Bicycles Asked on February 20, 2021
I purchased a gravel bike with drop handlebars, mostly for commuting and maybe for some weekend bike camping trips. I’ve only ever ridden mountain bikes with flat bars in the past, but I figured I’d get used to the drop bars. After a month I’m realizing that drop bars are just not for me. So I want to take my Jones Loop off of my MTB and put it on the new gravel bike.
The gravel bike had Micro Shift MTB bar end shifters so I picked up the matching flat bar adaptors for $40 and that will be a real easy 10 minute switch. Now I just need brake levers but I can’t seem to find definitive answers online about which ones will be compatible with my brakes.
I’ve never bled a brake line before but I’m confident that I could do it and its only another $20 for the line bleeding kit. More than one blog says that there are not many compatibility issues with hydraulic levers when switching from drop bar to flat, but I can’t find anything that says if I can just use any random hydraulic levers with these brakes.
The brakes on the bike are TRP Hylex hydraulic disc brakes. From what I can tell, TRP only makes one flat bar hydraulic disc brake set and they don’t seem to sell replacement levers.
I don’t need top of the line parts, but I don’t want to buy something that is going to break easily. I found a store selling what look like very basic levers, Shimano BL-MT200, at $15 for the set. I also found a list of other Shimano levers at varying price points, BL-M6000, BL-M7100, and BL-M8000.
My questions are:
Can I just swap out the TRP Hylex drop bar levers for these cheap Shimano levers?
Unlikely to work, not recomended
Could I hypothetically use just about any random hydraulic levers? SRAM / Tektro /
Technically, no. The issue is that the lever and caliper together need to provide the correct leverage ratio between the fingers on the lever and the pad on the rotor. That's set by the relative cross-section areas of the pistons. If you have a mismatch you either get too much force but not enough pad movement, or too much pad movement and too little force. You cannot guarantee that different manufacturers have so happen to have chosen compatible piston areas.
There is no documented general compatibility between road calipers and MTB levers. Shimano's compatibility documents show no compatibility between their road and MTB brake components, and neither do SRAM's.
Your best course of action would be to replace the levers and calipers, so you know you will have brakes that work properly.
Shimano makes hydro brakes in their lower-tier Acera (where the BT-M200 sits) and Alivio lines which would probably be fine for your purpose. You could also use equivalent Tektro flat bar brakes.
Answered by Argenti Apparatus on February 20, 2021
An important reason why you can't randomly mix and match hydraulic brake parts is because different manufacturers use different hydraulic fluids. SRAM uses DOT 5.1 brake fluid. Shimano uses mineral oil. Campagnolo uses mineral oil. Using the wrong kind of fluid can damage the seals.
Answered by Adam Rice on February 20, 2021
all other considerations aside, the Hylex is a well thought of system and should have a decent resale value complete. This adds to your budget for replacements.
while a shimano lever-only might work, you will get the best performance from system-matched parts. plus it's usually possible to install new pre-bled brakes without having to bleed them even when reducing hose length, which saves time.
Answered by JoeK on February 20, 2021
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