TRP HY-RD mechanical/hydraulic brake callipers

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benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
I recently bought a pair of these to fit to my CX bike. They were £99.99 each from here.

I had been considering a way of getting hydraulic discs for a while, as I had never been happy with my existing mechanical brakes. The fact that they are a self contained unit appealed to me, unlike the other mechanical to hydraulic converters from Hope etc. Basically, the calliper has a little hydraulic reservoir and an actuator that converts the mechanical pull of the cable into a piston actuator for the hydraulics.

Pros:
  • Absolute piece of p1ss to install and set up. Took about 10 minutes per brake.
  • Great stopping power and modulation - certainly better than the existing mechanical brakes (which were Shimano something-or-other)
  • Cheap, compared to alternative offerings from Hope &c.

Cons:
  • I had some juddering from the front fork, which was visibly flexing back and forward under light braking. I had kept my original disc on there, because the existing discs were Shimano Centre-lock, so I couldn't bolt the supplied discs onto the hub. I bought a bolt to centre-lock adaptor, which works fine, and the juddering has largely been eliminated (still a small amount, which will hopefully fade as they bed in). I don't know whether different discs are only meant to be used with mechanical rather than hydraulic pads. The supplied ones seemed thicker than my existing ones.
  • I had to push the piston in a bit before tightening, as the pads were not engaging even at full pull with the cable in the default position. This seemed preferable to winding the adjuster all the way in.
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Paul99

Über Member
Hi @benb
How have these been for you? I am about to pull the trigger on a set for myself and wondered what your thoughts are now you've had them for a while?

Cheers,
Paul.
 

Custom24

Über Member
Location
Oxfordshire
These are the brakes that came with my whyte Suffolk. I also have the juddering with the stock setup of the bike. Apart from that, I love the brakes. I am used to shimano xt on my MTB.
 
OP
OP
benb

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
Hi @benb
How have these been for you? I am about to pull the trigger on a set for myself and wondered what your thoughts are now you've had them for a while?

Cheers,
Paul.

Overall they're very good. Definitely better than the mechanical ones I had before, but probably not that much better than the latest Avid BB7s

The only issue I had was frequent adjustment of the cable to keep them tight. But I think that was a problem with either my brifters or cables, as I upgraded to 105s a few months ago and I haven't had to adjust them since.

They are a bit noisier than the pure hydraulic brakes on my MTB - they do make a metallic noise under braking.
 

Paul99

Über Member
Overall they're very good. Definitely better than the mechanical ones I had before, but probably not that much better than the latest Avid BB7s

The only issue I had was frequent adjustment of the cable to keep them tight. But I think that was a problem with either my brifters or cables, as I upgraded to 105s a few months ago and I haven't had to adjust them since.

They are a bit noisier than the pure hydraulic brakes on my MTB - they do make a metallic noise under braking.

Thanks mate.

I've ordered them now, and have a 105 groupset to put on the bike aswell so hopefully I'll be liking them too. I'm sure they'll be better than my lyra's!
 

JoeyB

Go on, tilt your head!
Sorry to raise an old thread, but could either @benb or @Custom24 confirm how they finally eliminated the front brake judder with the TRP HY-RD setup? My new bike has them and I'm getting a lot of judder from the front...I think it might just be because they are bedding in but want to be sure.
 

Custom24

Über Member
Location
Oxfordshire
Hi joey. I didn't eliminate the shudder, I just accepted it. In my case, it is mainly from the rear and only gets unacceptable if I use the rear brake alone, which I never do.
I don't recall the bedding in making any difference. If anything, it may have worsened slightly.
 

JoeyB

Go on, tilt your head!
Mine just stopped.
Thats promising then
 

Mr.Si

Active Member
I have to say, I have this issue on mine. I have a Wilier GTS Disc with these but the front judders a lot under heavier substantial. Light is fine, but any force and they make a sound almost as though it's ABS. Doesn't seem right. I wonder if different disc rotors or pads would change it...?

I've had my bike about 4 weeks now, but not done any long rides on it yet.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Brake judder is often caused by a warped rotor.

But is seems several posters have had the same problem on what I am guessing to be road bikes.

Judder is unusual on hybrid bikes and mountain bikes with their heavy suspension forks.

So I now wonder if lightweight road forks are not so suited, in general, to disc brakes.
 

Custom24

Über Member
Location
Oxfordshire
Brake judder is often caused by a warped rotor.

But is seems several posters have had the same problem on what I am guessing to be road bikes.

Judder is unusual on hybrid bikes and mountain bikes with their heavy suspension forks.

So I now wonder if lightweight road forks are not so suited, in general, to disc brakes.

My juddering is still there. It doesn't bother me that much (although I do have a nagging safety suspicion). I am pretty sure my rotors are not warped - I don't think they deviate when viewed down through the caliper with the wheels spinning. I will try to remember to double check and report back.
 

Mr.Si

Active Member
I haven't been on here a while and I am very sorry to open up a thread from what actually seems to be exactly just 1 year old, but I think I have finally got a solution to my TRP brake judder, which is still happening on my Wilier GTS Disc... It just seems like a bike which cost me £2.3k, shouldn't suffer from such a problem and it's been quite irritating.

So...

The rotors on the TRP HY-RD system on my bike are 6 Bolt, but the wheels are the Shimano RX31, which have centrelock hubs with QR (not that the QR is important).

Anyway, I've been chatting to a mechanic in Evans today about this and they believe that it could simply be the CL to 6 Bolt adapter causing the problem as there is the chance for play to develop - even if it is just very small, once it travels up the fork it is amplified and feels awful.

I've been given a couple of things to try, like just checking that it's tight and also that the headset is tight.

I've also bought a CL rotor (160mm IceTec RT99) so that I can do away with an adaptor that seems like a pointless decision in the first place when the wheels don't have 6 Bolt hubs by default.

So, I'm feeling there is light at the end of the tunnel as I've not been able to work out why before.
I shall report back once I've fitted the new rotor (I bought new pads too, just in case) and I hope this will help others who may be suffering too.

If it does not help me, I may make a drastic change to the Shimano RS685 system!
 
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