Defy 3 Brake Upgrade?

[RBT84]

Last summer I purchased a Giant Defy 3 and I'm very happy with it apart from the brakes, being on the larger side for a road rider the brakes are very underwhelming they work and are perfectly safe however I would like a little more initial bite. the stock brakes are Tektro TK-R312 Giant Specific, Dual Pivot, would it be worth trying better pads or should I replace them for something shimano?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated


Rob

 

[RegG]

The general concensus on here is that the first step would be to try new pads, such as SwissStop, before changing the callipers.

I've just upgraded the Shimano BR-R561 brakes on my 2015 Defy 0 to Ultegra, mainly as I wanted to get a full Ultegra groupset rather than a mixture of Ultegra/105/non series parts.

 

[Kajjal]

I weight about 16 stone and used to have similar problems on my last road bike. I upgraded to 105 brakes which were much better but poor in the wet. Then put on swisstop green pads and finally had brakes that worked. Still nowhere close to disc brakes but a marked improvement. If you have long drop brakes r650's work very well.

 

[wisdom]

I have the same bike and brakes Brilliant bike I changed my pads and the brakes are a lot better.I didn't have any real issues before in all honesty but there is a genuine improvement with the koolstops.

 

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Another vote for Swisstop green pads. I also fitted 105 calipers to my Defy 3, but the biggest improvement was changing the pads

 

[jamin100]

I used to have a defy 3 composite and I actually had changed the tiagra shifters to 105 5800.

After a few months I changed the brakes to 105 and did notice a difference

 

[Dirk]

I've just changed the stock Ultegra pads on my Focus Cayo to Swisstop greens. The original pads were fine, but the difference in initial bite and overall braking power of the replacements is noticeably better. They actually surprised me with how much of an improvement they were. How long they will last though is another question.