Was Tiagra 10-speed with hydro brakes ever a thing?

[Twilkes]

I've got a 10-speed mechanical shift bike with mechanical disc brakes, and I'm looking to upgrade the brakes to hydraulic, after being really impressed with the hydro brakes on a Boardman hybrid.

Was there ever/can I still buy a 10-speed gear/brake set with hydraulic brakes? Would need brifters, brake pipes and brake calipers, I'm guessing I can keep the existing derailleurs as there's nothing wrong with them just yet.

The other option is to buy a new/used bike, which I'm trying to avoid if possible.

The mechanical discs were okay if set up optimally, but the braking power deteriorates really quickly once pads wear and/or discs get contaminated.

 

[All uphill]

As of yesterday there were new hydro 10speed Tiagra brifters for sale on ebay for around £200. I hovered over the buy now button and decided to stick with trp Spyres this summer.

 

[Twilkes]

Ah okay, is that the 4720 set? Think my current is 4700 mechanical. So looks like £350+ to go hydraulic - not the impulse upgrade I thought it might be! Maybe worth getting a used bike instead, although the 60cm sizes don't tend to come up very often. Will have a think.

 

[All uphill]

Ah okay, is that the 4720 set? Think my current is 4700 mechanical. So looks like £350+ to go hydraulic - not the impulse upgrade I thought it might be! Maybe worth getting a used bike instead, although the 60cm sizes don't tend to come up very often. Will have a think.

Here you are. New shifters plus calipers for £119

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15666286...NcY9b3MRmy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[si_c]

Yeah you'd be better upgrading to 105 Hydraulic at that price, it's only a bit more but a tangible upgrade over just the brakes.

Which brake calipers do you have on your bike now?

 

[si_c]

Here you are. New shifters plus calipers for £119

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15666286...NcY9b3MRmy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I'd be cautious about them - they are non-series levers and calipers, they should work but they don't look anywhere near as good as the in-series ones.

 

[bikingdad90]

What about Sensah HRD series. Hydraulic starts at 9 speed upwards.

I’ve used the Sensah Reflex 8 speed shifters and they are nice to use. The front shifter has 4 clicks so a trim on little cog and on big cog which is 1 more than Shimano’s offering.

They operate in the same way as SRAM double tap.

 

[Twilkes]

Yeah you'd be better upgrading to 105 Hydraulic at that price, it's only a bit more but a tangible upgrade over just the brakes.

Which brake calipers do you have on your bike now?

The rear is whatever came on the Boardman 8.9, the front is a Spyr TRP I think - I never bothered to upgrade to compressionless housing and I got fed up of optimising them all the time so they've let themselves go a bit.

105 is 11 speed though, right? Wouldn't I have to change the rear hub to get an 11-speed sprocket on it?

 

[Twilkes]

What about Sensah HRD series. Hydraulic starts at 9 speed upwards.

I’ve used the Sensah Reflex 8 speed shifters and they are nice to use. The front shifter has 4 clicks so a trim on little cog and on big cog which is 1 more than Shimano’s offering.

They operate in the same way as SRAM double tap.

Will have a look at those, I'm leaning towards just a whole new (or used) bike though.

Even my Tiagra 4700 has four positions for the front shifter, one of them doesn't make much difference for the gear changes I do though, maye it depends on how everything is aligned on each bike. (ah sorry looks like you were talking about the 8 speed trimming)

 

[Adam4868]

Tiagra 10 speed hydraulic on a bike of mine...look like the ones @All uphill posted above.

 

[Twilkes]

Got a new set of 4720 brifters, calipers and cables for £220 on eBay, so I'm happy with that. I may later on regret not moving up to a different bike, but I don't need anything more than 10 speed, and a meaningful upgrade would be a lot more £££s so I've taken the mid-ground.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I'd be cautious about them - they are non-series levers and calipers, they should work but they don't look anywhere near as good as the in-series ones.

Why "be cautious"?

I have RS505's on my bike and they were pitched as '105' level by Shimano. They have the same performance level as the 105's which were introduced shortly after. Main difference is that the RS505's have chunkier 'brifters' that suit my big hands better, tbh.

The Tiagra level RS 405's followed the same development path and are more than capable stoppers.

 

[si_c]

The rear is whatever came on the Boardman 8.9, the front is a Spyr TRP I think - I never bothered to upgrade to compressionless housing and I got fed up of optimising them all the time so they've let themselves go a bit.

They're not working properly without compressionless housing, definitely worth the investment.

105 is 11 speed though, right? Wouldn't I have to change the rear hub to get an 11-speed sprocket on it?

It is, but worth keeping in mind that for most hubs they will be 10/11 speed compatible, if you have a spacer at the back of the current cassette then it's already good to go. If not you can use the Shimano 11-34 cassette which will fit on a 10 speed hub as it's an adaptation of the MTB cassette.

Either way you'll have no issues with an upgrade to 11 speed - I did this on my Trek Domane with no problems, although I did need the 11-34 cassette.

 

[figbat]

I’m in the same position. I believe that the 105 hydraulic 10-speed will work with the 4600 Tiagra deraileur, but the Tiagra hydraulic shifters won’t, as they use the 4700 pull ratio, which is different.

However, as you’re finding, hydraulic shifters of any kind are not cheap, which is why my mongrel gravel bike build is on cables!

 

[si_c]

I’m in the same position. I believe that the 105 hydraulic 10-speed will work with the 4600 Tiagra deraileur, but the Tiagra hydraulic shifters won’t, as they use the 4700 pull ratio, which is different.

However, as you’re finding, hydraulic shifters of any kind are not cheap, which is why my mongrel gravel bike build is on cables!

I really like the hydraulic disc brakes I have on the MTB and on my other road bike, but my winter build is mechanical disc. For ease of serviceability and maintenance I'd probably tend towards cable disc - certainly if I was doing touring I'd have to think about it. Sure hydro just works and I've rarely had any catastrophic failure, but with mechanical you can at least fix it at the side of the road.