I bought a pair of the Klampers 4 or so years ago for MTB purposes. Have been on three different bikes and taken a serious beating. Still work perfectly, have only had to replace pads and a barrel adjuster. What REALLY takes them to the next level are the Love Levers. Also expensive, but 100% worth it
Neil Graham - Been thinking about upgrading my old Avid Speed Dials to Love Levers. Is it worth it? (Saying “yes” gives me an excuse to buy more Paul stuff.)
I've tried numerous disc brakes over the years including hydraulic and cable, shimano included. BB7, TRP hylex, shimano hydraulics, TRP spyres....event had that weird TRP converter box thing under the stem. It was the shimano's that finally put me off hydraulics since the seals kept leaking, so went back to mechanicals, plus you have more flexibility and durability without having to have STI. After shimanos went to spyres for a while. Stopping is ok and feel is nice but being in the UK they got filled with water and dirt and you could feel them grinding at the lever. They're really not very friendly for user servincing either. When I eventually got them apart they were corroded all over, including the ball bearings themselves. Got the Klampers and far happier overall. They cost 3 times more as pointed out, but I'd wager they'll last more than 3 times as long and for me that's worth it.
After striping my hydraulic Sram force brake lever, I ordered these in a fit rage. Best brakes ever! I'm done with hydraulic. Purple are amazing. I didn't know i could change the arm for mountain bikes, thanks Russ!
Compression-less housing should be a must for ANY cable operated brakes; Caliper, V-Brakes, Cantilever, etc. It makes a big difference in lever feel and braking power/effectiveness.
I wondered for a long time about these brakes. Currently, I am running them on my dropbar SS mountain bike. They are worth the money for my application. No messy hydraulic fluid or special tools to deal with.
Russ, The interchangeable arms also allows swapping between flat and drop bars on the same frame, without having to resort to long pull, drop bar levers, or some other adapter to make peace between road and mountain components.
Thank you for the review, Russ! Top-notch as always! I love the idea of the Klampers but that price! For my recent Cave of Bad Ideas-inspired mullet upgrade, I went with the JuinTech R1 mechanical+hydraulic hybrid brakes with compressionless cable housing. The R1s can be found for $125-$150 per set from some US-based Ebay dealers. Far superior compared to my old Spyres and BB7s in terms of feel, modulation and stopping power. Just a remarkable value. I may upgrade to Juin Tech GT-P (the Yokozuna Ultimos are rebadged GT-Ps) at some point, but I could not be happier with R1s.
For a certain type of bike, these are definitely a great option to have. I love simple, reliable, durable, will crafted things that do what they say. Having said that, I have Shimano hydraulics on four bikes and have had zero issues.
I splashed out on these last month after having the guys from my local shop show me them up and stopping on their custom builds. I have been through the TRP catalog and had very limited success, so bit the bullet and placed the order. Yes it was a few pennies to part with in one go but now they’re on the bike and starting to settle in, I can safely say they are well worth the investment! Having a brake that is serviceable, powerful, and will probably out last me cannot be underestimated. Highly recommended. For the record to anyone that may be wondering what sort of testing I have done to come this conclusion, I do Audax/Rando riding, so very long distances, sometimes loaded, in all weathers. They work brilliantly with my gravel wheelset too 👌🏻
Klampers for life! Agree 100% with the video. Avid BB7s are a good alternative for budget brakes with similar design. Pauls offer more versatility while probability to last much longer.
On target review. I installed mine today -- took 5-10 minutes per brake (already had new cable and housing on the bike). Haven't finished bedding them in, but braking power is impressive and "modulation" (range of result from varying brake squeeze) was better than my TRP Hy/Rds. Thanks PLP.
You two are cheering me up as I sit in hospital here in the UK: had a hip replacement yesterday afternoon! Great review. I went for Juin Tech GTs which seem identical to the Ultimos but much cheaper. Not sure why. I’m really happy with them once I’ve wrestled the compressionless cabling into place. If you didn’t find out, I think Laura’s Breadwinner is Columbus Spirit, triple butted and truly wonderful. Sorry for the ramble but the drugs are good!
I love how you started in on the cons and then just pretty much tapered off into more pros about it lol They've also got fantastic customer service and the rebuildability always puts it above anything else in my books. If you need any of the small parts, just contact them and they're more than willing to help you out.
thanks for this review just was introduced to the brand by my local bike shop and watched this video and your factory tour one I'm a fan. haha now to work with the budget
Figured it would've been fair to bring the BB7s as a comparison here rather than the Yokozunas. The BB7s are single sided actuation like the clampers but for 5x cheaper. $43 on jensonusa right now. No doubt the Clampers are a better brake, but 5x better than a well adjusted set of BB7s? I don't think so. Disclaimer: it's long been my biased opinion that Paul's Clampers are some of the biggest wastes of money you could ever attach to your bike.
BB7s are fine. Ran them on touring bikes and the stopping power was ok when loaded. Hate replacing pads in them. Finicky to get the spring pads to sit in right sometimes. For a throwaway brake BB7s are great. I expect the Paul’s to last the life over multiple frames however and pad replacement is easier. For a waste of money: SRAM AXS. Would rather splurge on brakes that will last a lifetime rather than AXS and $100 chains.
Another thing worth mentioning about Klampers, or any other mechanical brake, is that they have far more power if you use them with levers that have variable leverage- SRAM 9.0, XT M737/ 739/ 750/ 760, XTR M900/ 910/ 950/ 970, LX M570, Altek Sharkfin. Using these levers gives a night and day power advantage, and gives you more pad clearance, too. Combine those levers with compressionless housing, and you will have a top-notch brake.
The timing of this, coupled with the comments, couldn't be better timed for me, personally. I'm building a custom, lugged gravel-bike, and have been flopping back and forth on the Paul's for the last six weeks or so. I agree with your analysis, Russ. And, I'll just sit back and watch the show in the comments. Great content, as always.
Any mechanical brake will work better with Yokozuna housing :)). I'm running the Yokozuna brakes, albeit with the manufacturer branding as Juin Tech. The worked with cheap housing, but it is a night/day difference to use Yokozuna. At this point, I don't think I'd willingly set up any mechanical brake system with anything else. Nice thing about using Juin Tech is that even with buying the Yokozuna housing, the price is still about the same as a single Klamper caliper. Plus, you can get the Juin Tech brakes can be purchased in all sorts of gaudy colors.
