Paul Components Releases Limited Run of Blue Anodized Components

 @ziles: I think Paul have a different, maybe less absolute performance led market, there are White Industries too making nice stuff that are probably closer to Hope stuff.

 @ziles: far cry between hopes 4 pot heffalump stoppers and some blue squeaky bois.

 #bringbackrimbrakes

 Well...these parts are blue...

 I though everything Paul Components did was limited run.

 Definitely not hope USA at all. Hope is 90 years ahead. Well in Paul time 490 years @ziles:

 @pperini: #rimbrakesarenotdead #26inforever

 @ziles: Paulcomp and Hopetech couldn’t be more different. Hope makes products for the UK working man, Paul makes hipster grinduro products with zero performance advantages.

 hit The nail on the head. Still cool stuff just not for me @5afety3rd:

 What has happened? Is it 1990 again? Who gives a f*ck? I can anodize anything in a bucket in my garage blue. How does this even get entertained as a PR in PB Editors minds?

 @justanotherusername: Both those companies are yesterday's news. They don't have the tech abilities to innovate in the market anymore, so we have a PR announcing the magic of Blue shit.

 How long until Park Tool sues them for using blue on something bicycle related?

 @chasejj: You seem like an angry kind of guy, if you dont agree with it you think it shouldnt exist.

 @5afety3rd: how can you say that there are no performance advantage on going back to rim brakes?! Have you lost your mind?!

 That blue rear brake lever would look great on my BMX bike. Unfortunately Paul didn't make anything for my dentist machine or DH bike.

 @chasejj: aww what a sensitive flower you are.

 I use to really love Paul's stuff, but ever since seeing the forged dropper lever, it no longer really feels like their product have that extra touch of love.

 @sherbet: the dropper lever is cnc isn’t it?

 @justanotherusername: Saw one in person, and I'd be VERY surprised to hear it was CNC. Definitely had forging marks and no CNC tooling marks. Really disappointing.

 @5afety3rd: yeah you certainly need to be working to be able to buy hope gear!
( I work btw)

 @TobiasHandcock: them squawky bois is better than 1/2 the hydro counterparts on the market. Hopes are dope but them four moving manhole covers in overpriced ano'd metal makes me shudder when I have to set up a fresh set. Paul is a good dude. No way it'll match the power of a hydro brake but when they wail in their squeaking howling tone, they're playing the song of my peoples.

 @sherbet: I think you are wrong here, they polish a lot of stuff by hand so if may have looked forged - even still, shouldn’t you check before posting something as fact when you are just going off a hunch?

 Deliberately so, not everybody wants a 160mm, 62 deg head angle, carbon, £9k bike (or as their only bike) - some just want to ride a simple, but quality bike or are into a completely different kind of riding - they seem to be doing quite well catering for that market too.

 @justanotherusername: it sounds like you're describing Shimano XT

Paul does not sell low cost and simplicity. They cater to boutique minded customers who find value in an idea rather than performance.

Obviously that idea is silly to many in a market where you get the best balance of price and performance, but as you said, Paul is doing fine and still has its door opens--which is better than many companies can say

 @justanotherusername: I completely disagree. King has higher level performance built into their tight manufacturing tolerances. I have a track bike that is filled with Paul Components, and at no point did I expect to add performance as you would from Chris King. Clear example, compare a King rear hub to a Paul rear hub, and you'll see that they're in a different class

 @Mntneer: 'Closer to Chris King than XT'...... Second time you have assumed your own meaning from what I have written?

In terms of business model and product type, I maintain they are closer to Chris King than XT, in the same way that Hope, White Bros, Works Comp, Wolft Tooth,etc etc all are.

 @justanotherusername: I'm not making assumptions about what you've written. I don't care about what's going on inside your head, only about the product evaluations that you're making.

I never said that Paul was similar to XT.

"some just want to ride a simple, but quality bike" is not what Paul sells, as I had stated. Simple but quality is more like XT.

You seem to be the one who is misinterpreting what is being said

 @justanotherusername @Mntneer go to your room, both of you

 @Mntneer: nailed it. Think of all the companies that didn't survive...or only their name survived through licensing. Paul just celebrated 30 years. They have kept with the times in all kind of ways that fill gaps in the market. Flat mount Klamper, done. That's a disc caliper that more field serviceable than other brakes. Thru axle QRs for all sorts of bikes? Also done. Heck, they even have a mounts for SRAM shifter pods and dropper post levers.

They treat their employees well, and focus on domestic materials. Lots of buyers will like that. I've owned their rim brakes and a few other bits and the quality is top notch.

