Like thousands of others, my bike came with cable disk brakes. Obviously, upgrading to full hydraulic disk brakes is possible, but is very pricey, as that would also involve changing the shifters, in addition to the calipers. Fortunately, there is another way: these Zoom Xtech HB100 cable-actuated hydraulic disk calipers.
What are cable-actuated hydraulic brakes?
Simple: hydraulic brakes effectively have a master cylinder, and a slave cylinder. The master cylinder is where the hydraulic fluid is compressed, when you apply the brakes, and the slave cylinder is at the brake caliper itself, and squeezes the brake pad against the rotor. In between, there’s a hydraulic fluid tube of some sort. With full hydraulic brakes, the master cylinder is integrated into the brake handle on the handlebars. If (like with my bike) you have integrated brakes and gear shifting in the same unit, changing the shifters is expensive.
With cable-actuated hydraulic brakes, you get the benefits of hydraulic brakes, while keeping your existing shifters. That’s a major win, in my book, and that’s why I got these Zoom XTech HB100 calipers. The calipers are fully hydraulic, but both the master and slave cylinders are integrated into the caliper. You pull the brakes as normal, and that pulls the cable. The cable compresses the master cylinder, which operates the slave cylinder. You end up with brakes that, to the average person, are as good as full hydraulic brakes.
Why are hydraulic brakes better?
Well, for starters, hydraulic calipers almost always push the brake pads onto the rotor from both sides, while most cable-only brakes only push one brake pad onto the rotor. Those brakes rely on the rotor slightly bending, as it is pushed against the other brake pad. Some people say they have finer braking control with fully hydraulic systems, but I’m not convinced it would actually make a real difference to everyday cyclists, like me.
The Zoom Xtech HB100 Calipers
I don’t do product reviews without testing the bit(s) of kit for a while first, and I’ve done several hundred miles on the Zoom XTech HB100 brakes now. My initial impressions were good, and to date, I’m more impressed than I was at the start. They arrive in a small cardboard box, with each caliper inside a bubble-wrap bag. Also in the box are bolts of various lengths, as well as brackets for different types of frames. In my case, I didn’t need those, as the calipers bolted straight onto the frame and fork mounts. Do note that these don’t come with disk rotors, but they work fine with my existing rotors.
Braking (once the brand new pads have worn in) is smooth, and strong. These were a definite improvement from my old BB7 brakes. Last weekend, on a bike ride between Exeter and Tiverton, I encountered some very steep ascents and descents, and on those descents I had no problem braking, or even stopping. The steepest gradient on my commute is 22%, and these brakes deal with that without any bother.
I’m extremely happy with these brakes (and happier still, because I got a set in blue, that very closely matches the colour of my bike!) I have no doubt that, if you were upgrading from cable-only disk brakes, you would be as happy as I am with the Zoom Xtech HB100 brakes. And the best part is you can get a pair of these for less than the price of a single BB7 caliper!