Are you passionate about enjoying the speed on mountain passes and whistling dynamically around the bends? Then you may be familiar with the experience of brakes that bite hard at low speeds losing their effectiveness at high speeds. This phenomenon is called "fading", which TOUR investigated back in 1998. Even back then, the rim brake system revealed glaring weaknesses during test rides.
As little has changed in the design principle of road bike brakes since then, the problem of fading is still virulent. Despite the trend towards disc brakes on mountain and trekking bikes, road bikes are still braked with small rubber blocks and cables. However, practical experience with the brakes of the new Dura-Ace groupset from Shimano shows that even this antiquated-looking system can be improved. The new stoppers from Japan work much better than anything we have been used to so far. So it's time to put the latest road bike brakes through their paces in a detailed test.
SHORT & SHORT
The test shows that most brakes are of a uniformly high standard and are largely interchangeable. Whether 50 or 200 euros - the brake pad is almost exclusively decisive for braking performance. A clever combination of brake caliper and pad can drastically increase the performance of any brake.
TOUR tipThe pad from Shimano's ten-speed Dura-Ace (R55 C2) is exceptionally powerful and has also proven itself in test rides in the rain - the first choice when retrofitting Shimano-compatible brakes!
You can find these brakes in the test:
Campagnolo Record and Centaur, Carbon Crew, Mavic SSC, Shimano Dura Ace and 105, WCW Brake Muscle, Xtreme Pro Bite Zone, Zero Gravity
Downloads:
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