SRAM’s road development engineers have been in overdrive recently. Not only have they been stirring the pot with the wireless electronic groupset it gave an outing to at the Tour of California, they’ve been reworking their hydraulic road discs brake system too – the one with the faulty seals that triggered an embarrassing, not to say costly, total recall at the end of last year.
And Art’s Cyclery has a video that gives a peek at the reworked 2015 system which should, if the company is still holding to its time plan, have been in production for a month or so.
Art's cyclry's video of the new sram hydro road disc brakes
Video: Art's Cyclery's video of the new SRAM HydroR road disc brakes
Most of the work has been to fix the problems with the internals that caused the brakes to fail in very cold weather in the first place, though SRAM has also put some effort into reducing the size of the hood and making the lever more ergonomic.
“New materials and testing methods ensure top quality performance no matter where you ride,” explains the video. “The redesigned lever features new seals throughout including the master cyclinder O-rings, cover and bladder, as well as a revised master cylinder bore.”
The video also reveals that maintenance should be improved, thanks to a new bleed port just below the hood cover
The ergonomic changes are subtle. The double tap shifter is slightly slimmer than the recalled version and the protuberance to hold the redesigned master cylinder is reduced slightly. There’s not much between them appearance-wise, though the 2015 brake does look more elegant
The proof, of course will be in the riding. Exactly when affected customers will get their hands on the new systems remains to be seen, but it doesn't seem far off.
