Coming from TRP spyres on the same bike and some hydro mechanical calipers on another bike, the delta between the braking power on the Growtacs and the competitors is so great that the Growtacs may be a mandatory purchase for my other bikes now too.

I purchased these when I saw they were lighter and after reading the reviews, its clear that Growtac has made a fantastic product. It comes with everything you would need to set it up, including compressionless brake housing, and flexible parts, plus connector ferrules to join the two sections.

Installation: Easy and simple. They only come with a front mount 140/160 adapter, but no rear adapter so you will need to purchase an adapter for 160+ spacing. Also, the mounting hardware is torx for some reason, which isn't a huge issue, but this is literally the first bit that I've seen that comes with torx hardware. Moving on, the cable routing is simple, and easy. The one problem I have is that you need a 10mm wrench for the barrel adjuster. This is not a huge deal, but if you intend to keep that nut locked down, it could become difficult to adjust if you were on the road and needed to release/add tension to the cable for a quick pad adjustment.

Pad Adjustment: The pad adjustment is simple and familiar. There are two 3mm screws that will move the pads back and forth. One of the screws is covered with a small rubber plug, but others have mentioned it may not stay in place. I have not had that experience, but I am riding these on a road bike.

Braking Feel: The braking experience itself is fantastic. They have great modulation and bite quite early.

Colors: This is the one thing that I'm upset about. The color I chose (black) while nice, was me settling because they don't have anodized purple as an option. I'll give you a pass, for now, but c'mon growtac. You compete with Paul, just at least own it and make this purple. /purplerant

Pad Replacement: I haven't had to do this yet, but it seems relatively easy. They take Shimano K04 pads, but they recommend their own pads (shocker) which is listed on the Growtac site, but not here on VO (Cmon VO, provide this info for folks). I would say, however that the Growtac pads are semi-metallic and seem to be a fantastic pairing with the product. The pads/calipers have more bite than a TRP spyre with sintered pads.

Price: This is another slight ding for the Growtacs. These calipers are expensive. Not quite as pricy as Paul Klampers, but they are significantly more expensive than the general competition in the mechanical disc brake scene. However, I feel that my money was well spent considering how well these perform and if you consider that these are premium products, then you can understand where this price point comes from.

Overall, I am extremely happy with my purchase of the Growtac Equals. They feel extremely well built, and are clearly well thought out. The minor issues I've described really don't deter me from recommending these, but if I could, I would give it a 4.5/5 as they are fantastic, but they have some room for improvement. If Growtac were to release a new version, I would love to see a better system for quick field adjustment of cable tension as seen on the TRP spyre and others (captive lock nut maybe?), and I would also love to see the rear come with an adapter as 160/160 is fairly common and it can't be much more to include that with the $365 price tag. Oh, and please make a purple anodized option... That would be so good.

If you are in the market for mechanical disc brake calipers and are considering hydromechs, I would say you should consider the Growtacs, as they are hands down the best mechanical disc brakes I've ever used.

These replaced a set of TRP spyres and ultegra hydraulic R8170s…TRP had no bite even with brake pad changes….the ultegra screamed on the front brakes and I’m 50 years old so I do not like bleeding brakes..I got the green growtac equals in flat mount. You get all the bolts and housing you could need….as a matter of fact I only needed the housing from 1 of the 2 packers they give you…….and my bike ( niner rlt rdo) needs full housing front to back. You will have enough to replace your original installation! If you take into account the cost of housing and correct bolt longs does you build I’d say the growth an are a bargain. They are an investment but well worth it. Pad adjustment is excellent!, I haven’t lost my little rubber hole covers as other reviewers have. The only hard part is picking what beautiful color you want!

The pad adjustment mechanism and brake leverage adjustment are superior to any other mech disc caliper I’ve used. Braking power is great. These calipers are worth the money for sure. I would recommend using only compressionless housing even on drop bars, instead of splitting the run between more flexible brake housing and the stiffer compressionless housing. It can make wrapping the bars slightly trickier but will perform better. Instructions are great as well which is a rarity among nice boutique bike parts.

Ritchey Breakaway Carbon. Great Brakes, used the compression less housing cables that came with kit. Much better than TRP Spires Rear 140 and Juin GT4 Front 160.

These brakes are superb!!!