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Shimano has been using 'U' shaped castings for some time on Ultegra and Dura-Ace callipers but the new ones are pared down even more making them a full 136g lighter than a pair of dual pivot centaur callipers...brake blocks are of the cartridge type so worn blocks sre easy to change without disturbing the tow-in setting...the new brakjes have slightly better outright stopping power than thier predecessor and indeed any of campag's brakes.
Expensive but light callipers
Tektro's R538 long drop callipers are aimed at big-tyred tourers and town bikes and they're a good quality unit with a couple of nice touches. The bolts get rusty quickly, and the pads are a bit scratchy, but they're pretty well-made for the money.The R538s are a forged Aluminium dual pivot affair, and a fairly standard design with long drop arms that accomodate pad heights of 47-57mm, ideal for tourers and other bikes designed to take a big tyre. My set have been fitted to a town bike with a Kinesis training fork and full 'guards, and they're just the ticket in terms of reach. At 164g a wheel they're not heavyweights either.The quick release has been redesigned on these brakes to allow a wider opening to remove your chunky tyres, and it works really well. The brakes will easily accomodate larger rubber, I've had up to 35mm tryes in the frame with no problems and they could go bigger depending on where the pads are set in the arms.The pads themselves are probably the worst bit of the R538s - they feel cheap, hard and scratchy. They still stop you, but you'll be glad when you've worn through them so you can fit something a bit less noisy. My other main gripe is that a month of wintry road grim has already started to rust the bolts. It hasn't affected the performance of the brakes but they don't look so good any more, not that that's a major concern with a town hack.Rate the product for quality of construction:7/10Rate the product for performance:7/10Rate the product for durability:6/10Rate the product for weight, if applicable:7/10Rate the product for value:7/10Did you enjoy using the product? Great for a town hack or tourerWould you consider buying the product? YesWould you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Tektro have a reputation for offering good value braking kit, and the R538s are no exception. In terms of performance they're not outstanding but they do the job and they're a good option for a workhorse or tourer.
A new leverage ratio from the levers means these brakes are more or less only compatible with matching 7900 series levers, although any lever that can pull a cable will be able to operate them to some degree.Cold-forged arms, dual pivots for both the front and the rear brakes, titanium spring tension screws for centring and new compound brake pads all add up to make one of the most impressive stoppers available.When partnered with aluminium rims and the standard pads they give a linear and predictable action requiring only light pressure to slow down, and they are easy to modulate when riding on the drops where a little more finesse is needed.
Big on power but very easy to control too - truly excellent
The dual pivot callipers have a modified arch which, Shimano say, gives you a more linear response. Possibly - although you'd have to run them alongside the old model and concentrate really hard to notice much difference there. More significant is the brake block compound that provides significantly stronger power in both wet and dry conditions with a single trigger finger, giving you the confidence to ride faster into bends and brake later. Durability is said to be much greater too - although we didn't have them long enough to comment on that - and the weight per pair has dropped by 30g.
Already some of the best in the business, the anchors have taken a definite step forward in all-weather performance
In total there is only 8g in weight difference between Centaur and Chorus cold forged brakes, but if you take the brake blocks out they weigh the same, which could tell you a lot about Centaur brakes.The front is a dual pivot item to increase braking power at the slight expense of a little more required cable pull. The rear is a single-pivot unit to reduce weight, as outright power isn't required on the rear brake. The front brake features reasonable modulation and control, but feels lacking in progression.After trying assorted brake pads the feeling remained, so it's clearly not down to the friction material and is more a trait of the brake's performance. The rear can be a little grabby at times (depending upon your rims, of course). But switching to good quality aftermarket pads such as Swisstop solves that problem and reveals a smooth brake with more than enough power available.
Good performance and powerful but lacking in feel
Although it's great to look at new and shiny Dura Ace (and Di2) kit, it's always the announcement of the new Ultegra groupsets that generates the most excitement here at road.cc towers. Ultegra has always been the smart choice in the Shimano range: affordable enough to be a serious consideration with first dibs on all that innovation trickling down from the top.Dura Ace 7900 was a fairly big leap in a market that mostly makes incremental changes, and Ultegra 6700 has stepped up a notch too, taking on plenty of the new technology at a price point that's much more within the reach of the keen amateur cyclist.Ultegra now has the hollowglide chainring of Dura Ace. It also shares the internal lever cable routing, the Carbon lever blade, redesigned hood shape and repositioned pivots on lever and brake. In fact there's not much that it doesn't have, really only the no-trim shifting of the front mech. So what's the performance difference between the two groupsets?Hand on heart I'd have to say that blindfolded I'd be very hard pressed to tell the difference between the two. There's no real performance advantage to be had by buying Dura Ace kit over the new Ultegra, not one you'll notice out on the road at least. The new Ultegra kit is excellent: shifts are crisp, braking is noticeably better, power transmission is near faultless.In the end it all comes down to weight: Dura Ace 7900 is about 300g lighter than Ultegra 6700. If you can honestly say you'd notice half a pound more kit hanging from your frame then you need to consider the top-of-the-line groupset. For everyone else, myself very much included, the smart money's with Ultegra. Forget the RRPs for a minute: In the real world 7900 is going to cost you a grand, and 6700 can be had for less than £600. For me it's a no-brainer: if you're a Shimano fan then Ultegra 6700 is definitely the groupset that gives you the most bangs per buck. Here's how we rate the components...There's lots of incremental changes this year but when you hear Shimano say they've upped the stopping power of the brakes in the wet by 100% then that's a grand claim. I'm not going to pretend that I've had the rolling road and the strain gauges out but I have been seriously impressed by the Ultegra 6700 callipers. There's a depth of stopping power there that's definitely a step above most dual pivots I've tried. Shimano say that the performance improvements are down to a repositioned pivot and a new brake compound. This incarnation of the brake also allows you to adjust the spring tension so you can tailor the feel. There's a multi-position quick release so you can adjust the pad clearance easily on the go, and the barrel adjuster is nice and chunky for gloved hands.
Ultegra is the new amateur rider's benchmark for performance and price. Almost indistinguishable from Dura Ace in terms of performance, it only loses out on weight – but more than makes up for that in value for money.