I'm using TRP Spyres with 5800 105 shifters. They're mighty and bring a loaded bike to a skidding halt *provided they are set up correctly* --- common cable brake complaints of sponginess and softness are due to the housing and how well the ends are prepared. Although using normal brake housing --- not compressionless --- I used a grinder to make the cable end completely and perfectly flat. Correspondingly brake performance is excellent.
The levers can also feel soft and spongy if the pads are not set correctly, and one side contacts the rotor way before the other one. I also found that you get much better performance if you change out the stock pads. No need to go with expensive pads, even ancient and cheap Shimano B01S pads are better.
I use TRP Spyres with 7000 105 levers. These are the easiest to adjust disc brakes I have used. I prefer modulation over power and these are fantastic for that. I set the pull so that the pads contact earlier in the lever pull so they feel like my rim brake bikes. This may have to do with them working well with the Shimano levers. I wouldn't use any other disc brake caliper.
On my touring Surly I bought Gevanelle shifters with long-pull MTB-type brake levers instead of short-pull road levers so I had more (and cheaper) mechanical disc brake calipers to choose from. I'm running Tektro Aquila which are terrific despite being literally one tenth the price of these Klampers. Great stopping power with semi-metallic pads fitted. Surely the brakes in this review are vastly overpriced.
I use the Reaction housing with the Paul Klampers. I use Jagwire insert end caps and this Allows the spring to bring the brake handle back quickly. I currently have the crazy bar and the paul canti levers. The Klampers are very solid this way.
Yes, yes they are. Beautifully made in California, stops on a dime, and no hydraulics. I keep the mechanism packed with synthetic marine grease to handle nasty New England winters. Never had a problem.
Between myself and clients we have used every mechanical disk caliper on the market and today only recommend the Klampers and TRP Spyke and Spyre. The Klampers are certainly better performers and a lifetime product if folks are willing to do a rebuild occasionally. TRP mechanicals don’t give up much performance over the Klampers but are susceptible to failures from silty water and thin mud. If you don’t ride in those conditions and want to save money go TRP. If you like the idea of lifetime cycling products go with Klampers.
Debating on ordering these for a new touring build in the works. It will come with TRP Spyres/Spykes (whatever is for alt bars) and on my Cutthroat I am not impressed with the Spyres for reasons Russ has mentioned and that bike is pretty light. I emailed Paul so I would buy the right items the first time and got this response. "Our favorite combo is Canti Levers and short pull Klampers. They have a tad more power and less friction." And here I was under the impression I needed long pull for an alt bar application. Now to hit the checkout button for $625 of brake bling
Awesome review. I am building a Cross Check with a Crust disc brake front fork and have been thinking about using a Klamper front and Neo Retro canti rear. I think this sold me on that.
These came on my custom built cyclocross bike - High speed run at night, did not see curb until too late, None of my other bikes would have made it. Locked up back, skidded around inches from curb. Love these now, way faster stopping than BB7s - I will buy them for my other bikes soon. I can fix this on the trail, not true on Hydro.
I run the TRP Spyres on my gravel bike on 160 rotors. I'm amazed how well the work, especially considering that my main discipline is MTB and I run SRAM Guides on 180/203 rotors.
Ha - I had to doubletake when I saw this- good timing! Just finished installing a Klamper on my Surly LHT fork upgrade from rim brakes last weekend (local shop/suppliers were out of Spyre Spikes (long pull) which I would have gone for in a heartbeat if they had em'). I wish they'd use metric instead of torx, that decision doesn't make much sense to me (I don't think you get a good interface between torx and the bit which leads to easier stripping out esp. since the Klampers require a pretty high NM spec rating which is hard to meet with a standard multitool in the field), and pad alignment is more difficult than some since they are 100% flat mount instead of using a conical washer to give even finer axis control between the frame and the brake body. Also had to get very creative w/fender stays since the brake bodies are huge compared to most others on the market, but it worked out in the end. My experience thus far after bedding the pads has been "ambivalent, but they do look pretty and I like the idea of supporting smaller companies". I'm happy to have a front brake again, as to whether Klampers represent the dream, time will tell.
I have Klampers and have to say that the outer pad adjuster is very hard to use compared to the one on a BB7. The Paul one is stiff and hard to move, even after breaking in, while the BB7's clicks oh so easily, making it a lot easier to tune the brake very quickly. Now, the Klampers do have a barrel adjuster on them which does much the same thing as a pad adjuster knob and is also easy to use, but it makes me wonder what the pad adjuster is on there for; it's wide and adds weight. Klampers are great brakes, but this issue with the outer pad adjuster IMO is a flaw worth mentioning.
Which yokozuma calipers were you comparing this to? The 4 piston ultimas or the 2 piston version? Also, how do the Paul’s feel with the yoko compressionless housing?
If you want to keep your favourite levers try to convert to the giant conduct brake unit. This has cable actuation to the central hydraulic unit mounted on the stem and hydraulic pipes to the standard brake on the frame. Much easier to maintain than cable. Used in my giant for 3 years. The upgrade price is about 150 uk pounds. Full hydraulic feel plus the levers you like.
Ewww, no way. That box on the handlebars is hideous and takes up too much space. There are excellent cable actuated hydros with all the hydro built into the caliper. Much better solution.
I have 2 sets of Paul Klampers. One short pull set and one Campy set. I also have worked in the bike biz for 35 years and counting which hopefully you’ll appreciate the experience. First off, these brakes are absolutely fantastic. They are very simplistic and work great. Modulation to me is a word that is thrown around WAY too much in the bike braking world. Hydraulic brakes work fantastic but certain brands can “ hit” too hard and can (not always but sometimes ) have a herky-jerkey feel to them and just quite simply, brake too hard too soon. Again...this is common but by no means a deal breaker. The Paul Klampers, after a very brief bedding time, feel absolutely great, solid and predictable. Some of you may roll your eyes but DOT fluid is harmful and is not great for the environment. I’d certainly take the Mineral oil path over the DOT path. The Paul obviously don’t require either and to me, is what makes them so darn appealing. Easy to install, no bleeding, normal housing and are built to last. Note: these Calipers are BIG, but that doesn’t bother me at all. If you are a weight weenie, look elsewhere but I’m not and gotta say these Paul brakes are the best I have used. Give em a try and you won’t be disappointed. Worth every penny.
When planning my “builds” in my head, they always start with some form of Paul’s brakes. It’s the only component that isn’t up for discussion. So I figure a frame price and factor in Klampers or Minimotos as my start point. Then it goes from there. Simple.
Russ, great video! I'm totally sold and plan to install these on my new Surly Ice Cream Truck. Question: Can you convert post mount to flat and visa versa? In order to be truly adaptable to multiple bikes, seems like the mounting could be the limiting factor.