Am happy to know that there's a thriving market for Paul stuff.

 I think this comment is being vastly overlooked. Incredible man hahaha.

 @manhattanprjkt83: Please don't lock, but I don't get it...

 It uses straps to hold the bottle on. It’s designed for different sized, but larger water containers such as a hydroflask, nalgene, or kanteen.

 Getting rad like that is so effing fun

 Pad adjustment. Wind the wheel and it moves the pad to compensate for pad wear.

 it's a pad adjuster

 Mechanical disc brakes are great for doing bar spins as you can use a regular gyro instead of one of these hydraulic ones or instead of using a very long hose. Bikepacking will never be the same.

 They are not aimed at mountainbikers. For bikepacking they actually make a lot of sense.

 They look so nice that I am actually tempted.

 @fiatpolski: Yep. Carry spare cable instead of oil and bleed kits.

 I'd argue that mechanical disc brakes mostly don't work because the vast majority of them in the past are extremely low quality. Make anything to a high enough standard and it will probably work surprisingly well

 @IllestT: and they would never need bleeding or have inconsistent bite points. If you could get the same power I would be tempted.

 You won’t get the same power. But rim brakes in snow are terrible and hydronic hoses are far more problematic than cable for those looking for reliability. Not every mountain bike be need made for park riding.

 @oldfaith: I've been riding hydraulic brakes since 2008, I've never had a fluid hose be problematic. I have had a a few cables fail in that time though.

 There are mechanical disc brakes and there’s TRP spyre. You may want a stiff lever with that and you’ll ask yourself what’s that fluid thingy for in all applications not requiring big stopping power and frequent application like Dirt, street, road/cx/gravel.

Disc brakes are one of the best things that happened to road bikes in the last 2 decades. Hydraulic disc brakes are some of the worst things that happened to road bikes in the last 2 decades.

 @WAKIdesigns: that's wierd, i have 105s on my road bike...wonderful so far.

 @flipoffthemonkeys: bleeding road brakes, all the messy complexity of the lever caused by stuffing the reservoir in it, makes me go Yuck as fuk. Meanwhile spyres are just as powerful and silent as hydraulics if not better. Please note, spyres are exceptional due to rigid construction and pads coming at the rotor just like hydraulic: from both sides. Wouldn’t wish most mechanics on my worst enemies. Have bb7 on the roade and noise is killing me

 @BikesBoatsNJeeps: Ditto

 @WAKIdesigns: Definitely prefer the hydraulic discs on my #AdventureRoad bike over the Spyres they replaced. Much smoother lever action for my 12 year old pianist's fingers.

 @glasvagas: in 14 years of riding cables for disk brakes, i've never snapped one. But I have to size up the diameter of the disk to have the same grabbing.

 @IllestT: Bengal served me well for 14 years. Need to size up the rotor tho. Probably those TRP that rotates both sides are good too. I don't know anything about shimano ones today. Back 8 years ago, with 160mm rotors, they were bad. But again, Bengal were also way too bad with 160mm rotors.

 @oldfaith: sizing up the rotors for mechanical disk brakes do a huge difference. Been there, done that.

 @WAKIdesigns: I've bled some road shimano brakes, they are as easy as MTB ones. Just one little piece attached to the funnel.

 @WAKIdesigns: I fully agree with you. Love my Spyres on the cross/gravel bike. Hydraulic brakes on my mountain bike work fine, but when I try to set them up with perfect bite and lever travel without rubbing, I never feel quite satisfied. Also ended up with brake fluid (mineral oil) in my eyes several times (don’t ask). Setting mechanical disks is easy peasy and I love the ability to increase pad clearance to limit rubbing noises during muddy rides.

 @Slate: exactly
@Notmeatall: except you don’t need to bleed mechanical brakes at all and you can adjust them quite perfectly with very little hassle because you simply manually adjust the location of each pad in relation to the rotor. Cable stretch? Barrell at the caliper takes care of that. TRP spyre is the most underrated brake system out there.

 Design for Brandon Semenuk and Brett Rheeder

 Seems like some out there may like to consider a closed hydraulic system. Obviously they will start to drag if you overheat them, but then again it seems like pro racers are overfilling their open systems too which could possibly lead to the same issue (and then apparently the issue never arises). Nowadays it seems closed hydraulic disc brakes are mostly found on trials bikes as they aren't likely to overheat their brakes but obviously are picky about their bite point. Back in the days though I've been riding with people running the Giant MPH brakes or Hope C2 and they used to like them a lot. The only modern closed hydraulic mountainbike disc brake I can think of now is the BFO though I've never seen one in real life. They seem to be good though. And unlike oil brakes, no one ever cares about water either being absorbed by the DOT oil or pooling at the caliper end of a mineral oil brake .

