Brake recommendation?

agfrag

Member
I’m thinking of replacing my BB5’s with something a little better, and easier to align. I’d rather not go with BB7’s as they’re a bit tricky to adjust (I have them on a DF bike) as well. Any thoughts would be most welcome.
 

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
TRP Spyre. Either mechanical or hydraulic. I'm partial to mechanical.

I have had BBs but much prefer the double sided pad actuation and the simplicity of adjustment.

Set up is simple - 1) firmly bolt rotor to wheel, 2) loosely bolt caliper unit to frame, 3) pull cable tight and tighten fixing bolt on caliper, 4) fold a business card over the rotor and install wheel, insuring index card is on both sides of rotor and between brake pads, 5) squeeze brake lever firmly and tighten the caliper mounting bolt, remove business card 6) use barrel adjuster to fine tune adjustment.

These are rock solid brakes. I've used them on my gravel DFs for many very hard miles and they work like a charm. Love them on the S40.
 

agfrag

Member
Thanks Paco1961. I didn’t mention it, but I am partial to mechanicals. I’ve used both hydro and mech over the years, and prefer the feel of mechanicals.
 

agfrag

Member
Thanks Paul. I ordered and received a mechanical TRP Spyre IS mount brake and rotor set with 180 (I like very firm front braking, thus the overkill) and 160 sizes.

However, the mounting bracket for both the brakes, while stamped "180/160", will not fit the front, no matter how you "flip" it. as it is too short. The rear fits great, and I've mounted it and what a wonderful experience that was, truly, compared to the Avid's.

I've sent the seller a request to send the correct bracket, but I am wondering if... for some reason... most "normal" forks add 10mm more to the bracket mounting holes to fork axle distance, than they do for the rears? That's the only way I can imagine that the same mounting bracket would work for both front and rear brakes. And if this is so, is Cruzbike unique in building forks with the same axle to brake mounting hole distance front and rear?
I measured the distance from the axles to the closest mounting holes, and they are both 43mm, interesting.

I called TRP, and had a nice discussion with tech support. They suggested if I couldn't get it to work with the 180mm disk by flipping the mounting bracket, that I use spacers and longer bolts, which I did. I used two stainless steel 30mm M6-1.0 bolts and washers, and a 1/2 inch steel spacer, and everything lined up pretty well. And brakes are sooooo much better now... thanks for the suggestion!
 

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
Very strange. I have 160s F & R on my S40 and all I needed to do was to add 1 small washer as a spacer on each mounting bolt on the front in order tweak rotor/pad vertical alignment. Not sure what changed in the last year w either CB design or TRP mounting hardware. Glad your fix did the trick.
 

rx7mark

Guru
I agree with Slim, I think you need one marked for 180 rear to go in the front. It might be a 205 front/180 rear type of part.

This is unique to Cruzbike. I just took my too small part to the LBS, and asked for the next larger adapter, and it fit perfectly.

Mark
 

agfrag

Member
My ignorance is shining on this front TRP brake fit issue... duh...

... on Cruzbike, the front is the rear, and the rear is the front. With that in mind (thanks Robert!) I ordered the 180/203 (rear/front) bracket from TRP, installed it on the "front" and all is well now.
 

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