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    Kona Sutra brakes problem

    In 2023 I bought a Kona Sutra (my dream touring bike). Due to a herniated disc in my lower back I ended up having to change the bike a lot.

    Settling on a Surly bar and Tiagra shifters and levers. Unfortunately the breaking has always been really bad. As I used to live in absolutely flat areas, and touring was limited due to my back, I dealt with it by anticipating and creative manouvring 😂

    But now, 2026, my back is much better. Endless fysio, many hours on Zwift and even more hours in the gym… I am mostly pain free! Still about as flexible as a log though.

    And I moved into a hilly area!

    In short: my brake situation is rather dangerous. I think the lever/brake combination is just not compatible. It never worked well, and it feels like it’s also not going to work.

    I’m not entirely sure what the best move is, I think I have 3 options:

    1. Put a road bar on, with Sora brakes/shifters
    2. Keep the Surly bar, but change the brakes at the wheels (but for what?)
    3. Keep the Surly bar, but change the brake levers (but for what?)

    What would the more mechanic minded biketourers advice?

    Pics of current situation attached.

    by pikaPod

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    11 Comments

    1. rwdFwd on

      Can you explain what’s dangerous about the brakes? Are you sure they are set up properly?

      I had those HYRD brakes on a drop bar bike with a Tiagra group, and they worked well enough. I ended up switching to the TRP Spyres, and I’ll like those much better. The Spyres are mechanical, and I found them easier to understand and work on.

    2. Unlikely-Office-7566 on

      The callipers are the problem. I’ve managed to get them working okay, but I have never set up a pair that I would want to ride myself.

      A decent mechanical disc is fine, bb7’s or paul clampers are good if you’re bougie. I have a pair of bb7’s that have lives on my touring bike since 2012, they have never skipped a beat.

      A hydro disc is a very good option. That’s what I would do myself. Really any hydraulic disc from a major manufacturer will be better.

    3. simplejackbikes on

      1. Check the wear of your pads and discs… they look cooked.

      2. Those levers can be set up for V-brakes (long pull) or Canti/mech disc (short pull) by changing the anchor point. Make sure they are set correctly for your brakes.

    4. JayEsKay89 on

      Can you elaborate on what it is that exactly makes the “rather dangerous”?.

      If they are clean and used to function well with the original set-up, my best guess is that the brake callipers are designed for drop bar brifters which has a shorter brake pull than flat bar brake levers, which are often long pull. Thus, I reckon that you cannot pull enough cable to actually actuate the brakes.

      If that is the case, I will suggest that you replace the brake callipers with long pull mechanical disc brakes. Rumour has that avid BB7 is a good replacement at a decent price level, but I have no experience with them myself as I run posh posh Klampers… Note that you will need the non-race version, which I reckon is black.

    5. pchew on

      HY/RDs are notoriously finicky. I wouldn’t keep them around if you aren’t inclined to bleed them yourself. TRP/Tektro make a cheaper version of the Spyre called the MD-C550. I’d say run those or Spyres with compressionless housing. 

    6. Top_Objective9877 on

      Honestly any of the shimano all hydraulic lines are good enough for me, I’ve had the bottom of the barrel 2 piston brakes on my trail bike(with bigger rotors!) forever and it just needs a lever bleed maybe every 6 months to stay in perfect working order.

    7. johnmflores on

      Do you have compressionless brake houseing? That’s the first thing I would check. I have the HY/RDs and am happy with the braking.

    8. ProTommyxd on

      Any friction in the cables will make brakes super weak and mushy. They make frictionless stainless cables that make a bigger difference than you’d expect. edit: Sorry just noticed the hydraulics… definitely do a lil 5 minute lever bleed on both

    9. DeadeyeLovepotion on

      I promise someone near you has some BB7’s laying around you can snag for basically nothing if you have a local cycling buy/sell group. I do and would pass them off for basically a cold beer

    10. Limp_Bookkeeper_5992 on

      So a couple options here. As u/simplejackbikes pointed out make sure your levers are set up for short pull to match the brake calipers. Most flat bar brakes are set yo long pull, so you may have them set up wrong if you weren’t careful.

      And as it’s been said, hybrid calipers should work well but they can be very difficult to get right sometimes. If this were my bike and I wanted those handlebars is just grab a set of Shimano MT200’s and call it a day, they’ll work perfectly right out of the box and are dead reliable.

      But personally I would do everything I could to get rid of the franken-stem setup you have now. A high rise non-adjustable stem and a set of riser drop bars will get the bars up to a more comfortable level for you without adding in al of those failure points.

    11. pikaPod on

      So the handlebar brake handle (calliper?) will only squeeze in about 5 to 10 mm. Very little movement possible. The breaks will then try to break, but if there’s any momentum at all the speed reduction is almost nothing. So dangerous as in: doesn’t really work at all when needed acutely. It just hardly ‘brakes’.

      While I appreciate that hydrolic is much better, I have them on my mtb, it’s not great for touring in my opinion. Also it would be quite a challenge to implement on this bike I think.

      The housing and cables are all jagwire stuff. Should be good. Can it just be that the callipers and brakes are incompatible?

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