First Impressions: State Bicycle Co. All-Road Disc Brake Calipers

Note: I received the products mentioned in this review at no charge to me. State Bicycle Co. did not bribe me, nor are they paying me for this review. I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout. 

I posted about these calipers earlier HERE. That was a week ago now. I've had several test rides since then to see about bedding the brakes in and to test their performance in certain situations. Here are my first impressions on those rides.

I won't say too much about the first few rides, since those were about bedding in the pads to my rotors, but I will say that even through that process up to today, these brakes remain quiet. So, I am impressed with that right off the top.

Subsequent rides were purpose-driven to see how these brakes might do in certain situations. I rode the Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3 semi-loaded up for even more weight to deal with in these tests. I rode to see how emergency braking was, not necessarily seeing if the wheels would lock up, but to see how quickly I could controllably brake.  Then I tested for what I call "surgical braking". The type of fine movement, modulated braking you might have to do, say down a steep, technical descent. Then I tested for more casual braking chores. How easily are these brakes worked with one finger, for instance, or from the hoods? 

So, in a quick, emergency stop, the calipers were excellent. I probably could skid too, but again, that isn't my intent here. Controllable, powerful braking to a stop was achievable. So, I feel confident that, if I had to, I could haul the bike down to a rather quick stop. This was also done without cramp-inducing hand pressure, which you may have to apply with a fully mechanical set up. This wasn't on par with fully hydraulic set ups I have on drop bars, in terms of input needed to achieve result desired. But it was doable and easily so. 

Next up I wanted to see about that "surgical braking" performance. How slow and controlled can I go with ease? 

This was achieved with good results. The brakes are not grabby, and they have a longer throw of the lever in the sweet spot of their power, making them easy to modulate. These could be set up  as "on-off" brakes, (a very bad idea, by the way), but a careful set up with regard to the cable tension, actuating arm, and pad distance to the rotor will yield excellent results. Much like mechanical brakes, in this way, set up is everything. 

Slow, controlled braking is not what I will often need out of these brakes, but anyone that puts these on a drop-bar MTB will want that, so it is good to know that you can achieve these results with the State calipers. That said, longer descents on sketchy gravel will be easier due to the window of modulation I have with these brakes. 

Finally, are these State Bicycle Co. calipers easy on the hands? How much effort do you need to apply to stop in normal situations from the drops or the hoods? 

In this testing I found that the State Bicycle Co. All-Road Calipers would be about "normal" for hydraulic brakes and maybe leaning toward the "more effort" necessary range. Actually, my take right now overall is that the State Bicycle Co. All-Road Calipers are pretty much in the grey area between what a great mechanical brake can do and what an average hydraulic set up can do. The State calipers aren't the 'easiest on the hands' brakes, but they are definitely easier to use than the best mechanical brake calipers I've ever used, (first generation, one-piece caliper Avids), so that's where I see these sitting. Right in that pocket between hydraulic and mechanical brakes, and that would only make sense, since they are a hybrid of both types.

Add in that a set is a hundred bucks and it makes it hard to ignore these. Especially against the best mechanical brakes out there now which literally cost hundreds of dollars more. So, the ubiquitous "bang-for-the-buck" thing is going to rear its ugly little head here, because in this case - so far - the term is an apt one to use. 

We'll see about the long-term use of these, which may change my opinions a bit, but for right now? It is simply amazing that you can get a brake set at this price that is not only worthy of consideration, but works really, really well. Stay tuned......