If you haven’t noticed by now, road discs are coming. The benefits of a road disc brake system have long been understood, but designing a system that functions in the unique circumstances of high performance road cycling has proven harder than anticipated. With hybrid offerings leaving something to be desired, improved purpose-built road disc brake systems have become a target of many industry leaders.
Looking to capitalize on the new wave of road stoppers, TRP -the high end division of Tektro- has been at the forefront of road discs starting with their Parabox Hydraulic disc brake converter. Even as hydraulic integrated shift levers are popping up, the truth is that there are still an incredible number of mechanical brake levers both out in the wild and on lower end bikes, so designing a disc brake that’s compatible with them represents a huge opportunity for both OEM and aftermarket.
Not content to just create a better hydraulic brake, TRP thought they could reinvent the mechanical disc as well, resulting in the TRP Spyre mechanical and HyRd mechanical/hydraulic road disc brakes. The brakes have been teased for some time, though we finally got to put some real world testing in the hills of Los Gatos on both braking systems to see how well they could take the heat.
Read on for first impressions and tech break down of the HyRd and Spyre…
You may not think of TRP or Tektro as a leader in the world of brakes. But with 1,400 employees and 4 factories in both Taiwan and China, with a US office in Ogden, UT, the company is much bigger than you might expect. The Tektro brand is nearly ubiquitous on many less expensive bikes, and over the past few years TRP has been growing their share of the high end brake market.
Hydraulic
Three years ago, TRP introduced the Parabox, which while functional when set up properly, it wasn’t the most user friendly brake system on the market. The whole point of the Parabox was to act as a mechanical interface between standard shifters and hydraulic brakes and did so with a hydraulic master cylinder “box” that attached under the stem. However, that led to stack height issues, shipping head aches, and complicated set up which led TRP back to the drawing board.
The result? The all new, TRP HyRd mechanical/hydraulic brake. Building the entire master cylinder and reservoir assembly into the caliper, the HyRd side steps the issues of the Parabox and offers hydraulic performance with mechanical simplicity. The design makes it unnecessary to bleed them even with installation on an internally routed frame, makes boxing a bike for shipping simple, and frees up valuable real estate on the steerer for your stem. On paper, the only negative of the HyRd is the size of the caliper, which is quite a bit larger than a traditional caliper – mechanical or hydraulic. The size of the caliper is certainly something you won’t notice while riding the bike, though hanging the bike on your wall is another story.
Inside the HyRd, the internals function just like a normal hydraulic brake would, only the reservoir is directly on top of the caliper without the hose connecting them. In the case of the HyRd, the “brake lever” is replaced by the cable anchor which then activates the master cylinder pushing the piston past the timing port and then pushing fluid to the caliper pistons. Click image to enlarge for detail.
HyRd Specs:
- 195g per wheel, 89g rotor 160
- $150 per wheel rotor and adapter,
- Polished body with black anodized cap -or- black anodized body/ with polished cap
- Open hydraulic system – adjust per wear
- Compatible with all shift levers
- Composite pistons, 21mm Bakelite plastic – excellent for insulating the brake fluid from the heat
- 160 kit, or 140 kit, 2 adapters included for use with front or rear
Spyre Mechanical Disc Brake
Mechanical disc brakes are simple, reliable, and easy to work on – but they’re also usually noisy and don’t offer the modulation and power offered by their hydraulic cousins. To address this, TRP sought to perfect the dual-piston mechanical design which if done properly will always be superior to single piston brakes. While TRP wasn’t the first company to create a dual piston mechanical (IRD has had theirs out for years), TRP certainly cleaned up the design with a sculpted hoop that replaces the standard lever arm. The design of the hoop is critical as it allows for actuation of the brake without a wide lever arm sticking out where it can strike your heel – very important as road bikes transition to the 135mm rear spacing. The hoop is available in aluminum for the standard model, and will be offered in the lighter SLC version with a carbon lever arm.
Spyre Specs:
- Ball bearings, dual piston movement
- SLC–carbon lever arm version and standard aluminum arm version will be offered
- $80 per wheel, $110 SLC
- 148g SLC/154g Standard – 40g less than bb7, 20mm narrow, ~20% more claimed power
- Ramped ball bearings, with barrel adjuster and single sided pad adjustment
- TRP brake pads – semi metallic, Shimano compatible for many size options