Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Very true.Yeah, 105s will be a definite improvement over the cheap things you have on the bike now, and yeah, cleaning up your rims always helps!
Mavic make a gritty-rubber thing that gets the grime off well. A graphite eraser will do the same. Takes a bit of elbow grease, but the results are good.
Also, you need to keep on top of brake pad maintenance; with aluminium rims you are going to constantly get little bits of aluminium jabbing and sticking into the pads which you need to get out; a sure-fire way to shag up your rims is to use pads with bits of aluminium stuck in them. Scores the hell out of the rims.
Anyway, you only asked for some brakes, and not a load of advice on braking, so I am sure someone will have some 105/Ultegra for you to get your mitts on.
Sora brifters will not work as intended with new 105 or Ultegra calipers. The older brake levers pull more cable per degree of lever movement than the newer ones that are designed to work in combination with these callipers.One point of caution, and you will probably be OK, but you will need to spend a little time investigating if your current brake levers have the right pull ratio to run Shimano brakes. Can't really see why not, but it would be good, and interesting, to check. If you are using Shimano shifters/brakes, then you are good to go.
Grant, be careful what you buy from Musashi13. He is from Nottingham (well, kinda). Those Nottingham people can't be trustedThank you everyone for the help. All the info is much appreciated and will be put to good use. I just fitted some almost-new 105 brakes purchased from Musashi13 and they feel much, much better than the old ones. I now feel confident that at least my brakes are going to perform on the descents. And lucky me that Musashi13 decided to come into central Tokyo today so I could fit them before the weekend.
Like the chain reaction here… Owen bought new brakes, sold old ones to Pete who sold his old to Darragh how sold his old to Grant. It's up to you now Grant to keep the flow of brakes flowing ;-)
Grant can sell me his old brakes, then I will sell my 9000's to Pete, Pete can sell his 7900s to Darragh, Darragh can sell his Ultegras to Grant, then Grant can sell his 105's to me... etc.
Grant, be careful what you buy from Musashi13. He is from Nottingham (well, kinda). Those Nottingham people can't be trusted
I'm sure you'll notice a big difference now that you have better brakes.
After getting my bike equipped with Campy, I'm ready to strip the Shimano off all my other bikes and happily toss them into the 'exchange ring'. The 'differential' design (single pivot rear and dual front) really suits equal handed braking. With the Shimano brakes I was constantly over braking the rear (regardless of so called 'modulation'). With the Campy, I can apply both brakes with nearly equal hand pressure and result is far fewer instances of rear traction loss. Athena cost about the same as Ultegra, BTW - so I vote for them.