As some of you will know, for the last year or so I've been experimenting with hydraulic disc brakes, after a number of years of successful use of cable discs. My experience is the same as everyone else's seems to be - the Shimano 685/785 11 speed system is the best you can get for a road bike, and that it works significantly better than any other bicycle braking system.
That's fine for a new build, but what if the economics don't work for an old friend, or indeed if you've got a Campagnolo set-up, for which no disc brake exists?
This little gizmo from TRP may provide an answer.
The TRP HyRd is a natty little hydraulic disc system which includes master cylinder, callipers and actuating arm in a single unit. Because it's actuated by cable, it will connect easily to any road brake lever. But the mechanical advantage of the hydraulic system means that the effort needed to use it is much lower, and the braking force developed is much higher, than an equivalent cable calliper. I've used it to replace an Avid BB7 - the best of the cable systems, in my opinion - and it's much better. Not as good as the superlative Shimano system, but very good indeed.
Of course, the worry with any sort of disc system is how it handles heat dissipation. I've fitted mine to a tandem, which will provide a pretty solid test-bed. Obviously, I haven't done this without researching experience elsewhere. The unit has been around for a couple of years, and formal testing in the US, and very informal testing by fellow Tandem Club members in the UK and in the Alps show it to be a robust and reliable system. You might be able to break it with a tandem if you put your mind to it - that's true of any brake system. But you'd have to be a dafty. And even if you were a dafty, I doubt that you could break it with a solo. The Americans have tried, and they didn't.
So that's it - about £90 per wheel. I'll let you know if anything happens, but I'm expecting it to provide long and boring service.
I like that, with brakes ...
Mark
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