Tektro brake calipers: Good, fair or...

[LouisN]

Hi, I bought Tektro rx 40 brake calipers for road racing. Are they worth it ? Will I kill myself riding 3000 mi. a year on those?That much lower end than Shimano or Campy? Is the alloy that much cheaper or REALLY it's a Trademark Thing?
Thanks guys and girls.
LouisN

 

[capwater]

They are fine, maybe comparable to shimano 105 level. Tektro makes brakes for many companies which re-brand them.

 

[ryanspeer]

I seem to recall reading reviews on some Tektro-equipped bikes such as the Giant TCR series, where the reviewers mentioned repeatedly how sub-par the braking system performed. They'd upgrade to Ultegra or Dura-Ace and would feel an immediate change in performance. I'm sure the Tektro's will stop you, but it doesn't sound like they're terribly performance-oriented.

 

[John M]

I seem to recall reading reviews on some Tektro-equipped bikes such as the Giant TCR series, where the reviewers mentioned repeatedly how sub-par the braking system performed. They'd upgrade to Ultegra or Dura-Ace and would feel an immediate change in performance. I'm sure the Tektro's will stop you, but it doesn't sound like they're terribly performance-oriented.

A big part of may be related to lower quality brake shoes. I think that an upgrade to kool-stop pads makes the cheaper brakes a lot better.

 

[Eden]

My old bike had Tektro rx 20's on it (I'm assuming that is a level or two lower than your 50's) I HATED them. I found them to be rather grabby and unreliable no matter how they were adjusted. If I had been keeping that bike I would have changed the brakes to something better.

oh - and putting better brake pads on them did nothing to change how they performed for me.

 

[LouisN]

Hi there,

Just discovered I had RX 20g models! Not Rx40.

Now I'm totally in the dark. They say these are triathlon brakes. What's the difference between these and road race or performance brakes???

Thanks Eden anyways, from your reviews, I guess I will probably throw them on Ebay or something...
LouisN