Yes...

Your fingers are stronger when they're closer to the bars. You have better control over modulating the brakes when you have more lever travel. It is possible to change it so there's not as much travel but you run into problems w/ pad rub on the rotor. You can also adjust the position of the lever so the it starts further away from the bar if your hands/fingers are big enough.

 

What you’re saying about hand strength makes perfect sense, but I think there are two problems with your explanation:

1. We spend most of our time riding with our hands on the hoods. A long lever throw like this makes braking with your hands on the hoods markedly harder.

2. Why doesn’t your argument apply to rim brakes? I’ve ridden many road bikes with rim brakes and they all require less lever pull.

I do know I can adjust the lever reach and the free stroke and this will help, but I’ve never been a big fan of making adjustments like these if there’s another problem. Or, again, maybe it was intended by Shimano to be that way.

 

I have a feeling about where this thread is about to go.

Before the thread degrades into another disc brakes vs rim brake thread, go read OP's old posts. OP may not be the best mechanic. Don't let his opinions and experiences inform one's opinion of discs.

 

Do you have any idea what an a**hole you have to be to go out of your way to respond to a simple question by insulting the person asking it?

Seriously dude, I’m curious: when was the last time you’ve been laid?

 

They do tend to have more travel on my bike too - but I can lock up the wheels easily on dry pavement before the lever hits the bars so I've just learned to be comfortable with it. You probably will be too the more you ride the bike.

 

Freestroke adjustment

 

Maybe you tell Wasp what is up.... I know you don't want too though.

 

I agree with Wasp, long throw play is annoying.
I want short throw, minimal play, hit the brakes and your stopping.

 

The legions of engineers and testers at Shimano as well as SRAM and all other companies making disc brakes disagree with you two. Brakes that work like an on/off switch are harder to control.

 

I have my Di2 levers set as close to the bars as possible and run rim brakes as tight on the wheel as possible, if disks can't do that, put that on the s**t list!

I have short fingers... but my hands are a .... average... or bigger!

 

Lever set up is obviously a personal choice but having minimal lever movement to control the brake is going to tire your hands sooner and you won't have as much control compared to having more lever travel, it's just not possible. It's like having a volume knob that goes 1-5-10 instead of having one that goes 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10.

 

When I first got a CX bike with canti's I though the increased distance of pull between feather and locking 'em up as compared to my DA road set up sucked. Then when I started riding my CX bike for what a CX bike is designed for I thought it was great.

In other words it's pretty easy to finesse a real short pull amount on asphalt to get whatever power you want. Not so much bombing down a rutted gravel road. You need room for error there.

But that doesn't answer the question. As CX already said, yes, you can set up your brakes to start working sooner in the pull. You still have pads being squeezed on to a wheel. Same concept at regular rim brakes.

 

I put my first set of hydraulic road discs on a bike over the weekend. Mine are the same. They firm up about halfway through the lever travel and can be squeezed almost to the bar. It's different than my MTB hydraulic brakes or any mechanical road brake that I've used, but I got used to it after a few miles.

If you want the pads closer and have less lever travel, another trick is to take out the wheel and pull the brake a couple of times. This will get the pads closer to the rotor. Just don't do it so much that the pistons fall out. I haven't done it myself, but this is a common suggestion that I see to the mushy lever complaint.

 

What you're talking about is "dead stroke". I have very little experience with road discs but a lot with MTB discs. Dead stroke is a combination of 2 things: How far the pads sit from the rotors and how far the master piston sits from the bypass port. Some brakes have an adjustment for the latter and some are designed for more pad clearance. With Shimano MTB brakes excessive dead stroke is sometimes a problem and there's a temporary solution: Overfilling the brake. Basically you bleed them with the pistons pushed out a little extra. This reduces pad/rotor clearance but they'll feel fantastic. As the pads wear they'll usually go back to having more clearance/dead stroke since that's governed by the slave piston o-rings. Many MTBers like their levers close to the bar with minimal dead stroke so all the lever stroke is between pad contact and lockup.

 

What you're talking about is "dead stroke".

Yup. That's what he's talking about. And it's quite large on road disc. At least the first models. I haven't tried the newer ones.
On my bars, if I don't reduce the dead stroke, the levers hit the bars before full braking.

With Shimano MTB brakes excessive dead stroke is sometimes a problem and there's a temporary solution: Overfilling the brake. Basically you bleed them with the pistons pushed out a little extra. This reduces pad/rotor clearance but they'll feel fantastic.

This works good. I've developed undersized bleed blocks so you don't have to use shims.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/A9DAXVXWP/bleed-block-5mm
https://www.shapeways.com/product/NN5BKSGNJ/bleed-block-1mm
https://www.shapeways.com/product/QKPE5M3E5/bleed-block-1-5mm

 

When you have a very short lever pull you have less braking power and less control over your ability to stop. Your brakes function better the way they were designed to function.

Go ride. You'll get used to it quickly.

 

What exactly is "very short lever pull" in mm or inches?

Lever pull distance has nothing to do with braking power on hydraulic disc brakes unless the lever is hitting the bars. Lever travel from engagement to lock up is very short but very responsive to hand/lever pressure changes.

My shimano levers came with separate free travel and reach adjustments.

 

I just measured the travel on my Shimano hydraulic disc levers and found that I have 1 1/16" travel from full off to full on.. I have them set up so that the large shift paddle passes the bar tape/bar on the outside by about 1/8" when full on. The paddle just glazes the tape.

Remember, full on is well past lock up (perhaps by about 1/8") and full off is well beyond where they disengage.


Edit: the measurement is taken at the fattest part of the shift paddle (also the controlling/closest part of the lever).

 

First off - Lelandjt... thanks! You just doubled what I knew about hydraulic brake setup. Seriously - great info. And CX - solid info as usual.

My mtn bike has XT hydraulics and my road bikes (which all get ridden regularly) have 6700 and 6800 rim on aluminum, 6800 rim on carbon and 6800 hydraulic. I have gotten used to not being used to a brake lever. All are different.

- Quickest hitting, shortest pull is the 6800 rim on aluminum. That bike would be great for trials. One inch of lever pull = dead stopped!
- The easiest to modulate - and the one with the longest pull is the 6800 hydraulic. I wish my mtn bike brakes were more like that one.

 

Wasp, just reading this now and it brought a smile to my face. I got a new roubaix to replace my much older roubaix. New one has discs. FIRST thing I noticed is that the discs didn't engage until you pulled the lever quite a bit. My rim brakes I have engaging with a very short pull.

I looked for the adjustment, but there is none. After two k miles I am used to it, but it still bothers me.


Sent from my Lenovo TB-X304F using Tapatalk

 

If you know what you're doing and are careful you can bleed them again. If you get it just right you can actually reduce the lever pull a bit. It'll still probably be more pull than you're used to but it won't come all the way to the bar.