Big fan of Paul components but I prefer the Ultimos, largely because they are better looking to my eye. Beyond that, Ultimos are quite a bit lighter and I picked mine up new with Yokozuna compression-less housing for $160 per brake.
I just worry about hydros having a problem on the road or when shipping - not worth it to me. The best technology isn’t always the most practical imho.
Tim Fitzwater 100% agree. Use-case and other stuff matters. My liking hydro isn’t meant as any sort of condemnation of cable brakes- my use case and preferences are my own, and I’d never impose them on someone else. As I said right off the bat: Paul’s brakes are unarguably excellent. They are well made, work well, and are a pleasure to use, work on, and look at. Top notch all the way (and worth every penny).
I’m intrigued. I only have one disc bike but the brakes are very average (early mechanicals). That is spendy but I see no reason I couldn’t start with just one. The reason I like rim brakes is how easy they are to service - looks like these solve that. As a side note - you don’t think the Crust is a forever bike? That’s the point of steel! I’m heading off on a 360 mile bike packing trip on my ‘83 Trek 500 Saturday (all components are upgraded).
Definitely wanted a set of these on my recent build, but in the end I just couldn't manage to pull the trigger on the price. The cost of the build was getting a little out of control and I had to put the brakes on - pun intended.
Thanks for the review! I’m thinking of getting a set used and they have the short-throw arms installed. This’ll be for a bike with mountain bars, so I could go with short or long throw levers. Is there any leverage advantage between short and long throw bar levers when using these?
i have a crust bombora frame im building up and have a set of paul klampers coming with 160 rotors and i need some help with the adaptors and screws i need?
Paul most anything is above my paygrade, but I've had great results with the dirt cheap Zoom cable pull hydro breaks. Actually bought the roll of compressionless housing. It didn't seem to make a difference. The only downside is they are a one piston break, so not selfadjusting.
Interesting stuff as always, Russ! I wonder how these compare to BB7s in terms of pure stopping power. I mean they both seem to employ the same mechanics and I don't see why Paul's should perform considerably better. If that is the case, it is a bit difficult to justify the price, unless you want a US-made product or some blingy parts on your bike
Mechanical caliper performance depends greatly on machining tolerances and design strength. Any flex in any part hurts, which is why these are built like a piece of mining equipment and machined with the precision of a Swiss watch. Compared to BB7s, design and construction are on a completely different level.
I recently replaced the Origin8 mechano-hydro Vise calipers on my Jones with Klampers. For all those serviceability (and adjustment) reasons. Lovely brakes, easy set up, looks fine with a pair of Love Levers, but.... You're asking the wrong question. The question to ask, is: "Are Klampers better than a pair of BB7's"? I think they are comparable, but Paul is a super nice guy, their customer service is fantastic, and who doesn't like a little jewelry on their bike?
Ha! I didn't know my shimergo monstercross needed custom cable pull. Honestly though that's a brilliant feature and goes a long way towards justifying the price, if you're a hopeless tinkerer and your "investment" calipers can follow you from bike to bike. Did you set up the Paul's with like some decent compressionless jagwire housing? Or just basic off-the-roll spiral brake housing? In my experience that's the number one factor that makes mechanical disc brakes perform well.
I Setup my TRP Spyres several time. Now it is ok but not nearly as good as my Ultegra rim brakes regarding the stopping power. I wonder if this is due to a different pull ratio of my Sora to a 105. What kind of compressionless housing do you use?
For the Yokos, I used what came with it and the stopping power was awesome. After multiple drive train changes for the channel I picked up some Jagwire compressionless and its not as a good with the Yokos. For the Pauls, they actually recommend NOT using compressionless housing
Changed from Jagwire to Shimano and it is a little bit better. I just want to try a swisstop brake pad and see if it makes a difference. There some voices that say so.
2:26 i just cannot look at when people lean their bikes on the ground on the side of the derailler.... not meant as a critique, everyone can treat their bike how they want, love your channel btw
My road bike has a 105 5800/RS505 hydraulic group. Never thought the hydraulic's were any better than mechanical discs I've had, just more of a PIA. I've bought a Rival 22 mini group for rim brakes to replace it and I think I'll go all out and get the Paul's. I do wonder how it would feel with the longer MTB arm. You think it would be more powerful? Anyone see a problem with that?
I don't know about bling but I know they work and will stop a truck. Only problem is they won't work on bikes I have with a SP dyno hub due to spoke interference. Damn it. But yes! a very strong, well made brake.
A con for me, and this goes for all calipers, is the lack of pad service through the top of the caliper. It may sound like a small item but I like not having to remove and realign my calipers to access pads.
Something to note: it looks like the Klampers only klamp down onto the rotor from one side. Compared to a brake like the TRP Spyre where both pads move. No personal experience with the Klampers but just comparing 2 brakes I've worked with (Hayes CX and TRP Spyres) having both pads move makes setting up easier and I think brakes better too. Granted on the Klampers you get the independent pad adjustment you don't get on the Hayes CX, but setting up you have to run the non-moving pad super close to the rotor to get good braking, which can get annoying if your rotor is out of true.
l can buy a GT MTB for the same money with hydro disc brakes on THE AVALANCHE !! AND l don t anything with disc brakes right now but l think l ll buy the bike first !! ALSO l dont care what kind of disc brand it comes with at this time either !! For now l have road bikes with rim brakes that work fine for me ,plus l like l can clean and fix em easy and cheap :) WE LL SEE WHAT THE FUTURE BRINGS ....
Do they recommend compressionless cables and housings? Did you use them? And if you did, does the Compressionless feel any differently to normal brake housings and lines?
Have you tried the JagWire Elite Link cable housing and the mandrel-drawn super-slick cable? I find they have dramatically improved both shifting and braking on my road bikes. The housing is expensive, but with Klampers, the expense is lost in the noise.
It s also important to remember that they are 100% U.S. made from 100% U.S. sourced aluminum. Unlike companies like Sram which are foreign made. I am not against parts from other countries, but I am against our companies making everything offshore and losing manufacturing jobs so that executives can give themselves raises. Have you priced a pair of Nike shoes recently? Sweatshop labor and price of materials for a shoe, versus a machinist with a college education, most likely at Butte community college or Chico state, and aluminum billets. The price is actually not unreasonable and their profit margin is almost definitely much smaller.
I wouldn't mind an install/adjustment video if you have the time (I doubt you haha). I can't seem to get good power/bite without rubbing and I followed their installation instructions. I really do like them so far but want to get them dialed totally.