Not a disc brake, but I've got a hydraulic rim brake (Magura HS33) on my mountain unicyce. Which uses the direct (trials) mount, so no mounting plate or brake booster required. Never bled these after installation, still a very hard and defined brake point. Obviously not ideal for high speed bicycle riding (by modern standards) but just meant to say that not all hydraulic brakes need regular bleeding to keep them sharp.

 @fiatpolski: not loaded bike packing, snapping a cable descending is the scariest thing, spongey dying hydraulic brakes are infinitely safer

 @WAKIdesigns:
As much as i would like to agree with but spyres are mediocre at best. I upgraded my GT grade from one sided actuated cheap cable disc brakes to Trp spyres and the stopping power is a bit better, modulation not so much. They work ok when set up perfectly but they need quite a bit of maintenance and finicky adjusment to stay that way and not rub against the disc while getting enough power.



Cable stretch ergo power and modulation is a BIG deal here even with gore ride on cables. Given their relative expensive price and cheap but reliable and robust old Deores i would choose shimano every time, even for bikepacking. Some of my bikes are going years and thousands of km /vertical ascent without needing a fresh bleed.

 @wildedge586: well, I mentioned brakes mounted to drop bars or to bike like dirt/street where braking quality does not matter as much as riding down a really slippery and steep single track. Modulation is not best, yeah. As for Deores as brakes mounted to a mountain bike, yeah, they seem to be the only SHimano brakes that work these days.

 @5afety3rd: it takes shitty levers like old LX to "just" snap your brake line. It is possible, I did it on Vbrakes once, but it's not very common among people who change cables at least once a year and use cable ends. Also I thought that dropbar riders are used to ride brakes that don't work

 @5afety3rd: I run hydros on my camping rig, thousands of miles without issues.

 I have a five year old set of Ultegra hydros on my CX bike, which is also my commuter, other than pads and a couple of fluid swaps, they've been flawless for their entire life. My friend has been running some BB5s during that time and he loathes them. Constant adjustments, mediocre feel and modulation and factory Avid pads are like $5 usd more than my finned Ultegra pads...

 @BikesBoatsNJeeps: I loath Avids...

 @WAKIdesigns: You should get your mechanic skills on point mate...

 @WAKIdesigns: the entire cycling world agrees with you.

 @WAKIdesigns: I rode IRD mech discs with BB5 (I think? or whatever model had reach adjust) levers and Dangerboy blades for a few seasons on my XC bike and absolutely loved them. Nothing compared to hydro, but more than enough for most XC riding.

 @WAKIdesigns: After 11 years on cable disk brakes, i'm finally glad to be with new mt 500. It's not even bedded in and it's litghtyears ahead in modulation and power.

 @Notmeatall: on what sort of bike? I am on all sorts of hydraulic brakes since 2004 man. When I commute and ride road or dirt, mechanical disc brakes simplicity is refreshing. I can fuk with hydraulics on my Enduro bike, after all it’s a one spoiled princess, but for everyday riding on the road, to work, to the meetings I need reliability. Modulation on a road bike is a fricking joke. Takes same sort of sensitivity to come up with such idea as electronic gears.

 You've never used it, have you? Those linear pull levers are hands down the best on the market for feel.

 @lyfcycles: No I`ve never tried them, also I guess and I hope they work well for the price they cost.

Last year I mounted 2 custom expedition bikes - 29ers Genesis Longitude + bikepacking - for a couple who made a 12000km trip in 8 months from Patagonia to Colombia. Cable levers were Avid Speed Dial 7 coupled with June-Tech semi-hydraulic calipers, and the return I got was excellent: it was braking very well even in extreme conditions like rocky downhill, mud, rain, and they had zero issue with them. As normal they just changed the pads sometimes - Shimano Deore standard pads - , but no technical issue. Their brakeset costed 120€ per bike, without the spare pads of course. Just to say that the gain of braking quality/reliability/durability of Paul components is not obvious considering their prices.
Cheers!

 And you can mount that $220 caliper using their flat mount bolts at only $10 a set. Absolute bargain.

 Yeah buddy!

 2 for 2...I'm triggered

 even if i do not like oil slick at least the pvd titanium oxinitride has benifitsd to wear

 I was in the same situation, then I decided to send it and buy one. No regrets. Best stem I’ve ever encountered.

 No. Coolest Vbrakes ever were WTB Powercams. Not the Suntour version but the Charlie Cunningham version.

 @chasejj: I had one on my StumperJumper Team