IB14: New Klamper Disc Brake from Paul, Plus Fat Bike Hubs, Thru Axles & More

I’m only buying a set if it comes in Rasta Anno…

No it’s for roadies who apparently want disc brakes with mild performance, the extra weight of a mechanical actuation, and none of the benefits of hydraulics.

Someone is touchy. So the selling points are it looks kind of like a classic disc brake from an era of days gone by when they didn’t have disc brakes, and it is made in the USA.

Otherwise it has absolutely no advantage over hydraulic or mechanical brakes produced by other companies?

It’s not like Paul is the only guy making mechanical disc brakes. If you want to know why you can’t make a widget in the USA, that’s probably because for most things, the cost of labor is high, and that is reflected in the price of a subpar product.

Tech and R&D are bigger strong points of US industry than manufacture. It seems silly to prioritize US manufacture and forgo tech and R&D.

It’s plain to see(and I’ve inspected a lot of their stuff in person) that these are most likely made to tighter tolerances than all the competition. For some, like myself, the care taken during manufacturing matters most of all. Yeah, they’re boring(utilitarian) looking, but they’re brakes.

They offer as much reliable stopping power as ever needed if set up well.

Cable operated disks deffinatley have their place, I wouldn’t have hydraulics on my touring bike for instance.

One immediately obvious advantage is they can be adjusted for pad wear on the fly by hand.

@Oli- hydraulic brakes adjust themselves for pad wear automatically. (I am not razzing you- I am a user of mechanical brakes, BB7’s with Ultimate levers and full-length housing. I have ridden hydros and don’t think they’re much better than what I have, although they are lighter for sure.)
I wasn’t expecting Paul to make a mechanical disc brake, but the brake disappoints me. If you’re going to make a mechanical brake, then why not optimize the design instead of polishing (literally and figuratively) an existing one? Use pads that install from the top, and have heat radiators on them like Shimano’s Ice-Techs. Make it a two-piston design like TRP’s brakes. Make it burly like Hayes overbuilt CX5 discs. Give it a lightweight rotor. Paul’s brake is not that much different from a BB7, except in cost and appearance. Heck, the BB7 has an advantage over these Paul brakes- the Tri-Align caliper mounting system. I think my hopes of a really optimized mechanical brake will never be realized. Sigh.
Some people complained about the price of these. Yeah, they’re overpriced. I don’t have the money for these brakes, but that’s fine by me: they don’t seem to be functionally better than my BB7’s. And Paul’s stuff is overpriced anyway- that’s fine, though: he is a small entrepreneur asking money from people who can afford it.

Try that reading part again. Paul’s uses thrust bearings, which will be part of the cost difference versus loose ball bearings. I wish my hand was so finely calibrated to tell the difference between Campy and other BB’s.

i wish these had the dual pad contact of the TRP brakes but still a nice design. paul stuff isnt overpriced it is made in the USA by ‘mercians making $20+ an hour with benefits in a clean OSHA approved evironment.
i have never set up paul disc brakes as they arent availible but anything is better than avid. the pad adjustment is so course a thread the pad has a wonky advancement and a flat pad rotor interface is almost impossible. TRP you loosen the bolts, pull the lever,tighten bolts,forget it.

I find it interesting that it uses Elixir pads, which are for a top-loading design, but this is a bottom-loader. Without the tabs like BB7, I’m curious how the pads are removed.

There are better brakes, for something like half the cost, that perform better. & that’s just in the mechanical world. Paul makes some good & innovative products(If I ever run a front shifter again, it’ll be a paul thumbie, so i can keep my dropper lever on the bottom of the bar) but this brake is for fanboys, sorry to say.

It’s a PR stunt. There’s established brands with identical if not better setups (no screwdriver access for the inner pad – seriously?!). The competitors weigh less, and more importantly cost less. Where something is built means basically nothing – parts can be sourced from outside, doesn’t mean the entire product is local or home grown.

They’re not the latest design (single sided activation, TRP Hy/rd hybrid solution ), they’re not the lightest(Hayes CX 197g, BB7 SL 159g, TRP Spyre SLC 146g), they’re not the cheapest; thrust washers, machine/hand made by ‘small’ shop, name and reputation of industry icon and particular styling is why you buy them. And those are good enough reasons for it to exist, maybe not good enough for you to buy them, but good enough for someone else.

@Mike, I think it’s better rotor clearance making it easier to prevent any unwanted rubbing.

That said, I also have trouble understanding the BB7 haters. Trade a little modulation for a ton of power, the bike stops and you live another day. Raining, commuting, trying to prevent a car from running you over… it happens…

@Loki- well-said.
@anon- Did you work at Paul Component Engineering? If you did, can you say what was wrong with the work conditions there?

Does anyone know if these will be compatible with my disc brake adapter? i have an older bike that i currently run a disc brake bracket adapter on. are these sizes universal? here’s basically what i have, but i think its a different company:
http://www.amazon.com/brake-bracket-frame-adaptor-bicycle/dp/B00I6IV782

Hard to see this as good value. You can pick up BB7s for ~$60 or TRP Spyre mechs for ~$100. Obviously i haven’t used them but i doubt the performance is 4x better than BB7s or 2x as good as the Spyres. Their styling is also not my jam but some will see this a bike bling.