Unless you need the purple color, just buy a TRP Spyre for less than $80. It is a dual side actuation beautiful piece of engineering and saves money for compressionless brake housing.
I've owned Spyres and not a fan. The cable pull doesn't match up with some Shimano brifters and they're mushy at best and the stock pads are meh. The single sided Paul's stop more effectively IME.
I just don't understand why these are better than TRP Spyres: they only move in on one side where the Spyres have both pads clamp the rotor. You can also more easily adjust centering the rotor grab with the Spyres. The Spyres with compressionless housing feel amazing. I 100% believe these are a better BB7, but I bought two Spyres for $120.... I run them 180F and 160R and I can stop on a dime with weight.
You should check out Paul's video on why they use single-sided clamping. I have Spykes on one bike, and Spyres on another, and they're pretty good...but I don't think they perform as well as the Klampers do.
@@PathLessPedaledTV I am new to the disc brake, would like to hear more how they actually perform compare to each other. What problem did you guy found on the TRP? Maybe a long downhill section in terms of breaking power, exhausted fingers etc
@@ysllsy6624 they just sucked. I could be in the drops applying the brakes and the rear wheel won't stop. Apparently there is some cable pull differences between shimano levers that don't play well with TRPs so that might have been the cause.
@@PathLessPedaledTV Did you do a bit of research on adjusting Spyres? Did you bin the stock pads that are garbage? Even cheap Shimano B01S pads are way better (and Klampers come with Kool Stop sintered pads, which cost about $20 per wheel). Did you run compressionless housing? (No need to get crazy expensive compressionless housing, the Jagwire Road Pro kit costs $30, you get 3m of compressionless housing, and two great quality cables) I feel like Spyres get a bad rap because of bad pads and user error. You read reviews and they go like this: Spyres are the best, Spyres are the worst, Spyres are the best. You say you can't lock up the rears from the drops, yet I do skids all the time (even when I don't want to) when i'm descending on the hoods. How does that work? 🙃 Spyres are not my favourite brakes, they are not better than Klampers, and they have their issues. But if you can't lock up the rear even from the drops then something is wrong there.
I'm not sure if it was mentioned or if I missed it, but how would you compare these brakes with hyrdo disc brakes? I test rode a bike with TRP Spyres and was quite disappointed. My friend's hyrdo brakes were bomb.
How do the klampers calibrate? I currently run bb7 and having to recalibrate the brakes is really annoying. Especially after taking the wheels out to fit the bike in a car and then spending 15 minutes on adjusting the calibers before being able to ride.
Russ, you got me very interested in Paul klampers for my first build (salsa fargo). But I was planning on running a mix of Shimano GRX components (hydraulic only brake levers). Does anybody have any suggestions on compatible hood shifters that would work with GRX rear derailleur & mechanical Paul Klampers?
No. They were absolute garbage with the levers I had and I don’t think it would have worked. Apparently they are not truly compatible with various Shimano levers.
How would you compare this to a Hope? Theyre in the similar price range, easily workable for flats/cruiser bars, non-china/Taiwan CoO, and similar nukeproofness.
![ตีสิบเดย์ [FULL] | เปิดใจ "อาจารย์ เบียร์ ฅนตื่นธรรม" นักสนทนาธรรมสายดุดัน!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vqaBI_mnoDk/mqdefault.jpg)
Commence complaining about premieres in....3...2... :)
Ugh, premieres. :) Looking forward to this one, been considering these for a while.
Ugh. Premieres are such a tease. If you did them after the episode I bet you'd get less grief about them. ;-)
Brake feathering gang AOOH
Did I miss the premiere 😜
Could you please please please elaborate on TRP Spyres? Or Spyres with compression-less housing combo? Or TRP Spykes maybe?
I enjoyed this review, though one calliper cost more than my bike.
I bought a pair of the Klampers 4 or so years ago for MTB purposes. Have been on three different bikes and taken a serious beating. Still work perfectly, have only had to replace pads and a barrel adjuster. What REALLY takes them to the next level are the Love Levers. Also expensive, but 100% worth it
Neil Graham - Been thinking about upgrading my old Avid Speed Dials to Love Levers. Is it worth it? (Saying “yes” gives me an excuse to buy more Paul stuff.)
What's the benefit of the love lever over their CantiLever?
I've tried numerous disc brakes over the years including hydraulic and cable, shimano included. BB7, TRP hylex, shimano hydraulics, TRP spyres....event had that weird TRP converter box thing under the stem. It was the shimano's that finally put me off hydraulics since the seals kept leaking, so went back to mechanicals, plus you have more flexibility and durability without having to have STI. After shimanos went to spyres for a while. Stopping is ok and feel is nice but being in the UK they got filled with water and dirt and you could feel them grinding at the lever. They're really not very friendly for user servincing either. When I eventually got them apart they were corroded all over, including the ball bearings themselves. Got the Klampers and far happier overall. They cost 3 times more as pointed out, but I'd wager they'll last more than 3 times as long and for me that's worth it.
After striping my hydraulic Sram force brake lever, I ordered these in a fit rage. Best brakes ever! I'm done with hydraulic. Purple are amazing. I didn't know i could change the arm for mountain bikes, thanks Russ!
I run my klampers with yokozuna compresionless housing and ultergra sti levers. The performance is awesome. Super responsive. highly recommend!
Compression-less housing should be a must for ANY cable operated brakes; Caliper, V-Brakes, Cantilever, etc. It makes a big difference in lever feel and braking power/effectiveness.
I wondered for a long time about these brakes. Currently, I am running them on my dropbar SS mountain bike. They are worth the money for my application. No messy hydraulic fluid or special tools to deal with.
That Crust has already lived many lives. Glad you're getting a lot of use out of it, Russ!
Thank you for doing the hard work, made my decision much easer and eliminated the risk of the unknown- great job
Russ,
The interchangeable arms also allows swapping between flat and drop bars on the same frame, without having to resort to long pull, drop bar levers, or some other adapter to make peace between road and mountain components.
Thank you for the review, Russ! Top-notch as always!
I love the idea of the Klampers but that price! For my recent Cave of Bad Ideas-inspired mullet upgrade, I went with the JuinTech R1 mechanical+hydraulic hybrid brakes with compressionless cable housing. The R1s can be found for $125-$150 per set from some US-based Ebay dealers. Far superior compared to my old Spyres and BB7s in terms of feel, modulation and stopping power. Just a remarkable value.
I may upgrade to Juin Tech GT-P (the Yokozuna Ultimos are rebadged GT-Ps) at some point, but I could not be happier with R1s.
