TRP hy/rd vs Spyre for touring

[RecumbentRide]

I'm moving the Avid BB7s from my touring to my commuting bike and for a replacement I am looking at the TRPs i.e. hy/rd or spyres. I want to stick to cable actuated brakes because of their ease of maintenance and don't want to have to faff around with hydraulic hoses. So it would be great to hear from anyone with knowledge of either.

[sizbut]

I've had all the aforementioned.

The Sprye were a great improvement over the BB7's for adjustability, but on a par with the BBs for actual stopping power.

However, as a 100kg plus rider, the Hyrd are heaven, very serious stopping power and self-adjusting, so well worth it if better braking power is one of the things you want.

[531colin]

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=112222
I find Google works better than the actual forum search.
If you google the brake (TRP etc) and CUK forum you will get about 3 hits, the one i linked is the latest.
i don't know if the difficulties reported are historic or current.

[dondelion]

My partner and I used Spyres and Spykes in Mexico but after only 2 months the tiny 3mm hex bolts in all of the caliper adjusters rounded off and were unusable. The sand had got into them I suppose so I would say it depends on the type of touring you want to do. We replaced them with £5 Shimano M375 calipers and they, along with their burly 5mm hex bolts have lasted 2 further years. All the brakes had sufficient stopping power.

[Eyebrox]

My partner and I used Spyres and Spykes in Mexico but after only 2 months the tiny 3mm hex bolts in all of the caliper adjusters rounded off and were unusable. The sand had got into them I suppose so I would say it depends on the type of touring you want to do. We replaced them with £5 Shimano M375 calipers and they, along with their burly 5mm hex bolts have lasted 2 further years. All the brakes had sufficient stopping power.

I have had the same problem. You can often grip the seized caliper adjuster from the opposite side. This only works if you can remove the other adjuster and use the hole to push the hex key through. The adjusters are available to buy as part of a kit. I found that I couldn't get purchase when using the hex key with the caliper off the bike. Keep it attached to give you the right hold on it. You can access the bearings to lube them by removing both adjusters. But you have to be careful about the amount of grease and the type of grease. A tiny blob of copper grease does the trick and won't run when the unit heats up. So, in conclusion, Spyres offer a lot of adjustability but maintenance can be a pain. They can be serviced apparently but this removes the manufacturer's warranty and, in my view, is a difficult procedure. Tektro don't recommend opening up the calipers.

[iandusud]

My partner and I used Spyres and Spykes in Mexico but after only 2 months the tiny 3mm hex bolts in all of the caliper adjusters rounded off and were unusable. The sand had got into them I suppose so I would say it depends on the type of touring you want to do. We replaced them with £5 Shimano M375 calipers and they, along with their burly 5mm hex bolts have lasted 2 further years. All the brakes had sufficient stopping power.

I don't doubt your experience for one second. Your experience however would appear to be the opposite of others who have posted here who complain that the adjusters won't stay put! My experience of the Spyre on the back of our tandem has been that the adjusters work just fine. Now that's put the kibosh on that!

[Tiberius]

I have TRP HY/RD on two of my bikes and they work very well.

They are easy to work on using Shimano fluid and Nukeproof pads. It's absolutely vital to set them up as/TRP's advice - don't fly in working off experience, a mistake that I made with my first pair. It's equally vital to use compresionless cables, I actually use TRP's own cables.

They are not as good as fully hydraulic brakes but they are so much better than the Avid cable calipers that I've used in the past.

They work well enough for me to buy them twice and I don't do that without good reason.

Instalation video here - https://youtu.be/_8T6cON6y_Y

[sizbut]

My partner and I used Spyres and Spykes in Mexico but after only 2 months the tiny 3mm hex bolts in all of the caliper adjusters rounded off and were unusable. The sand had got into them I suppose so I would say it depends on the type of touring you want to do. We replaced them with £5 Shimano M375 calipers and they, along with their burly 5mm hex bolts have lasted 2 further years. All the brakes had sufficient stopping power.

I don't doubt your experience for one second. Your experience however would appear to be the opposite of others who have posted here who complain that the adjusters won't stay put! My experience of the Spyre on the back of our tandem has been that the adjusters work just fine. Now that's put the kibosh on that!

Yeph. .You always have to remember that forums of tend to be heavily biased towards knockers. Those who have used product X with no issues tend to be happily quiet and not seek out forums.

[Jupestar]

I found the Spyres better than the HY/RD, but I think the cable pull from the levers was wrong on the latter. I preferred the less intrusive look of the Spyres anyway, so stuck with that.

Two things I found, people adapt the HY/RD to take a shorter pull lever. I didn’t do this.

As others have mentioned the Adjusting pads on the Spyres are a bit ‘soft’ but if you look after them they are fine, and replacements are available.. serviceable is a big tick in my box.

The Spyres were very good, but neither are comparable to full Hydro. I use TRP Hylex now.

I’ve swapped to barend shifters so I can use them on both my SS and my road bike.

[iandusud]

I wouldn't use the Hy-Rd on my tandem because I would be worried about the hydraulic fluid not coping with the heat. Two things that have improved my Spyre are compressionless cable housing and DiscoBrakes Copper-Free brake pads. The cable housing has improved feel, and I'm sure performance but the pads made a very noticeable improvement.

[RecumbentRide]

Wow thank you for all the valuable information. Especially the installation video link, pad and cable recommendations. I didn't want to have to spend the extra but I'm liking the vibes I'm getting off of the hy/rd as regards people's experiences.

It's a long time ago but back in the 90s I remember cycling from St.Moritz to Bergamo in a day, no mean feat, until you realise it's nearly all downhill. Probably the best day's cycling I've ever had But there were a couple of switchbacks to descend and boy oh boy did my rims get hot. Being fully loaded meant the brakes, cantilevers I think and knowing my maintenance schedule back then, weren't very effective. It makes me laugh thinking about it now we simply made do with what we had.

[freeflow]

I used Trp Hy/Rds for about four years and in that time had no issues whatsoever. Me and the bike are 120kg+. I too used Disco brake pads ( copper free) and Jagwire compressionless housing.

I believe there are two things that confound new users.

1. The amount of lever travel before bite. It's more than you'd expect but once the pads bite the breaking is smooth and well modulated. The amount of lever travel is related to the amount of cable pull. Brakes which pull more cable have less lever travel before the pads bite. If your TRP Hy/Rd are firm and bite quickly then,imho, they are set up incorrectly as a closed system.

2. The set up of the brakes is counter intuitive in that you need to leave enough slack in the cable to allow the return ports to open. You can test for this when you undo the locking bolt on the lever arm. If there is even the slightest resistance to undoing the bolt, then the cable is probably too tight. This requirement obviously influences the greater lever travel in 1 above.

[RecumbentRide]

Thank you I promise I'll read the instructions and watch videos because I'm notorious for diving straight in. I'm actually going to put a folder together for each of my bikes which documents fitting/servicing instructions for the parts and service history along with distances covered. Thank you for taking the time to keep me on the straight and narrow