UKH

I'm looking to upgrade the brakes on my bike currently have a set of promax render r which seem to be pretty rubbish and not have much power at all so looking to upgrade to something with more stopping power.  I've been looking at the trp spyre and avid bb7s but not sure if there are others that are worth considering.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Andy

Not really! Although Spyres are the only option if you need flat mount calipers. I have both and there's not much between them once they are set up correctly. This is slightly easier to achieve with the Spyres as you can move both pads but after that they both work pretty well.

Most important thing is to have decent outer cable housing, I'd certainly upgrade this at the same time. I use a big roll of Jagwire stuff from here: https://www.bike-components.de/en/Jagwire/KEB-SL-Brake-Cable-Housing-3-m-p3...

The bike is post mount which fortunately seems to open up the options especially when looking at the used market, I'll make sure I upgrade the cables when I replace them.

Has anyone used to the cable actuated hydraulic like the TRP hy/rd or anything similar.

Having looked into this, Shimano do them, too.

Why cable, and not hydraulic, just out of interest? 

I would like to go hydraulic but it's for a hub geared bike so the extra cost of a new shifter and new brakes is a bit too much at the moment. 

I've  got hylex on another bike and they're great but can't justify them for a commuting bike at the moment.

Id go foe the hydraulic / cable ones myself. I haven't used them, but the reviews are better.

https://road.cc/content/review/85499-trp-hyrd-mechanical-interface-hydrauli...

I moved from BB7's to TRP Hy/Rd. Initially just on the front where I couldn't get the BB7s to stop squeeling, no matter what I tried. The TRPs were a big improvement both in terms of noise and stopping power & modulation. I ended up changing the rear one over when I spotted them on offer from Decathlon. The frame and fork are also both post mount. They are not pretty though, and the whole arrangement on the post mounts looks a bit clunky.

I know not everybody has an issue with the BB7s and to be fair they are powerful enough to lock the wheel up fairly easily, especially with good organic pads. But the modulation isn't great and the noise was really tedious. I have a pair of calipers going if you want to make me an offer.

Just for reference, the TRP calipers are also available as flat mounts, though it sounds as though it is a bit awkward to access one of the mount bolts. 

They look like BB5 copies, the problem is unlikely to be the brakes, probably one or more of the following

1. discs or pads are contaminated

2. they are set up badly, i.e. disc not centered in the caliper, pad clearance is set wrong.

3. loss of power due to cable drag.

4. you have weak fingers, not usually a problem for climbers.

I've just fitted a pair of Hy/Rd brakes and finding they have a lot of lever travel before the bite point, and this seems to be a fairly common issue online, did you find this with yours?

I only got the brakes this evening so not had too much of a chance to fiddle with them yet but will probably try to bleed them to see if this solves the issue along with a bit more of a delve into other forums to see how people managed to solve it.

No, that's not something I've had a problem with at all. They are/were very simple to set up and get the lever throw just how I wanted it.

It might be down to air in the cylinder that just needs time to work its way to the top - air might have been moved around during the transit and they just need a bit of time or a few taps with a soft faced mallet. But, it sounds more like the cables just need adjusting in length to me - either pull a little more cable through the clamp and re-tighten or dial a bit more tension into the cable at either the caliper end or if you have an inline adjuster. 

You'd be better off buying hydraulics for the money but probably the best cable discs in the world?!?

https://www.paulcomp.com/shop/components/brakes/disc-brakes/i-s-klamper/

This has been a bit of a readjustment experience for me, having previously had cable brakes I liked to adjust to hair-trigger sensitivity. I'm not sure if there's more one can do beyond twiddling the adjustment on the levers - presumably it's not possible to 'overpack' the fluid in the cables so there's less initial travel. I suppose bleeding is probably the best bet

I tend to have my brakes set fairly similarly so minimal leaver travel before they engage which I have with caliper brakes and my full hydro set up but the hy rd seem difficult to set up that way.

Looking at the TRP instructions they strongly advise not to just take in the excess through a barrel adjuster as it closes off the pad wear adjustment but it seems like you can overfill the master cylinder which is what I'm planning on doing once the bleed kit gets here.