For a certain type of bike, these are definitely a great option to have. I love simple, reliable, durable, will crafted things that do what they say. Having said that, I have Shimano hydraulics on four bikes and have had zero issues.
I splashed out on these last month after having the guys from my local shop show me them up and stopping on their custom builds. I have been through the TRP catalog and had very limited success, so bit the bullet and placed the order.
Yes it was a few pennies to part with in one go but now they’re on the bike and starting to settle in, I can safely say they are well worth the investment!
Having a brake that is serviceable, powerful, and will probably out last me cannot be underestimated. Highly recommended.
For the record to anyone that may be wondering what sort of testing I have done to come this conclusion, I do Audax/Rando riding, so very long distances, sometimes loaded, in all weathers. They work brilliantly with my gravel wheelset too 👌🏻
Have you used the trp evo? I run the evo on my enduro but my commuter / lunch ride / bike packer needs new brakes and I’m looking at klampers.
Klampers for life! Agree 100% with the video. Avid BB7s are a good alternative for budget brakes with similar design. Pauls offer more versatility while probability to last much longer.
On target review. I installed mine today -- took 5-10 minutes per brake (already had new cable and housing on the bike). Haven't finished bedding them in, but braking power is impressive and "modulation" (range of result from varying brake squeeze) was better than my TRP Hy/Rds. Thanks PLP.
You two are cheering me up as I sit in hospital here in the UK: had a hip replacement yesterday afternoon! Great review. I went for Juin Tech GTs which seem identical to the Ultimos but much cheaper. Not sure why. I’m really happy with them once I’ve wrestled the compressionless cabling into place. If you didn’t find out, I think Laura’s Breadwinner is Columbus Spirit, triple butted and truly wonderful. Sorry for the ramble but the drugs are good!
I assembled a bunch of klamper brakes yesterday at Paul’s shop
A guy in California makes these parts in California. You can meet him at the Philly Bike Expo. Buy 'em if that is cool or important.
I love how you started in on the cons and then just pretty much tapered off into more pros about it lol
They've also got fantastic customer service and the rebuildability always puts it above anything else in my books. If you need any of the small parts, just contact them and they're more than willing to help you out.
thanks for this review just was introduced to the brand by my local bike shop and watched this video and your factory tour one I'm a fan. haha now to work with the budget
Figured it would've been fair to bring the BB7s as a comparison here rather than the Yokozunas. The BB7s are single sided actuation like the clampers but for 5x cheaper. $43 on jensonusa right now. No doubt the Clampers are a better brake, but 5x better than a well adjusted set of BB7s? I don't think so.
Disclaimer: it's long been my biased opinion that Paul's Clampers are some of the biggest wastes of money you could ever attach to your bike.
BB7s are fine. Ran them on touring bikes and the stopping power was ok when loaded. Hate replacing pads in them. Finicky to get the spring pads to sit in right sometimes. For a throwaway brake BB7s are great. I expect the Paul’s to last the life over multiple frames however and pad replacement is easier.
For a waste of money: SRAM AXS. Would rather splurge on brakes that will last a lifetime rather than AXS and $100 chains.
Always wondered how good they are and if they are worth it so awesome video!. Thanks for taking the time to make it. Cheers Mike
Another thing worth mentioning about Klampers, or any other mechanical brake, is that they have far more power if you use them with levers that have variable leverage- SRAM 9.0, XT M737/ 739/ 750/ 760, XTR M900/ 910/ 950/ 970, LX M570, Altek Sharkfin. Using these levers gives a night and day power advantage, and gives you more pad clearance, too. Combine those levers with compressionless housing, and you will have a top-notch brake.
The timing of this, coupled with the comments, couldn't be better timed for me, personally. I'm building a custom, lugged gravel-bike, and have been flopping back and forth on the Paul's for the last six weeks or so. I agree with your analysis, Russ. And, I'll just sit back and watch the show in the comments. Great content, as always.
I love the klampers. Made in USA, easy to service, and they work great. When I bought my Crust Evasion, I felt the splurge was worth it.
Any mechanical brake will work better with Yokozuna housing :)).
I'm running the Yokozuna brakes, albeit with the manufacturer branding as Juin Tech. The worked with cheap housing, but it is a night/day difference to use Yokozuna. At this point, I don't think I'd willingly set up any mechanical brake system with anything else. Nice thing about using Juin Tech is that even with buying the Yokozuna housing, the price is still about the same as a single Klamper caliper. Plus, you can get the Juin Tech brakes can be purchased in all sorts of gaudy colors.
They do make a big difference. FWIW Paul actually recommends not using compressionless.
Klampers rock, best mechanical calipers, period. Even better than any hybrid I've tried. Combine with segmented housing for increased feel.
I'm using TRP Spyres with 5800 105 shifters. They're mighty and bring a loaded bike to a skidding halt *provided they are set up correctly* --- common cable brake complaints of sponginess and softness are due to the housing and how well the ends are prepared. Although using normal brake housing --- not compressionless --- I used a grinder to make the cable end completely and perfectly flat. Correspondingly brake performance is excellent.
Agreed! Cost 3 times less too.
The levers can also feel soft and spongy if the pads are not set correctly, and one side contacts the rotor way before the other one. I also found that you get much better performance if you change out the stock pads. No need to go with expensive pads, even ancient and cheap Shimano B01S pads are better.
I use TRP Spyres with 7000 105 levers. These are the easiest to adjust disc brakes I have used. I prefer modulation over power and these are fantastic for that. I set the pull so that the pads contact earlier in the lever pull so they feel like my rim brake bikes. This may have to do with them working well with the Shimano levers. I wouldn't use any other disc brake caliper.
On my touring Surly I bought Gevanelle shifters with long-pull MTB-type brake levers instead of short-pull road levers so I had more (and cheaper) mechanical disc brake calipers to choose from. I'm running Tektro Aquila which are terrific despite being literally one tenth the price of these Klampers. Great stopping power with semi-metallic pads fitted. Surely the brakes in this review are vastly overpriced.
I use the Reaction housing with the Paul Klampers. I use Jagwire insert end caps and this Allows the spring to bring the brake handle back quickly. I currently have the crazy bar and the paul canti levers. The Klampers are very solid this way.
Yes, yes they are. Beautifully made in California, stops on a dime, and no hydraulics. I keep the mechanism packed with synthetic marine grease to handle nasty New England winters. Never had a problem.
