ok who remembers anything about shimano brake pull ratios? All i can remember is that somewhere around when 7900 came out, things changed- but i cannot remember in what direction.
SO- the question is: If i run DA7800 calipers (chosen for their awesome silver-y-ness, and the fact that i have them sitting in a box) with ultegra 8000 levers, will they feel:
They will feel fine. If you find yourself wanting more power, I find it helpful to set the caliper so the pads hits the rim fairly far into the lever travel. The R8000 levers use SLR-EV brake actuation, they get stronger the closer the lever travels to the bar, like Servo-wave.
7800 uses a shorter pull than SLR-EV. This will result in a very positive lever feel with a lot of pad clearance, but less power/leverage than if the lever and caliper matched. The inverse would be more power with little pad clearance. It’s not as extreme of a situation as a V-brake lever paired with a caliper rim brake, but that is what you would expect to find in your use case.
so, given that i’ve survived thus far on other bikes w campag rim brakes, this shouldn’t be so bad (haha)…
I will say that the Ultegra 8000 calipers are excellent. I swapped a set onto a bike with a Ultegra 6800 groupset and there was a noticeable difference. The 8000s have the steel pivot bridge and are much stiffer.
The result will be less power. Whether anyone will care about this depends on the individual; I do, but others might not. If it was me I’d definitely match the levers and calipers after a major scare with recent levers and CX70 cantis.