Upgrading Sora brakes, newbie question.

[doddman]

Hello folks.

Been the proud owner of my spesh allez for a year now, and have noticed the braking becoming less responsive.

A quick look down at the brake blocks, and theyre nearly disintegrated! I need to pay more attention.


My question to you lot is:

Im not sure what to purchase. Do i just buy replacement sora pads (which i cant find on wiggle) or do the dura ace etc fit? or will i need to buy the..err...block holders..too?

I wouldnt mind having some of those fancy kool stops, but dont know where to start!

 

[andy_wrx]

Assuming you have Sora brakes that look like this

Then you can replace the blocks with something like this

Shimano Sora & Tiagra, and older-style 105 & Ultegra, all use pads like this, where it's all moulded into one, or you can buy other makes.


Alternatively, newer 105, Ultegra, Dura Ace use the cartridge system, where there's a holder and an insert

The holder is the metal bit, you can undo the small allen bolt, slide-out the insert, the rubber bit, and just replace that seperately when it wears out.

These inserts are rather cheaper, plus as well as Shimano you can get them from other companies like Tektro, Fibrax, Clarks, etc

And particularly Kool Stop and SwissStop, both of which many people recommend.


You yourself can't currently fit the inserts though - your Sora brakes have the older-style 'all in one' pads, so you can either replace with same - either Sora, Tiagra or old-style 105/Ultegra or other brand - or you can buy some complete holder+insert sets - new style 105, Ultegra or Dura Ace, or one of the other makes - and then when they wear-out again you can simply buy the inserts to go into them.

If buying holders & inserts, Campag are different from Shimano, the two sets of holders aren't compatible and take different-shape inserts : most after-market brands like Tektro are Shimano-fit, unless they specifically say they're Campag.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

These are good. You might be able to get them cheaper shopping around.

 

[zacklaws]

You yourself can't currently fit the inserts though - your Sora brakes have the older-style 'all in one' pads, so you can either replace with same - either Sora, Tiagra or old-style 105/Ultegra or other brand - or you can buy some complete holder+insert sets - new style 105, Ultegra or Dura Ace, or one of the other makes - and then when they wear-out again you can simply buy the inserts to go into them.

Are you sure on this? My Trek is 2 years old now with Sora brakes and it has the cartridge system. The original brake pads were useless especcially downhill, so I just replaced them with "BBB" triple compound pads (inserts) and it was not perfect but it was an improvement.

 

[andy_wrx]

Are you sure on this? My Trek is 2 years old now with Sora brakes and it has the cartridge system. The original brake pads were useless especcially downhill, so I just replaced them with "BBB" triple compound pads (inserts) and it was not perfect but it was an improvement.

Am I sure - no not 100%.

But the picture of Sora brakes I found and posted earlier shows them having the 'one piece' brakeblocks, not cartridge 'insert and holder' set-up.

If you however actually physically have some...



I actually bought some BBB inserts in France a couple of years ago.
One guy on the trip had practically worn his brakes out on Alpine descents and we went looking for replacements. We couldn't find a bike shop but found somewhere like the French equivalent of JJB Sports, they had a rack with a few BBB bits on - cheap pumps, saddlebags and whatnot, but including these brake inserts.
They were dead cheap and I assumed that they'd be correspondingly really poor, but thought I'd just get them as it wasn't much to spend and they'd be handy just in case my brakes wore out in the next week or so.
They didn't, but I ended-up fitting them to the Winter bike and was actually very pleasantly surprised - performance wasn't bad at all and they seemed to last for ages.

 

[bobones]

Am I sure - no not 100%.

But the picture of Sora brakes I found and posted earlier shows them having the 'one piece' brakeblocks, not cartridge 'insert and holder' set-up.

If you however actually physically have some...

I recently bought the long reach Shimano BR-R450 calipers (Tiagra quality) which came with the one piece brake blocks. However, the more expensive BR-R650 (Ultegra quality) come with the replaceable insert blocks. From what I've seen the Sora calipers also come with the one piece blocks.

Incidentally, the blocks on mine have a spherical washer to allow the toe-angle to be manipluated. Do the Kool stop and other cartridge systems have the same facility?

 

[2Loose]

My 2010 Sora calipers came with one piece blocks, so I guess they changed the spec over the years.

 

[andy_wrx]

Or another alternative is that zack's Trek has Sora gears, but actually has Tektro or similar brakes
- the 2010 Trek 1.2 spec shows Sora shifters and front mech, Tiagra rear mech, SRAM cassette, FSA chainset and 'Alloy Dual Pivot' brakes

The bigger manufacturers regularly have these mix&match components rather than a full groupset, they work fine so there's no problem there, but it allows them to downspec things like brakes to save a few pence, where a few pence per units x lots of units = £££...

 

[zacklaws]

Or another alternative is that zack's Trek has Sora gears, but actually has Tektro or similar brakes

Maybe then mine are not Sora too, but untill I changed the pads they were useless and only slightly better afterwards. The brakes fully applied on a very steep hill would not stop me and I would just keep rolling, even with the BBB pads.

 

[doddman]

Thankyou folks, very comprehensive. Im sure ill be fine now!