Between myself and clients we have used every mechanical disk caliper on the market and today only recommend the Klampers and TRP Spyke and Spyre. The Klampers are certainly better performers and a lifetime product if folks are willing to do a rebuild occasionally. TRP mechanicals don’t give up much performance over the Klampers but are susceptible to failures from silty water and thin mud. If you don’t ride in those conditions and want to save money go TRP. If you like the idea of lifetime cycling products go with Klampers.
Debating on ordering these for a new touring build in the works. It will come with TRP Spyres/Spykes (whatever is for alt bars) and on my Cutthroat I am not impressed with the Spyres for reasons Russ has mentioned and that bike is pretty light. I emailed Paul so I would buy the right items the first time and got this response. "Our favorite combo is Canti Levers and short pull Klampers. They have a tad more power and less friction." And here I was under the impression I needed long pull for an alt bar application. Now to hit the checkout button for $625 of brake bling
Awesome review. I am building a Cross Check with a Crust disc brake front fork and have been thinking about using a Klamper front and Neo Retro canti rear. I think this sold me on that.
These came on my custom built cyclocross bike - High speed run at night, did not see curb until too late, None of my other bikes would have made it. Locked up back, skidded around inches from curb. Love these now, way faster stopping than BB7s - I will buy them for my other bikes soon. I can fix this on the trail, not true on Hydro.
Run campy. Don't want to run hydraulic. These are my best option. Plus I like bling.
Dude you run Campy, for shure you link bling
I use spyre and bb7 brakes in my bikes. Set up correctly, they work really well.
BB7s are fine for the money. I hate the finicky pad replacement. Spyres are 💩 with certain Shimano brake levers.
I run the TRP Spyres on my gravel bike on 160 rotors. I'm amazed how well the work, especially considering that my main discipline is MTB and I run SRAM Guides on 180/203 rotors.
Impressive to see there is still products I 2020 that are designed for durability.
Russ, great review and I love your objectiveness.
Ha - I had to doubletake when I saw this- good timing! Just finished installing a Klamper on my Surly LHT fork upgrade from rim brakes last weekend (local shop/suppliers were out of Spyre Spikes (long pull) which I would have gone for in a heartbeat if they had em').
I wish they'd use metric instead of torx, that decision doesn't make much sense to me (I don't think you get a good interface between torx and the bit which leads to easier stripping out esp. since the Klampers require a pretty high NM spec rating which is hard to meet with a standard multitool in the field), and pad alignment is more difficult than some since they are 100% flat mount instead of using a conical washer to give even finer axis control between the frame and the brake body. Also had to get very creative w/fender stays since the brake bodies are huge compared to most others on the market, but it worked out in the end.
My experience thus far after bedding the pads has been "ambivalent, but they do look pretty and I like the idea of supporting smaller companies". I'm happy to have a front brake again, as to whether Klampers represent the dream, time will tell.
8 months later TRP Spyres are still no where to be found...meanwhile had to get some Tektros to hold me over.
I almost bought these when I built my bike, but so glad I was talked around to some XT hydraulics lol
I have Klampers and have to say that the outer pad adjuster is very hard to use compared to the one on a BB7. The Paul one is stiff and hard to move, even after breaking in, while the BB7's clicks oh so easily, making it a lot easier to tune the brake very quickly. Now, the Klampers do have a barrel adjuster on them which does much the same thing as a pad adjuster knob and is also easy to use, but it makes me wonder what the pad adjuster is on there for; it's wide and adds weight. Klampers are great brakes, but this issue with the outer pad adjuster IMO is a flaw worth mentioning.
They say that as the pad wears you should turn in the pad adjusters rather than the barrel adjuster. That's all I know.
Which yokozuma calipers were you comparing this to? The 4 piston ultimas or the 2 piston version? Also, how do the Paul’s feel with the yoko compressionless housing?
If you want to keep your favourite levers try to convert to the giant conduct brake unit. This has cable actuation to the central hydraulic unit mounted on the stem and hydraulic pipes to the standard brake on the frame. Much easier to maintain than cable. Used in my giant for 3 years. The upgrade price is about 150 uk pounds. Full hydraulic feel plus the levers you like.
Ewww, no way. That box on the handlebars is hideous and takes up too much space. There are excellent cable actuated hydros with all the hydro built into the caliper. Much better solution.
Awesome! Thanks for the review!
I have 2 sets of Paul Klampers. One short pull set and one Campy set. I also have worked in the bike biz for 35 years and counting which hopefully you’ll appreciate the experience. First off, these brakes are absolutely fantastic. They are very simplistic and work great. Modulation to me is a word that is thrown around WAY too much in the bike braking world. Hydraulic brakes work fantastic but certain brands can “ hit” too hard and can (not always but sometimes ) have a herky-jerkey feel to them and just quite simply, brake too hard too soon. Again...this is common but by no means a deal breaker. The Paul Klampers, after a very brief bedding time, feel absolutely great, solid and predictable. Some of you may roll your eyes but DOT fluid is harmful and is not great for the environment. I’d certainly take the Mineral oil path over the DOT path. The Paul obviously don’t require either and to me, is what makes them so darn appealing. Easy to install, no bleeding, normal housing and are built to last. Note: these Calipers are BIG, but that doesn’t bother me at all. If you are a weight weenie, look elsewhere but I’m not and gotta say these Paul brakes are the best I have used. Give em a try and you won’t be disappointed. Worth every penny.
When planning my “builds” in my head, they always start with some form of Paul’s brakes. It’s the only component that isn’t up for discussion.
So I figure a frame price and factor in Klampers or Minimotos as my start point.
Then it goes from there.
Simple.
Same! I've got Klampers, Touring Cantis, and Racers on my bikes. Why would you trust anyone else?
Russ, great video! I'm totally sold and plan to install these on my new Surly Ice Cream Truck. Question: Can you convert post mount to flat and visa versa? In order to be truly adaptable to multiple bikes, seems like the mounting could be the limiting factor.
Great review, love my Klampers! 🏔✌🏽
Big fan of Paul components but I prefer the Ultimos, largely because they are better looking to my eye. Beyond that, Ultimos are quite a bit lighter and I picked mine up new with Yokozuna compression-less housing for $160 per brake.
I’ve no doubt Paul’s brakes are lovely to use and work on. No doubt whatsoever.
But I’m all about that hydraulic lyfe.
+1 from me too
Me 3
Ha. I have a video scheduled for Cable Brakes in 2020? in a few days.
I just worry about hydros having a problem on the road or when shipping - not worth it to me. The best technology isn’t always the most practical imho.
