Options to improve brakes on Croix de Fer?

[gareth h]

I’ve just dug my old Croix de fer out of the garage to do some road riding, and am finding the cable discs rather uninspiring after the hydraulic discs on my mountain bike, any advice on the best way to improve the Croix brakes?
TIA

[blueovercream]

I did this on my Marin Four Corners a while back.

I replaced both (I think Promax) with Avid BB5 which were a decent upgrade for a reasonable price.

I didn’t want to invest in a full hydraulic replacement x2 which of course would be the best way to make them significantly better. Cable-operated hydraulic set up could be another less expensive option.

If you haven’t done so already you could also just start with a decent service/tune up - new cables and pads - and you might notice a difference. Mechanical disc brakes can perform reasonably well if they’re set up well.

[Onespeeder]

By coincidence, I am doing the same with my old CdF.

I did not care for the original Shimano brakes and years ago swapped them for Bb7. I had tried Bb5 on another bike and did not like them either. The Bb7 are satisfactory but difficult to set up without rub but with little lost motion at the lever. Good cables and ferrules are essential. This seems to be a characteristic of cable discs.

Never had hydraulics but that's about change

[blueovercream]

I did this on my Marin Four Corners a while back.

I replaced both (I think Promax) with Avid BB5 which were a decent upgrade for a reasonable price.

I didn’t want to invest in a full hydraulic replacement x2 which of course would be the best way to make them significantly better. Cable-operated hydraulic set up could be another less expensive option.

If you haven’t done so already you could also just start with a decent service/tune up - new cables and pads - and you might notice a difference. Mechanical disc brakes can perform reasonably well if they’re set up well.

[POIDH]

I'm running grooved SRAM discs (180mm on front) with Kevlar Uberbike pads on TRP Spyre Calipers and SRAM levers on my Genesis Vagabond.
Of course they are not the same as my MT5's on 200/180 discs on the MTB, but other than fully loaded for a week's tour on the Arran String Road descent, they work really well.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

My twopence worth - cable disc brakes are all awful. I had an olf CdF and "upgraded" the brakes to the cable actuated Hopes and they were barely any better.

vs the full proper hydros on my current Sonder Camino which are absolutely superb.

[_Hoppers]

Be grateful you're not on rim brakes with carbon wheels!

[outnumbered]

Using compressionless housing (e.g. Jagwire) makes a massive difference with cable discs. It was the one thing that turned my wife's cable disc bike from borderline dangerous to quite decent.

[gareth h]

outnumbered said:

Using compressionless housing (e.g. Jagwire) makes a massive difference with cable discs. It was the one thing that turned my wife's cable disc bike from borderline dangerous to quite decent.

Thanks, I’d never heard of these, will give them a try

[outnumbered]

gareth h said:

outnumbered said:

Using compressionless housing (e.g. Jagwire) makes a massive difference with cable discs. It was the one thing that turned my wife's cable disc bike from borderline dangerous to quite decent.

Thanks, I d never heard of these, will give them a try

Be aware they can be trickier to fit because they don't bend as well as normal brake housings. Please report back with the results !

[WPA]

Switch the calipers to TRP Spyre's plus if you can run Compressionless outer that will help massively

Avoid Avid BB5 I have found them next to useless

[Domski86]

Second hand hydraulic shifters from eBay; shimano rs685, rs505 if 11 speed, mtb calipers e.g. deore 2 or 4 pots. You can probably reuse discs if not worn.

This assumes drop bars and brifters, if flat bar, options are even cheaper as could use any mtb combo.

Explored the cable and hybrid (cable actuated hydraulic) options before going with the above, glad I did, there's no comparison.