Long Drop Brakes

[gavintc]

I am pondering getting a Kinesis TK frame. I will need long drop brakes for this frame as my standard 105 brakes will not fit. Having done a little bit of research there seems to be 2 main suppliers of these brakes; Shimano and Tektro. Of the Shimano options there is a R650 that reportedly equates loosely to Ultegra and a R450 brake that is claimed to be at Tiagra standard. Unsurprisingly, there is a wide variation in price. Of the Tektro offerings, the prices seem more similar and sit in the £30-40 bracket for their brakes.

My question, for those that run long drop brakes, is it worth the extra money for the high end Shimano or will the Tektro or lower end Shimano do the job? I am prepared to pay the extra if there is a comparable increase in performance.

Any thoughts anyone?

 

[mercurykev]

I've got Tektro on one bike and shimano A550 (105 level) on another bike and the shimano brakes are much better at stopping the bike.

 

[spandex]

Sorry I have to say no unless you are going for the all named look! All the Tektro brakes I have had and used I would say they are just as good.


(IMO)

 

[gbb]

On a rebuild, i've got a mix of Alhonga and Tektro long drops....cant say i'm inpressed with the braking efficiency, nowhere near as good as my Sora or Xenon shod bike.
It may be the calipers are fine, but i never got round to fitting some better pads. They may improve things somewhat.

 

[NickM]

...It may be the calipers are fine, but i never got round to fitting some better pads...

Yup. Tektros work very well, in my experience, once treated to Koolstop salmon pads.

 

[GrahamG]

I've used a fairly broad selection and whilst it's not exactly like going to discs, the Shimano ultegra deep drops perform noticeably better than any of the tektro calipers I've used. Including after cool-stop salmon pads (which I find no better than the standard compound).

 

[Chris James]

I have Tektro on my bike and they work well. I haven't tried the Ultegras for comparison. The Tektros stop me well enough so I personally wouldn't feel the need for anything better.

 

[Randochap]

I run Shimano BR-600s on my Marinoni Sportivo "Randonnee."

 

[amrushton]

There are the Shimano R650 deep drop but RivBike has some wide/deep drop Tektros that look good

www.rivbike.com

 

[jpembroke]

Had the Tektro long drop brakes on an old hack and they very good. I've also used Tektro Oryx and CR520s - both good brakes. Tektro just doesn't have the cache of other brands but they do make good kit.

 

[MartinC]

A lot of the price difference in the 2 Shimano options is down to finish and cartridge pads on the R650. Tektro are decent brakes but, in my experience, are sometimes comrpomised by the pads thay come with - easy to fix. The pads that you use can make a real difference to performance - much more than the quality of the caliper.