For anyone thinking about changing the Tektro brakes...

[Ushtang]

Swapped out the Tektro brakes on my Rail 5 to SRAM Guide RS brakes I had on another bike but I still kept the Tektro 203mm rotors and what a huge difference the Guide brakes have made!

First let me say the Tektros do what they are supposed to. They stop the Rail 5 and stop it very well. I have no issues with the actual braking performance. But the modulation does not compare to the Guide RS brakes I swapped Tektros out for.

I’ve owned the Rail almost a month but felt like I still wasn’t as comfortable on it as my other bike. I chalked it up to just needing more time to get used to the Rail.

That all changed today. Where I was struggling to get the right entry speed into turns with the Tektros, I was effortlessly modulating the Guide RS brakes to slow down and get the right entry speed for the turn .In addition, the Guide RS brakes were allowing me to brake later before turns than I had to brake with the Tektros.

Also the lever, although can be set up for 1-finger braking, doesn’t feel as comfortable as other brakes with shorter levers. I also find the pull on the Tektros a bit heavy and they take more effort. Covering and using the brake during longer descents was tiring and gave me arm pump. I noticed no arm pump on the longer descents with the Guide RS brakes.

Needless to say my confidence with my Rail has gone through the roof today. I had no idea the Tektros were holding me back.

Also the annoying rotor noise went away. I am not getting the same noises with the Tektro rotors, using them with the Guide RS calipers as I did using them with the Tektro calipers.

Hope this helps anyone considering changing the Tektro brakes.

Had to drop the motor to install the new brake line.

Brakes installed:

 

[UVRail]

Hi, I’ve just ordered some Shimano SLX M7100 with XT rotars. I found the Tektro’s to be really poor in terms of stopping power - scared myself a couple of times! I‘m hoping the switch will be straightforward, so was slightly unnerved by your motor removal.. not sure I have the skills or tools for that! Is it possible to use the existing brake line?

 

[Ushtang]

You will have to drop the motor to replace the rear brake hose. It is pretty straight forward though.
*Remove the battery
*Remove the skid plate
*Disconnect the wires from the motor
*Unbolt motor from frame. As you are unbolting, note the orientation and how the wires that you disconnected are routed to where they connect to the motor. You will want to make sure you route them back the same way when you bolt the motor back.
*Loosen the torx bolts on the bottom of the downtube that hold the ends of the battery when it is inserted. Be carefully to only loosen them and not remove them completely. You are loosening them to allow for the brake cable enough clearance to pass through as you pull it out from the opening at the chain stay. Also you will also have to do a battery alignment since loosening the tort bolts will change the positioning of how the battery is held in the downtube.

I don't think you'd be able to re-use the hose. The fitting on the caliper end of the Tektro hose would need to be able to fit the Shimano caliper. But even if they did, you would need to be sure that the inner and outer diameter of the hose would work with the Shimano brakes, and probably would need to make sure you flushed out all of the Tektro oil before you could attach it to the Shimano brakes and add the Shimano oil.

 

[Philly G]

AFAIK Tektro uses mineral oil, same as Shimano. So no need to change the brake lines if swapping over to Shimano.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Swapped out the Tektro brakes on my Rail 5 to SRAM Guide RS brakes I had on another bike but I still kept the Tektro 203mm rotors and what a huge difference the Guide brakes have made!

First let me say the Tektros do what they are supposed to. They stop the Rail 5 and stop it very well. I have no issues with the actual braking performance. But the modulation does not compare to the Guide RS brakes I swapped Tektros out for.

I’ve owned the Rail almost a month but felt like I still wasn’t as comfortable on it as my other bike. I chalked it up to just needing more time to get used to the Rail.

That all changed today. Where I was struggling to get the right entry speed into turns with the Tektros, I was effortlessly modulating the Guide RS brakes to slow down and get the right entry speed for the turn .In addition, the Guide RS brakes were allowing me to brake later before turns than I had to brake with the Tektros.

Also the lever, although can be set up for 1-finger braking, doesn’t feel as comfortable as other brakes with shorter levers. I also find the pull on the Tektros a bit heavy and they take more effort. Covering and using the brake during longer descents was tiring and gave me arm pump. I noticed no arm pump on the longer descents with the Guide RS brakes.

Needless to say my confidence with my Rail has gone through the roof today. I had no idea the Tektros were holding me back.

Also the annoying rotor noise went away. I am not getting the same noises with the Tektro rotors, using them with the Guide RS calipers as I did using them with the Tektro calipers.

Hope this helps anyone considering changing the Tektro brakes.

Had to drop the motor to install the new brake line.
View attachment 41488

Brakes installed:
View attachment 41489 View attachment 41490

It's hard to tell for sure (not enough photos to show all the angles), but there's a possibility that your Guide brake calipers are placed too high in relation to those rotors... judging by the contact marks on the rotor surfaces alone. All good if the Guide brake pad profile is really narrow. But have a peek and see if there is a lot of overhanging brake pad sitting beyond the outer rotor perimeter. If there is, your pads will wear out prematurely until the overhanging portions of the pads facing each other - begins to touch, which will eventually hinder the clamping movement of the pad surfaces that are actually making contact with the rotor.

If there is a lot of pad surface overhang, then you might need to replace the spacer mounts with thinner ones to centralise the pad surface to make contact along the whole width of the rotor band. If there is no pad surface overhang, then everything is fine as it should be.

 

[UVRail]

AFAIK Tektro uses mineral oil, same as Shimano. So no need to change the brake lines if swapping over to Shimano.

That's useful, thanks. So I take it there is no downside with at least trying the Shimano brakes before going through the run down of steps kindly described by Ushtang above?

 

[Hamina]

Did you think changing the brakepads before changing whole brakesystem? I'm still riding the Tektros and they feel decent but at same time I must admit that we don't have big hills here around.

 

[Philly G]

That's useful, thanks. So I take it there is no downside with at least trying the Shimano brakes before going through the run down of steps kindly described by Ushtang above?

It's quite possible you will need to change the connectors , but in terms of contamination/ damage to seals you are fine to use the old hoses, because both Tektro & Shimano use mineral oil. You'll flush out the old oil with your first bleed anyway. If, on the other hand, you were swapping between a mineral oil system to a dot fluid system, you would definitely have to change the hoses. Worth a try, could save you a big job

 

[JMDSO]

I have changed my brakes to Shimano SLX without dropping the motor. I have used a screw whith a diameter enouth to enter one of the hoses cut the head on the other side and made a small cone with a steel file and attach the other hose on that side and used one to pull the other
I saw this on YouTube.

 

[markloch]

I have changed my brakes to Shimano SLX without dropping the motor. I have used a screw whith a diameter enouth to enter one of the hoses cut the head on the other side and made a small cone with a steel file and attach the other hose on that side and used one to pull the other
I saw this on YouTube.

View attachment 103143 View attachment 103144

That's impressive, I'm surprised it didn't get hung up. I've dropped the motor a couple of times - new brakes, longer shifter cable housing needed after adding a few inches of rise via stem and bars - was pretty easy. Or should I say I lifted the motor as it was a lot easier flipping the bike over and lifting the motor (and dropping it in to reinstall) than dropping and trying to lift it into place when right-side up.