Tim Fitzwater 100% agree. Use-case and other stuff matters. My liking hydro isn’t meant as any sort of condemnation of cable brakes- my use case and preferences are my own, and I’d never impose them on someone else.
As I said right off the bat: Paul’s brakes are unarguably excellent. They are well made, work well, and are a pleasure to use, work on, and look at. Top notch all the way (and worth every penny).
Love these brakes! They really are the "forever brakes" I run mine with the PAUL canti levers incase I wanted to swap to to drop levers.
I’m intrigued. I only have one disc bike but the brakes are very average (early mechanicals). That is spendy but I see no reason I couldn’t start with just one. The reason I like rim brakes is how easy they are to service - looks like these solve that. As a side note - you don’t think the Crust is a forever bike? That’s the point of steel! I’m heading off on a 360 mile bike packing trip on my ‘83 Trek 500 Saturday (all components are upgraded).
It would be a forever bike if it weren’t a Frankenbike to make videos for the channel.
Path Less Pedaled yeah - it’s your job so a different story - makes sense.
Awesome review, a fellow IG'er suggested these to me yesterday - Your review was spot on. Makes me wonder :) $$$$
Definitely wanted a set of these on my recent build, but in the end I just couldn't manage to pull the trigger on the price. The cost of the build was getting a little out of control and I had to put the brakes on - pun intended.
If you can find PAUL reraaillers buy! Just installed pair of Klamper on my electric cargo bicycle. Oh my, worth the money.
If I were still riding backcountry in Alaska, I would go for these.
Thanks for the review! I’m thinking of getting a set used and they have the short-throw arms installed. This’ll be for a bike with mountain bars, so I could go with short or long throw levers. Is there any leverage advantage between short and long throw bar levers when using these?
i have a crust bombora frame im building up and have a set of paul klampers coming with 160 rotors and i need some help with the adaptors and screws i need?
Personally I would just by hydraulic brakes for my mountain bike
Paul most anything is above my paygrade, but I've had great results with the dirt cheap Zoom cable pull hydro breaks. Actually bought the roll of compressionless housing. It didn't seem to make a difference. The only downside is they are a one piston break, so not selfadjusting.
Interesting stuff as always, Russ! I wonder how these compare to BB7s in terms of pure stopping power. I mean they both seem to employ the same mechanics and I don't see why Paul's should perform considerably better. If that is the case, it is a bit difficult to justify the price, unless you want a US-made product or some blingy parts on your bike
Wondering how the Klampers function, as in work and feel compared to BB7?
@@jefftoonstra5087 just if they have more stopping power than BB7 and, if yes, why?
Mechanical caliper performance depends greatly on machining tolerances and design strength. Any flex in any part hurts, which is why these are built like a piece of mining equipment and machined with the precision of a Swiss watch. Compared to BB7s, design and construction are on a completely different level.
@@dkessler14 this absolutely makes sense, thanks!
I recently replaced the Origin8 mechano-hydro Vise calipers on my Jones with Klampers. For all those serviceability (and adjustment) reasons. Lovely brakes, easy set up, looks fine with a pair of Love Levers, but.... You're asking the wrong question. The question to ask, is: "Are Klampers better than a pair of BB7's"? I think they are comparable, but Paul is a super nice guy, their customer service is fantastic, and who doesn't like a little jewelry on their bike?
I can not get the rear caliper to clear my 160 rotor with the 160 adapter? What did you use so that the rear cleared the rotor?
Ha! I didn't know my shimergo monstercross needed custom cable pull. Honestly though that's a brilliant feature and goes a long way towards justifying the price, if you're a hopeless tinkerer and your "investment" calipers can follow you from bike to bike.
Did you set up the Paul's with like some decent compressionless jagwire housing? Or just basic off-the-roll spiral brake housing? In my experience that's the number one factor that makes mechanical disc brakes perform well.
Paul actually recommends using cheap housing and not compressionless.
I Setup my TRP Spyres several time. Now it is ok but not nearly as good as my Ultegra rim brakes regarding the stopping power.
I wonder if this is due to a different pull ratio of my Sora to a 105.
What kind of compressionless housing do you use?
For the Yokos, I used what came with it and the stopping power was awesome. After multiple drive train changes for the channel I picked up some Jagwire compressionless and its not as a good with the Yokos. For the Pauls, they actually recommend NOT using compressionless housing
Changed from Jagwire to Shimano and it is a little bit better. I just want to try a swisstop brake pad and see if it makes a difference. There some voices that say so.
Hey man, no really... how’s the modulation on the Paul Component Klampers? Lol! Would you recommend another for modulation (mechanical only)?
2:26 i just cannot look at when people lean their bikes on the ground on the side of the derailler....
not meant as a critique, everyone can treat their bike how they want, love your channel btw
I concur that is a huge pet peeve of mine!
FFS I was trying to give you guys a view of the brakes.
@@PathLessPedaledTV success! Total bike pr0n.
Pleasing internet pedant fail
Used to have a Rasta rear derailleur from Paul.
Running a set of blue klampers on my crust bombora. Also worth noting they play nice with buying options for the bombora post and flat mount setup.
My road bike has a 105 5800/RS505 hydraulic group. Never thought the hydraulic's were any better than mechanical discs I've had, just more of a PIA. I've bought a Rival 22 mini group for rim brakes to replace it and I think I'll go all out and get the Paul's. I do wonder how it would feel with the longer MTB arm. You think it would be more powerful? Anyone see a problem with that?
Living in Seattle, my purple kampers steel parts are slightly rusty. Granted i never wipe down my commuter, but thought id put that out there
TRP HY/RD comparison with these 2 would be really interesting to see given their price difference.. see how a more budget friendly option performs
I will never not recommend the Trp Hy/rd , great brakes! Great price/value
agree! also throw in the Yokozuna Ultimo onto list 👍
Paul stuff is awesome
I don't know about bling but I know they work and will stop a truck.
Only problem is they won't work on bikes I have with a SP dyno hub due to spoke interference. Damn it. But yes! a very strong, well made brake.
That’s good to know. I have a SON hub up front and clears the spokes.
A con for me, and this goes for all calipers, is the lack of pad service through the top of the caliper. It may sound like a small item but I like not having to remove and realign my calipers to access pads.
You can pop the pads out from the top. No caliper removal necessary.
Something to note: it looks like the Klampers only klamp down onto the rotor from one side. Compared to a brake like the TRP Spyre where both pads move. No personal experience with the Klampers but just comparing 2 brakes I've worked with (Hayes CX and TRP Spyres) having both pads move makes setting up easier and I think brakes better too. Granted on the Klampers you get the independent pad adjustment you don't get on the Hayes CX, but setting up you have to run the non-moving pad super close to the rotor to get good braking, which can get annoying if your rotor is out of true.
