Mechanical Disc Brakes | Juin Tech F1, Zrace, Nutt | The ultimate guide

Head-to-head test, & long-term review. Which of these mechanical disc brake callipers will come out on top?

Mechanical disc brakes on road bikes are a bit of a hot topic right now. They are disliked by many, but as disc brake becomes the new default in the road bike industry, we are seeing them more and more, as many entry to mid-level bikes are shipping from the factory with them. But are they a valid option for the budget minded cyclist, and what are they like to live with day to day? Well for the last year, and over 3000 miles, I have been testing a variety of different types on my Chinese carbon road bike.

The Nutt calipers from AliExpress are a dual sided flat mount variety, much like the TRP Spyre, Avid BB7, or Tektro C550 brake calipers. They are the cheapest and heaviest ones I have tried, but while the braking performance was ok, the build quality and general feel of them was distinctly lacking.

The Juin Tech F1, and ZRace callipers on the other hand are a dual piston hybrid hydraulic design, very similar to the TRP HY/RD brakes. They are cable actuated, but rather than a mechanical camming mechanism, they use a hydraulic piston mounted to caliper itself to provide the stopping power. These are a better choice in my opinion, but how much better are they?

Well in this video I will be comparing the three calipers, putting them head-to-head in a braking test, and showing you some of the issues I faced using mechanical disc brakes day to day.

Got any questions or comments, stick them below 👇 and I'll try and get back to as many of you as I can!

Timestamps:
00:00 – Start
00:31 – Sponsor segment
02:11 – Intro
04:31 – Juin Tech F1 calipers
06:00 – ZRace calipers
07:36 – Nutt calipers
08:33 – Caliper weight
09:01 – Why choose mechanical disc?
11:37 – Testing methodology & setup
16:47 – Testing results
20:12 – Caliper Durability
24:16 – Living with mechanical disc
31:09 – Final thoughts
34:09 – Bonus test

Intro roll:

Music:
Fresh Healthy Perspectives,
The Process, In my Dreams
MydNyte, Still Not Rite, QuangerineCream
Take Me Down to The Fashion Show
Copycat

About Trace Velo:
I love cycling, and I love getting pro cycling kit for less. If it’s cheap, from China, and made of carbon fibre, I’m interested!

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Please note:
With the exception of Aftershokz, all other products demonstrated in this video have been purchased by me, and I have no affiliation to any of the sellers or vendors shown.

In addition, I am not a professionally trained bike mechanic. There can be risks associated with using products that are unbranded, untested, or come from sources where the provenance is unknown. Please talk to a qualified bike mechanic if you are in any doubt.

In essence, be careful, do your research, and cycle safe!!!

[deskelly]

My favourite YT cycling channel - zero snobbery, zero shilling and really engaging

[aveedub]

Fab intro, made smile. At last another vid to watch, as eagerly anticipated as my monthly sub to cycling plus and the 'comic' . Excellent Luke keep up the good work!

[greigmackay]

Used Juin Techs for a few years now, had them on a gravel bike initially to replace a set of TRP Spyres mechanical brakes. Now got the Juin Techs fitted to my titanium winter road bike with semi sintered pads and good quality shimano rotors and decent inner and outer cables, end result, awesome brakes for the road. They never squeel and the power and modulation is more than enough. For reference, on my other 2 summer road bikes I have sram force hydraulic and shimano duraace hydraulic brakes. Both using ice tech rotors. I would say the sram force are most out and out powerful. With an initial sharper bite compared to the dura ace and juin techs.
Durability wise, I have had zero issues with the Juin Techs. I also had TRP Hy-rds for a while and they never felt as good or were as reliable as the Juin Techs.
In terms of Shimano hydraulic brakes. The calipers are very poorly made got them in 105 and GRX on other bikes. Had 2 replace 2 calipers in the space of less than 2 years. Piston seals leak very easily and also the calipers themselves corrode very quickly. Up here in Scotland where it is wet a lot and we have salt on our roads for about 6 months of the year! The shimano's are not robust. Sram are much better quality in this regard. So are the Juin Techs.
Overall I 100% recommend the Juin Techs. They also make a 4 piston caliper model if you required more stopping power 😂

Great video as always Luke 👍😎

[rickgreham]

This sheer amount of content and details are just great. Thanks Luke for the hard work. You're the common bikers' hero.

[stevenmoore]

I have a solution for your back brake not returning to normal position. Use a coil spring between end of cable and cable tightening nut. Basically, spring over the exposed cable.

[michaelstevens]

Been running the Juin brakes on my gravel bike for the past 6 months without a problem (mine came with 160mm discs). I don't ride hard (older rider) but I do weigh 240lbs (108kg), live in the foothills of a mountain range and no problems stopping. Also switched from flat bar to drop bar once I got some flexibility back and redoing the cables was easy.

[iMadrid]

Still waiting for a first ever budget Power Meter review Luke.

