Giant’s ‘Conduct’ braking system

Giant’s ‘Conduct’ braking system

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Discussion

ian in lancs

Original Poster:

3,775 posts

199 months

Monday 29th April
quotequote all
Does anyone have any experience with this hybrid mechanical / hydraulic operated disc brake? Its mechanical levers to a master cylinder on the stem and from there to hydraulic callipers. It gets a few YouTube haters but that might be overly critical. I can’t seem to find what the actual problem is. Anyone know?

Giant dropped it after a year.

So, what’s a real user experiencing?
I guess if it becomes a problem there’s a few solutions:

Fit mech callipers and operate from the mechanical shifters
Fit hydraulic 105 levers straight to the existing hydraulic Giant callipers
Fit hydraulic 105 shifters and callipers

Anyone tried these options.?

bobbo89

5,282 posts

146 months

Tuesday 30th April
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These are a new one to me, never heard of them before but look like an overly complicated solution to a problem.

If a cable operated hydraulic caliper is what you want then surely it's easier to keep everything at the caliper end like TRP and Juin Tech do? One unit, no hydraulic hoses and so less chance of getting air in the system.

jasebta

13 posts

52 months

Tuesday 30th April
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I have a Giant Revolt with the Conduct brakes. Not the prettiest, but have had absolutely zero problems and both the brake feel and power is spot on.

WPA

8,969 posts

115 months

Tuesday 30th April
quotequote all
It was Giant's way of saving costs, hydraulic levers are more expensive then mechanical so this was a workaround to save money.

Works ok but better to switch to hydraulic levers in the long run.

mikey P 500

1,240 posts

188 months

Tuesday 30th April
quotequote all
Yeah I had a giant contend with these brakes and they worked very well. No issues never needed bleeding and ment you could run cheaper shifters (normally designed for rim brakes). It was a bit ugly at the front of bike, but came with a built in mount ans once had a Garmin and light mounted didn't really.notice.

Siao

898 posts

41 months

Wednesday 1st May
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I just don't see the reason behind it. Why have extra weight and cables to deal with? Cables stretch over time and need to be changed. Hydraulic brakes need bleeding as well, but here you have both to deal with. I just don't get it.

Their sales pitch was that it gives you smooth braking, as if the wired ones or the hydraulic ones don't. Literally 0 benefit and more weight and things that could go wrong.

I do like the looks of it, contrary to everyone else!

WPA

8,969 posts

115 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
Siao said:
I just don't see the reason behind it. Why have extra weight and cables to deal with? Cables stretch over time and need to be changed. Hydraulic brakes need bleeding as well, but here you have both to deal with. I just don't get it.

Their sales pitch was that it gives you smooth braking, as if the wired ones or the hydraulic ones don't. Literally 0 benefit and more weight and things that could go wrong.

I do like the looks of it, contrary to everyone else!
The reason is simple, costs, they have to build to a price point and it is why they often use cheaper chainsets, hydraulic levers would add costs to a bike, this idea and using mechanical levers saves money.

lufbramatt

5,362 posts

135 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
Hope made a thing called a V-twin which does the same thing. But not cheap, probably better off getting new hydraulic levers.

mie1972

179 posts

154 months

Wednesday 1st May
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Had it on a defy advanced I bought and ran for 6 months.

No issues whatsoever - worked fine Only gipe i had was couldnt get a standard garmin mount on the bars as the conduct system gets in the way.

Had to buy an overpriced attachment from Giant dealer that attached via the stem bolts - cost 25 quid for a small bit of metal !

As above - only needed for a short while to make mechanical shifters work with hydraulic brakes. Worked better than cable brakes and almost as good as fully hydrauulic.

Sold the bike in the end but wasnt due to the braking, it just didnt look very neat...


Siao

898 posts

41 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
WPA said:
Siao said:
I just don't see the reason behind it. Why have extra weight and cables to deal with? Cables stretch over time and need to be changed. Hydraulic brakes need bleeding as well, but here you have both to deal with. I just don't get it.

Their sales pitch was that it gives you smooth braking, as if the wired ones or the hydraulic ones don't. Literally 0 benefit and more weight and things that could go wrong.

I do like the looks of it, contrary to everyone else!
The reason is simple, costs, they have to build to a price point and it is why they often use cheaper chainsets, hydraulic levers would add costs to a bike, this idea and using mechanical levers saves money.
Thank you, didn't think of that. It would be cheaper to offer a fully wired solution for a cheaper thing and a hydraulic one for the people that can afford it possibly.

gazza285

9,840 posts

209 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
lufbramatt said:
Hope made a thing called a V-twin which does the same thing. But not cheap, probably better off getting new hydraulic levers.
TRP made one as well, the Parabox.

The only cable/hydraulic system I have found to be any good was the Hope system.

ian in lancs

Original Poster:

3,775 posts

199 months

Thursday 2nd May
quotequote all
Thanks for all your inputs; far more balanced than I’d been reading. I’ve also watched a couple of YouTube videos on bleeding them too. Although it looks more fiddly than shimano it’s not too bad.

Anyway, I took the plunge and bought a bike with the ‘conduct’ system fitted. As you say it isn’t elegant but, for now at least, it works and there’s a few options to replace the offending items!

It intrigues me as an engineer as much as anything!

I’ll report back!