Mechanical Disc Brake Weight Comparison

The spirit of Grav-lo-cross. No but seriously, cyclocross and gravel go here!

Moderator: Moderator Team

Post Reply
skiandbikecmh
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:26 am

by skiandbikecmh

So I am looking into building up a disc brake cross bike, and have been looking to find a lightweight option for calipers. I have found some big differences in claimed weight, and would love to know if anyone has actual weight of any of the brakes below, or if you know whether the weight is including rotor, levers, or if it is just calipers.

I basically want to break it down to an apples to apples comparison of caliper weights, because regardless of what brakes I buy, I will be using the Ashima Ai2 rotors that I already have.

Bengal Taiwan Mechanical brakes: Claimed 172 per wheel

BB7 Mechanical: Claimed 329 per wheel
BB7 Mechanical SL: Claimed 290 per wheel

Hayes?


Any other information that will be relevant when choosing brakes would be very helpful as well.

Thanks
Attachments
Screen shot 2012-12-21 at 8.50.08 AM.png
My Bike:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



robsfuel
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:25 pm

by robsfuel

I run the Hayes CX-5 weight = 390g set / 195g per wheel. not including rotor.
I also run the Ailigator Aries rotors weight = 152g per set

User avatar
ms6073
Posts: 4290
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2004 8:24 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

by ms6073

Seems to me that the Bengal brakes bear a striking resemblance to the Hayes Mechanical brakes. Also, the weights for Avid BB& are based on the wieght of the brake system for the front or rear wheel thus includes the caliper, rotor, and mounting hardware where as I think weight for the Bengal brakes is beased only on the caliper.

There is a thread on mtbr.com - The definitive Avid BB7 weight thread... - and if you take a few minutes to read through that you will find that on average the BB7 mountain calipers weigh in at ~155 grams and the new BB7 SL includes Ti hardware as well as aluminum-backed organic pads, which I would suspect would drop the weight of the calipers another 5-7 grams. Although the Ceramic Pro pads (aftermarket from DiscoBrakes.com) I am currently using are steel backed, after substituting Ti caliper, disc, and CPS bolt, spacers, and washers of Avid's standard BB7 road calipers, I realized a ~17 gram savings per caliper over stock. Swapping Ashima Ai2 Air Rotors out the stock Avid 160 mm rotors (~62-65 grams versus ~95-105 grams), I managed ~45 gram savings per wheel.
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"

fastvegan
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:50 pm

by fastvegan

I have the bengal brakes, 171g and 174g, but that is just the caliper, I saved some weight with bolt tuning, but nothing major. Good cheap brakes.

One thing to remember is those are MTB disc calipers, the pull ratio is diff then road levers. I dont know all the exact #'s but it is not the same.

kampiakseli
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:47 pm

by kampiakseli

Here is the weigth of a pair BB7
Image

vcnz
Posts: 269
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:48 pm
Location: The Netherlands

by vcnz

only ONE caliper weights almost the whole cantis set I have... then plus disks, screws, longer cables and cables housing ... going disk now sounds like a huge downgrade

Hope we will get lighter stuff in the future, but I think it will never be as light as cantis setup :(

skiandbikecmh
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:26 am

by skiandbikecmh

Found a Claimed wieght on the bb7 sl. Sram is saying 170 g for calipers only, which means that the bengals would be about the same as those and lighter than the regular bb7s.
My Bike:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



elmar schrauth
Shop Owner
Posts: 501
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:12 pm
Location: cochem -germany

by elmar schrauth

Cx 75-- 153 Gramm, without rotor.
Road Sl 160 Gramm, without rotor.

We have got both in test

Image

Post Reply