 Callipers

Calipers would be welcome, ta.

[Matt]

Will have a look, what about x cross pull ones like tourers used to have...

[Zippy]

If matt can't find any, I've deffo get some spare calipers you can have FOC, come from a stock 2004 spesh allez road bike and were pretty alrite on the stopping.
Also got some brand new planet x forged calipers I plan on selling on.. (Say 35)
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BCPXFOR/pl ... e-calipers

My 10penneth on the road bike disc brakes is the hydraulic action has a lot more feel than cables which makes the difference IMHO.

[jameso]

Recent Shimano super-SLRs with the Ultegra or above level pads (may have filtered down now?) are so good imo that the only reason for discs (on my bikes anyway) is rim wear or braking in traffic. In the dry I'd take calipers over discs, in the wet I'm going slower anyway.
The modulation and control my 6700 series brakes have really surprised me when I first used them about 3 yrs ago. There's no grab, the power builds over the first couple of seconds of high-speed braking as the rim+block heats somehow and the effect is impressive. On an Alpine descent they're a joy to use.
(haha just realised what you're putting them on!)

[Matt]

Sorry, been turning man cave inside out and can't find 'em

Sorry

[99percentchimp]

Ultegra long reach 6700 on my roadie.... seem to be pretty good and have slowed my bulk on Alpine descents and dodgy Welsh roads over the last few years. Still look like new after riding through a few salty winters.
Just gone over to Swiss stop pads - they've been brilliant and noticeably better than previous Shimano pads in the recent crappy weather