What is your preferred disc brake caliper?

[ichitan]

I recently bought new disc brake calipers. The brake pads look like the pictures below. These seem to be a Shimano design. What I bought may be a copy by another manufacturer. They are cable operated. They are held in by a screw, not a split pin.

I like them because:

1. They have a larger surface area than many bicycle disc brakes. Hopefully they should last longer before they wear out.

2. You can replace the brake pads without removing the caliper or wheel.

What is your preferred disc brake caliper?

   

   

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

The metal ones are the best. They work so much better.

I still use resin, because for the budget, it's not that big a deal for what I do.

[ichitan]

(10-08-2022, 10:52 PM)ReapThaWhirlwind Wrote:  The metal ones are the best. They work so much better.

I still use resin, because for the budget, it's not that big a deal for what I do.

I have the pads which came with the calipers. It would be safe to assume they are the least expensive ones. I have no need to buy any more, until these wear out, which I expect will be many months. Where I am, there are only a few small hills.

Somebody on the internet said he used semi metallic pads most of the time. But if he was going to use the bike in a situation where metallic pads were ideal, such as going down a long descent, he would swap them to metallic pads for that time. Then after, swap back to semi metallic for ordinary use. They can be swapped quickly. This may be a good idea for some people.

[ichitan]

Various sources on the internet say, when using soft brake pads that wear out faster, the rotors last longer, and when using hard brake pads that last longer, the rotors wear out faster. So there is more to this issue than you might think of at first.

Obviously you want to consider whether your brakes provide adequate stopping power. If the cheap pads provide adequate stopping power, they should be good enough for most people.

The exception is people doing long downhill runs, where heating of the brakes becomes an issue. Those people should use brake pads that work well when hot.

In many cases, brake pads from one manufacturer will not perform the same as brake pads from other manufacturers. So if someone was to test them properly, they would need to test each type of brake pad from each manufacturer.

In the past, I wondered which tires were best on the car. I found out, the harder the rubber, the longer they last, and the softer the rubber, the better the grip. Both long lasting and better grip are desirable. So I came to the conclusion, just buy the least expensive tires.

[ichitan]

Since starting this topic, I have had an even better idea.

https://forums.bikeride.com/thread-8174.html