I have had crappy experiences with Spyres. Apparently they don't play well with certain Shimano levers.
l can buy a GT MTB for the same money with hydro disc brakes on THE AVALANCHE !! AND l don t anything with disc brakes right now but l think l ll buy the bike first !! ALSO l dont care what kind of disc brand it comes with at this time either !! For now l have road bikes with rim brakes that work fine for me ,plus l like l can clean and fix em easy and cheap :) WE LL SEE WHAT THE FUTURE BRINGS ....
Do they recommend compressionless cables and housings? Did you use them? And if you did, does the Compressionless feel any differently to normal brake housings and lines?
No. No. No.
Have you tried the JagWire Elite Link cable housing and the mandrel-drawn super-slick cable? I find they have dramatically improved both shifting and braking on my road bikes. The housing is expensive, but with Klampers, the expense is lost in the noise.
😮
It s also important to remember that they are 100% U.S. made from 100% U.S. sourced aluminum. Unlike companies like Sram which are foreign made. I am not against parts from other countries, but I am against our companies making everything offshore and losing manufacturing jobs so that executives can give themselves raises. Have you priced a pair of Nike shoes recently? Sweatshop labor and price of materials for a shoe, versus a machinist with a college education, most likely at Butte community college or Chico state, and aluminum billets. The price is actually not unreasonable and their profit margin is almost definitely much smaller.
Never ever going to have a bike without hydraulic brakes again for my entire life.
I wouldn't mind an install/adjustment video if you have the time (I doubt you haha).
I can't seem to get good power/bite without rubbing and I followed their installation instructions. I really do like them so far but want to get them dialed totally.
Really cool product I've never hear of, but was hoping you would talk about the adjustment knobs.
You turn them and they make the brakes tighter or looser.
Unless you need the purple color, just buy a TRP Spyre for less than $80. It is a dual side actuation beautiful piece of engineering and saves money for compressionless brake housing.
I've owned Spyres and not a fan. The cable pull doesn't match up with some Shimano brifters and they're mushy at best and the stock pads are meh. The single sided Paul's stop more effectively IME.
Are you still running Klampers? Do they interfere with any of your racks? I'm looking to install them and appreciate your review.
Yes. Haven't used racks on the bike with them.
I just don't understand why these are better than TRP Spyres: they only move in on one side where the Spyres have both pads clamp the rotor. You can also more easily adjust centering the rotor grab with the Spyres. The Spyres with compressionless housing feel amazing. I 100% believe these are a better BB7, but I bought two Spyres for $120.... I run them 180F and 160R and I can stop on a dime with weight.
The TRP Spyre still have its upper hand, with the dual sided clamping actuation.
But we should look at the aesthetic since PAULS does look good.
Spyres have two pistons but what good are they if they suck? Have had the worst luck with them.
You should check out Paul's video on why they use single-sided clamping. I have Spykes on one bike, and Spyres on another, and they're pretty good...but I don't think they perform as well as the Klampers do.
@@PathLessPedaledTV I am new to the disc brake, would like to hear more how they actually perform compare to each other.
What problem did you guy found on the TRP? Maybe a long downhill section in terms of breaking power, exhausted fingers etc
@@ysllsy6624 they just sucked. I could be in the drops applying the brakes and the rear wheel won't stop. Apparently there is some cable pull differences between shimano levers that don't play well with TRPs so that might have been the cause.
@@PathLessPedaledTV Did you do a bit of research on adjusting Spyres? Did you bin the stock pads that are garbage? Even cheap Shimano B01S pads are way better (and Klampers come with Kool Stop sintered pads, which cost about $20 per wheel). Did you run compressionless housing? (No need to get crazy expensive compressionless housing, the Jagwire Road Pro kit costs $30, you get 3m of compressionless housing, and two great quality cables)
I feel like Spyres get a bad rap because of bad pads and user error. You read reviews and they go like this: Spyres are the best, Spyres are the worst, Spyres are the best.
You say you can't lock up the rears from the drops, yet I do skids all the time (even when I don't want to) when i'm descending on the hoods. How does that work? 🙃
Spyres are not my favourite brakes, they are not better than Klampers, and they have their issues. But if you can't lock up the rear even from the drops then something is wrong there.
I'm not sure if it was mentioned or if I missed it, but how would you compare these brakes with hyrdo disc brakes?
I test rode a bike with TRP Spyres and was quite disappointed. My friend's hyrdo brakes were bomb.
Similar stopping power. Less modulation. Much better than Spyres.
@@PathLessPedaledTV Great. Thank you!
Love mine
How do the klampers calibrate? I currently run bb7 and having to recalibrate the brakes is really annoying. Especially after taking the wheels out to fit the bike in a car and then spending 15 minutes on adjusting the calibers before being able to ride.
Do you have thru axles or quick release?
@@PathLessPedaledTV My frame uses quick releases, so i was thinking of upgrading my brakes to something that's simpler to adjust like the ultimos.
Russ, you got me very interested in Paul klampers for my first build (salsa fargo). But I was planning on running a mix of Shimano GRX components (hydraulic only brake levers). Does anybody have any suggestions on compatible hood shifters that would work with GRX rear derailleur & mechanical Paul Klampers?
Maybe mechanical 105 brifters?
Thanks for the info...
Have you tried the zoom cable actuated hydro brakes? I think its good upgrade
Why don't you compare these with the trp spyre? Trp spyre is a caliper with both pads actuated
I did. I said the Spyres are poop in comparison.
Did you ever try TRP Spires with compressionless cables? And if so how do they compare to the Pauls and the yoko's ?
No. They were absolute garbage with the levers I had and I don’t think it would have worked. Apparently they are not truly compatible with various Shimano levers.
FWIW I run TRP spyres with compressionless housing and 10sp sram rival levers and can bring the back wheel off the ground from the hoods when stopping
Have only used with Shimano and they were 💩.
@@PathLessPedaledTV funny I get great braking on my Spyres with Shimano levers. Regular old cable housing going full length too.
@@sambookbinder4201 forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=136381
How would you compare this to a Hope? Theyre in the similar price range, easily workable for flats/cruiser bars, non-china/Taiwan CoO, and similar nukeproofness.
No idea.
Comparison to BB7s? My gravel bike is BB7s and always wondered if there is a better mechanical disc option that's worth the $$$ to upgrade
TRP Spyres have a much better feel and performance than BB7 I have found.