[WillBeebe]

I recently picked up a Yokozuna front road (direct mount) and I love it! It has four pistons and no more messy brake fluid when swapping cables and honestly it's minimally less sensitive. Dramatically worth nixing the hydro tube.

[Fugedibobo]

Hey Luke, awesome video as always! You have pretty much solved your own problem with using a shifter cable for braking although there is a more definitive (and actually safe) solution. I have the TRP HY/RD mechanical disc brakes and had the exact same issue with sticky rear cables. First I thought the spring was just too weak in the rear caliper but even new cables and very expensive compressionless cable housing didn't solve the issue. I took it to the amazing bike mechanic who fixes my bikes and he said that cable diameter is more important than slipperyness. A teflon coated cable is good but it makes the cable thicker. He said apparently there are 1.5mm and 1.4mm brake cables and he used a high-quality polished brake cable, preferably 1.4mm because after polishing it becomes a tiny bit thinner as well (maybe like 1.35mm so nothing groundbreaking) and this noticeably reduces the total friction in the brake housing. So the solution is high-quality compressionless housing and thinner, polished, high-quality brake cable.

[rosomak]

For your piston problems: add a spring on to the piston pusher to increase the back force compensating the increased friction of the overlong cable housing.

[stinkyfungus]

On mechanical disc - premium compressionless housing is a must.
Jagwire high end or yokozuna

Night and day difference.

[johnbuxton]

When it comes to mechanical disc brakes, the best by far are TRP Spyre. They are pure mechanical and I have been using these for over 2 years on my gravel bike with no problems whatsoever. The fact that many pro teams use them on their time trial bikes should speak for itself. Hope this helps any potential buyers out there.

[stefanozurich]

Generally I would expect the rotors overheating to be because that low mass rotor isn't able to dissipate heat from having less surface area, rather than the brake housing not dissipating the heat.

[Fuego]

Number of times Luke managed to say the brand name "Nutt" without a giggle right before and/or after during those 36 minutes: 0

[alexjohnstonjohnston]

Sponsored by Aftershokz!!! Nice work boss - I’m on my second set of Aeropex. Another masterclass in making an interesting, informative, entertaining YouTube video - always get a pre-watch like as you’re always in point!

[paulmorrison]

Don’t worry Luke in my over 30 years of cycling I’ve employed many a dodgy compromise to some seemingly unsolvable situations and it’s been absolutely fine provided your sensible about it and fortunately I’m not dead yet! 👍🏾. Keep on doing what you’re doing 🙏🏾

[galenkehler]

@34:36 you mention doing a full "gambit" of tests, when I think you mean "gamut" other than that little gaffe, this is a fantastic video, very thorough! Thanks 👍

[irvvine]

I just bought a set of Zrace brakes, but their newer version, the BR-005. There are two revisions, the older one using Shimano road brake pads, and the newer (that I bought) with XTR marking on its body, accepting Shimano MTB brake pads (the same as SLX/XT). I noticed it has several improvements and two drawbacks over the BR-002 reviewed in this video.
1. Zrace moved the piston to the inner side of the caliper (on the wheel side of the rotor) so much less bending of the compressionless (stiff) cable housing is needed in bikes with internal cable routing,
2. There is now a plastic sleeve in the barrel adjuster as well as a rubber boot (somewhat similar to ones used in v-brakes) to minimize water ingress into the cable housing,
3. There is a silicon gasket covering the piston entrance, similar to JuinTech F1,
4. Better mounting hardware selection is now included - front and rear adapters, caliper bolts and 3 sizes of mounting bolts; I don't like the messy markings on the adapters though so I kept using the Tektro ones.
5. Zrace claims they now have 40% more raw stopping power, so I guess they should be more in line with JuinTech F1 in terms of performance, but half the price.

There are three related drawbacks caused by new piston position:
1. Caliper is no longer compatible with brake pads that have cooling fins (minor drawback IMO),
2. Brake pads may only be removed/inserted from under the caliper with the wheel removed, there is no way to change them from the top side (bummer, but no worse than Tektro MD-C550 (OEM cousin of TRP Spyres, similar to Nutt calipers reviewed in this video), that I replaced with Zrace,
3. Slightly heavier than BR-002.

I only rode once since installing them and the brake pads are still bedding in and I kept the mediocre Tektro rotors, but I am already amazed by their performance, they are fantastic. Tektros were awful and I didn't trust them... The rear Zrace is already much stronger than Tektro was at the front wheel with the best working brake pads I could find.

There is also new JuinTech F1-S, with the new actuation arm position to make it more compact and minimize the need to bend the cable housing but its price is a joke, it is more expensive than TRP HY-ROAD (HD-C710) which is already overpriced...

One more thing - 🥖🥖🥖

[vlogsbyakkas]

intro was absolute boss! content is awesome!

[timdixo]

Rode the Juin Techs for 2 years with Di2 and I rate them highly, far better than the Hayes full mech that I had prior.
I had slight brake fade on a couple of long descents but that’s it. The step up from the Juins to full hydro R8070 Shimano wasn’t as large as I was expecting.