Generic Brakes vs Dura-Ace 7700 brakes ?

RS wrote:
I have a Giant OCR1 road bike that came with generic brakes, probably
Tectro (?). Being used to V-brakes on my beater bike, I thought the
Giant generic brakes were lousy. I put Kook-Stop black pads on them
and they do work noticeably better. But I like having very good and
controllable stopping power. I can get a used but very clean set of
DuraAce 7700 brakes for $70. Will they work noticeabley better? Weight
is not a concern as there is probably very little difference.

thanks to all

Properly adjusted with good cables and Kool-stop pads, I doubt the
DuraAces will "feel" any better.

However, my own experience with those Tectros wasn't very good. The
stock pads they come with are *horrible*, wore quickly and left crap
and score marks all over my rims. Then the plastic sleeves between the
spring and the brake body broke, and the springs rubbed metal-on-metal.
I had to push grease in there every couple weeks with a q-tip. Then
the pinch bolt on one stripped under a reasonably low torque. After
that, I tossed them a replaced with Ultegra 6500's I got on clearance,
no problems since.

Qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:
Andrew Lee wrote:
RS wrote:
I have a Giant OCR1 road bike that came with generic brakes, probably
Tectro (?). Being used to V-brakes on my beater bike, I thought the
Giant generic brakes were lousy. I put Kook-Stop black pads on them
and they do work noticeably better. But I like having very good and
controllable stopping power. I can get a used but very clean set of
DuraAce 7700 brakes for $70. Will they work noticeabley better?
Weight
is not a concern as there is probably very little difference.

thanks to all


I don't know if those Dura-Ace brakes are any better, but they may not
fit
your frame in any case. You might want to check the reach of your frame.
I
believe that at least some if not all of the OCR models are designed to
use
"long" reach brakes.

Not true, use standard reach brakes.


Are they in the overlap region where they fit both standard and long reach
brakes? According to the Giant website they use "long reach":

Aluminum OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11332

Carbon OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11251

Yes, I should have checked these and they are long-reach brakes. I'm going
to check the cable and save the money for now.

thanks

In article ,
whatsupandrewathotmaildotcom says...


RS wrote:
I have a Giant OCR1 road bike that came with generic brakes, probably
Tectro (?). Being used to V-brakes on my beater bike, I thought the
Giant generic brakes were lousy. I put Kook-Stop black pads on them
and they do work noticeably better. But I like having very good and
controllable stopping power. I can get a used but very clean set of
DuraAce 7700 brakes for $70. Will they work noticeabley better? Weight
is not a concern as there is probably very little difference.

thanks to all


I don't know if those Dura-Ace brakes are any better, but they may not fit
your frame in any case. You might want to check the reach of your frame. I
believe that at least some if not all of the OCR models are designed to use
"long" reach brakes.

"Andrew Lee" whatsupandrewathotmaildotcom wrote in
:

Qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:
Andrew Lee wrote:
I believe that at least some if not all of the OCR models are designed
to use "long" reach brakes.


Not true, use standard reach brakes.


Are they in the overlap region where they fit both standard and long
reach brakes? According to the Giant website they use "long reach":

Aluminum OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11332

Carbon OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11251



I think Peter's point is that 99% of modern road bikes don't use standard
reach brakes, they use short reach brakes, with reach of 40-50mm. What
Giant calls long reach are actually standard reach brakes, with a reach of
47-57mm. True long reach brakes should reach to around 70mm, like a Dia-
Compe 750 Centerpull, or the new Tektro R556, AKA the Rivendell Silver
Sidepull.

"Hank Wirtz" wrote in message
6...
"Andrew Lee" whatsupandrewathotmaildotcom wrote in
:

Qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:
Andrew Lee wrote:
I believe that at least some if not all of the OCR models are designed
to use "long" reach brakes.


Not true, use standard reach brakes.


Are they in the overlap region where they fit both standard and long
reach brakes? According to the Giant website they use "long reach":

Aluminum OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11332

Carbon OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11251



I think Peter's point is that 99% of modern road bikes don't use standard
reach brakes, they use short reach brakes, with reach of 40-50mm. What
Giant calls long reach are actually standard reach brakes, with a reach of
47-57mm. True long reach brakes should reach to around 70mm, like a Dia-
Compe 750 Centerpull, or the new Tektro R556, AKA the Rivendell Silver
Sidepull.

