SRAM’s New TT Hydro Disc Brakes
SRAM calls it the Aero HRD. It sits in the S900 column, which means it's above Rival, below Red, sorta kinda Force level. This is great, because I don't want to pay a SRAM Red price for everything new SRAM comes out with for my tri bike.
The hydraulic reservoir sits in the lever and, like Shimano, SRAM is getting good at downsizing the reservoir to the point where you don't hardly notice it's there.
I'm light on specifics, because I have no back-up documentation as I write this. I believe the whole system – levers to calipers – will sell for about $250 at retail. The brakes incorporate a number of SRAM's hydro technologies, such as its Stealth-a-majig connector and Bleeding Edge system for bleeding a line easily and in seconds.
There's a reach adjustment, which is easily accomplished using an (I believe) 2.5mm Allen key accessed through the front of the lever (where you typically tighten the wedge mechanism affixing the lever to the pursuit bars).
You can see, I hope, in the attached image the eTAP Blip on the right hand pursuit extension. That's the nice thing about Blips: you can stick them anywhere.
You can use SRAM's Centerline X rotors or Centermount, which is Shimano's standard. They are flat-mount only, made to accept either 140mm or 160mm rotors, and you can see some images here I took of the brakes on a Diamondback Andean. I saw these brakes mounted on a Cannondale Superslice as well, and they look great on it.
On the tri bikes I've been building up for testing lately I've taken to putting a 160mm on the front and a 140mm on the rear. This brake seems well suited for this, and it should be an instant offer on the Andean because that bike's disc brake cables or hoses exit the frame on the "wrong" side for a number of calipers (e.g., Shimano) and as you see the SRAM Aero HRD is an elegant match for the Andean.
As well as I can tell these brakes are available now.
