Brakes - Road

Increase the power and decrease the weight of your brakes by upgrading your old ones.

Caliper Brakes

Generally on road you will only use caliper brakes these generally get more power and lighter as you go up the range. The biggest thing to watch out for is that you can't run Shimano levers with Campagnolo calipers and vice versa, due to different pull. Older road bicycles will probably have single pivot brakes where as the more modern designs are mostly dual pivot that provides more controlled and powerful braking.

If you want to run mudguards with a caliper brake and find that you lack the clearance required for the particular model of mudguard, then you could fit some calipers with a bigger drop, 49mm is usually sufficient. Alternatively why not consider a different model of mudguard? SKS make Race Blade mudguards, which simply clip on to frame making them ideal a racing bike.

Hybrid and Touring

Your choice of brakes on a hybrid or a touring bike depends on what your individual bike is designed for. You find virtually every type of brake used in this category from hub brakes to disc brakes. It is generally recommended that you stick with the type of brakes that your bicycle came with on bicycles of this nature.