Gotta disagree. 47-57mm is a long-reach brake these days. I use brakes of
this reach on my road bike, but very few newer road bikes have that kind of
reach. The standard today is the compact reach brake; you know, that kind
where fenders are difficult or impossible to fit and where a 32C tire is
getting way to big to fit under the fork crown or the brake bridge, etc.

At least, when you go to buy new brakes today, a caliper that will reach
57mm is called long reach.

Tektro 521AG Long-Reach Dual-Pivot Calipers:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brakes.html#calipers
http://www.lickbike.com/productpage.aspx?PART_NUM_SUB='1314-00'

Standard-reach today is around 39 - 49 mm, unfortunately.

mC

richard Wrote:
7700s were hollowed out a bit to reduce weight. There were complaints
about their lack of stiffness. This was apparently fixed with the
7800s.)
]yes, I think my 7800s are 10g heavier than my 7700s. True


--
531Aussie

Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
Not doubting your advice, but all I read about the tektro was that
they are rather mushy.

I have these brakes on my bike, and honestly they're not mushy at all after
lubing the cables and housing. They were horrendous until I did so though.

Mushy feelings are usually due to either affection, or the brake pads not
being oriented completely square to the rim. Pads without orbital
adjustment suffer severely from this. Remember, not all Tektros are
equipped with the orbital adjusters.

--
Phil

Good to know

Btw, related: I have a race bike with Chorus 2004 and a training
race-bike with Veloce 2004, yet the Chorus feels a lot stiffer. Is that
a calipher difference or is that a case of tuning too?

Hank Wirtz wrote:
Andrew Lee wrote in
:

Qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:
Andrew Lee wrote:
I believe that at least some if not all of the OCR models are designed
to use "long" reach brakes.


Not true, use standard reach brakes.


Are they in the overlap region where they fit both standard and long
reach brakes? According to the Giant website they use "long reach":

Aluminum OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11332

Carbon OCR:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030....sp?model=11251



I think Peter's point is that 99% of modern road bikes don't use standard
reach brakes, they use short reach brakes, with reach of 40-50mm. What
Giant calls long reach are actually standard reach brakes, with a reach of
47-57mm. True long reach brakes should reach to around 70mm, like a Dia-
Compe 750 Centerpull, or the new Tektro R556, AKA the Rivendell Silver
Sidepull.

I know about what are saying. That's why I had "long" in quotes in both of
my replies above. I don't think that was Peter's point because of the Dura
Ace calipers that were being discussed.

Hank Wirtz wrote:
"Andrew Lee" whatsupandrewathotmaildotcom wrote in
:


I think Peter's point is that 99% of modern road bikes don't use standard
reach brakes, they use short reach brakes, with reach of 40-50mm. What
Giant calls long reach are actually standard reach brakes, with a reach of
47-57mm. True long reach brakes should reach to around 70mm, like a Dia-
Compe 750 Centerpull, or the new Tektro R556, AKA the Rivendell Silver
Sidepull.

I'm going to have to agree with Sheldon that brake that reach 70mm or
LONGER like the Centerpull and Tektro R556 should be consider "Extra
Long Reach," as less than 1% of all bikes today will need anything that
long.

Of course, if you are into the 650B (584mm) revival, then you'll need
every the "extra" long reach!

Then again, I don't get the Centerpull brake thing - ugly, heavy and
more difficult to set up. Other than the longer reach, which will now
be filled by the new Tektro R556, what's the point?

Tuschinski wrote:
Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
Not doubting your advice, but all I read about the tektro was that
they are rather mushy.

I have these brakes on my bike, and honestly they're not mushy at
all after lubing the cables and housing. They were horrendous until
I did so though.

Mushy feelings are usually due to either affection, or the brake
pads not being oriented completely square to the rim. Pads without
orbital adjustment suffer severely from this. Remember, not all
Tektros are equipped with the orbital adjusters.

--
Phil

Good to know

Btw, related: I have a race bike with Chorus 2004 and a training
race-bike with Veloce 2004, yet the Chorus feels a lot stiffer. Is
that a calipher difference or is that a case of tuning too?

If the pads are totally square to the rim, it's a caliper *and* brake lever
difference, if the housing is the same type.
--
Phil