Planet-X vs Far&Near calipers

[Zigmeister]

I hated the Planet-X CNC brakes. The brake cable holder design is idiotic. It literally requires you pinch/crush the cable, causing it to splinter and fray. No idea if they improved it over the last year, but that was annoying, and the cable would slip when squeezing hard.

That and the centering issues was also a PITA as others mentioned.

I switched to SRAM Force brakes, since they are identical to Red brakes, 2011 version, only difference is 2 titanium bolts are used on the Red making it like grams lighter.

Brakes work fantastic, no issues ever. Don't care about the 50gm weight savings, for $100, I can stop now and not worry about anything.

[Kayrehn]

Using PX CNC brakes - how the cables gets clamped down doesn't really matter IMO because once it's done, you don't need to think about it after that. I swop between my skinny aluminium rims and my thicker carbon rims and simply use the adjusters on the brakes to make up for the difference, no problems at all. A mechanic worth his salt should be able to do a good installation that makes it maintenance-free, adjusting single-pivot caliper brakes isn't rocket science.

It's light, it's cheap, it's bling (I have gold ones and it's a damn good conversation starter), and it's reliable, what more can you ask for?

[spinwax]

The Planet X brakes in black. They have been great. I am however changing some things up and if anyone is interested in a trade, I would trade them for DA7900 (plus I will throw in a little cash) or Ultegra 6700 in good condition straight across.

[Tomstr]

Can someone tell me if these are rebranded Planet-x brakes?
http://www.salden.nl/default.asp?pid=53 ... catid=3963

I'm looking for a light set of brakes that can replace my current Ultegra 6600 setup. I'm running Ultegra 6600 sti's as well.

[Rokkala]

+1 For the Far & Near brakes. Got them a year or so ago from some swiss website, very cheap.

Braking power is excellent, easy to set up and adjust afterwards. Modulation is very good with them, I don't like the on/off style brakes.

Used them on steep UK climbs and in Majorca with zero problems. They do tend to get knocked off centre when travelling though, but it's about 5seconds with an Allen key to recentre

[HillRPete]

Rokkala, do you have a link for the swiss shop at hand? I'm having a hard time sourcing them from Europe.

[prendrefeu]

So no one has actually compared both Planet-X and Far and Near? So far we have a thread of experience with either individually, which is fine, but no actual comparison between the two yet.

[Hendley]

Can't offer a comparison, as I've only used the F&N, but I also looked closely at the Planet X brakes. I was swayed by the fact that the F&N are dual pivot while the Planet X are single pivot--one result is fiddlier set-up on the latter, by most accounts.

Performance-wise, found the F&N to be very close to the Ultegra 6600 calipers I had previously; honestly, I think decently made dual pivots are going to behave fairly similarly across brands. Arms seem slightly more flexy than the Ultegras, but not enough to effect my confidence in them. (I'm 90 kgs, ride hilly/rolling terrain). Setup was as easy as Shimano.

Only negative is that the "quick release" (which involves lining up a gap on the barrel adjuster to pull out the cable and thus release the arms) did not work for me at all--could never get the cable out. However, as I only change wheels when the tire's flat (ie after a puncture), it actually didn't matter.

[SDP]

planet X with 6700 levers ..agree with rick re set - got them with aligator cables on other halfs bike ..they are spot on ..tempted to put them on my tcr TBH

i also got some TRP920s ..they are awesome for the ££