LEAKED: Paul Components Road/CX Disc Brake Caliper

The real question is if they will work signficantly better than a shimano or avid mechanical. If so, it might be a great alternative to taking out a new mortgage for a hydro system.

hmmm, one side fixed pad style like a BB7… not sure why you’d pick something like that when there’s a mechanical brake on the market that moves both pads…

@Bike Rob: given that they’re Paul, I’d guess they are going to be more expensive than any hydro, and won’t include levers.

If they came out with these 15 years ago they might have had something, now… what fool would buy a cable brake in 2014? People that want heavy and maintenance-intensive but don’t want performance.

Really? Is bleeding a hydro system once a year so bad? It doesn’t even take longer than swapping in fresh cables and housing. Hydraulic brakes are easier to set up than cables, more reliable, have better modulation, and more power. As @Jesse mentioned, even the cheapish Deores are pretty damn good, no second mortgage needed.

The PAUL demographic is not the performance-minded, but the design-minded and the MUSA-boner types. I don’t pretend that my Paul cantis don’t perform any better than properly set up Tektros would(they are, in fact, much more of a PIA to set up), but guess what? They look amazing, and a visually exciting bike excites me to ride it. Sven Nys could blow out a Cat1 field on a comfort hybrid more than likely. Your bike and the parts on it seriously do not matter. Physical fitness and riding a suitable bike that is properly maintained are the only two necessities for performance. Riding bikes is about having fun. If some dude wants to spend a boatload of money on what is essentially a very bling bling BB7 then it doesn’t affect anyone but Paul’s ability to pay his employees, and hopefully an LBS can make a few bucks too.

Do those little ridges on the top part of the pads look like Avid Elixir pads to anyone else on here? That would be an interesting choice to go with. What would be the advantage of that? I know TRP uses a Shimano style pad for their brakes now.

mechanicals were worth talking about it in 2003. Now that we have cheap and foolproof Shimanos that don’t even need to be bled once a year, I can’t see any benefit.

I bet these work better than Avids, and they do give handmade bikes a mechanical option befitting of their quality. Plus now you’ll be able to get top-end brakes in the color of your choice!

Looking at where the pads are held in on top, and the shape, they appear to be the latest Shimano-type pads, made by Kool-Stop…very cool! Would like to see an MTB version.

@Heffe- all hydro brakes have the *potential* to be messy. Only DOT fluid is harmful for bike paint and human skin, and only a small minority of brakes use DOT fluid.