Trickstuff's Piccola brake is about as light and exotic as it gets.
The pits at a World Cup cross-country race are often full of rarely seen and ultra-light goodies, but few are more exotic than these Piccola brakes from Germany's Trickstuff. You may have seen their four-piston Direttissima stoppers before on the Polygon UR Team's bikes, and I was blown away by the outright power of them when I got to do a few runs on Mick Hannah's prototype Polygon DH rig during last year's Crankworx event. So. Much. Power.
The two-piston Piccola brake is something entirely different, though, with Trickstuff claiming that the sub-270-gram weight for a front system (with a rotor) makes them the lightest on the market.
There isn't anything in the way of extra material on Trickstuff's lightweight brakes.
Trickstuff has used four sealed bearings up top - two for the lever pivot, two for driving the plunger - and there's lightweight hardware all around. The lever, which is tall but has also been pared down to only the essential material, activates a perpendicular master cylinder, and the system runs on paint-friendly mineral oil. You can mount your shifter to the brake perch, too. Colors? Yup, Trickstuff has a ton of different options on that front, and you can mix and match as you see fit.
The Ocho has one crown, one fork leg, and is all Cannondale.
Speaking of exotic, Cannondale's new single-crown, single-sided Lefty Ocho is about as wild as it gets. I've already written
way too many words about the Ocho's development, but here's a quick recap.
The 100mm-travel Ocho is designed for cross-country riding and racing, and the single-sided design is possible in large part due to the fork's three-sided stanchion tube that rolls in and out of the upper leg on three strips of roller bearings. Cannondale has been doing the Lefty for ages now, but it's always been a dual-crown, single-sided fork with a four-sided stanchion. The old Lefty 2.0's one-piece crowns and leg kept it from being compatible with a lot of bikes, though, whereas the single-crown Ocho can be mounted to the front of pretty much any modern machine.
Carbon fiber stanchion guard and motor-inspired hose routing? Check. Quick-release brake mount? Check. The Ocho ain't your average cross-country fork.
Internally, it's air-sprung and features Cannondale's all-new Chamber damper. There's a lockout, because cross-country, and it requires the same Lefty-compatible hub as Cannondale's other forks. Oh yeah, there's even a clever brake mount that pops off by rotating a locking cam, making it easy to get the front wheel off without needing to mess around with a bunch of bolts.
The Ocho can be had with either an aluminum or carbon chassis, and for 27.5'' or 29'' wheels, but you'll only be able to get the fork (strut?) by buying a new Cannondale for 2018. I'd expect to see it for sale on its own the following model year, though.
Look at the Toyota Tacoma: Been around since 2004, Not a lot of changes, no exiting new models every year, but they work pretty damn well.
I like both Sram and Shimano, hopefully we will see some cool new 1x stuff from Shimano soon.
You like a drive train that has to skip into sync? What about one where the chain comes out of sync wedges between the cage and jockey wheel and rips off the RD.
Yup all features of Eagle.
And yeah the japanese recalled their crappy metal. Meanwhile Chevy did not.
The hilux and its sister the taco are the best trucks for reliability.
@Benlow: Dunno why you're being downvoted so much here. I couldn't agree more. Have personally seen SOOOO many Eagle mech failures this SH summer just been. jockey wheels blowing up like you've never seen. I myself have done it three times. Have two mechs warrantied. I have personally seen five other mechs blow up whilst being a race marshal. Twice this ruined podium contenders races. And FWIW one of these (replacement) mechs was borrowed from a pro race who has been on the top step in EWS.
I recently swapped back to 11sp, shimano XTR on a SRAM block. Sooo much better and more reliable.
Eagle is a masterclass in marketing BS. Don't believe the hype.
I myself have just had to do the plunger modification on my guide rsc. It's transformed them
Imagine if the same situation happened at the Moto or car industries, how long would it take to have a massive, mandatory recall? They have been selling the same crap for at least five years instead, replacing the brakes no questions asked to try to mask the issues and keep the mouth to mouth low.
Tacoma is the small pick up
Their marketing department?
Their graphic design department?
That they are able to sell stuff that doesn't work?
Making products out of low grade materials so they wear faster and you buy more?
Buying off "benchmarks" reviews with $$$ spent in ads?
Sram even says it can come out of sync. The two largest cogs are wide narrow configuration. It's impossible to stay in sync, when it's not it'll 'slip' back in. That's by design, so how is that the users fault?
Take a look through this thread forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-shifters-derailleurs-cranks/sram-eagle-1x12-1002523.html
People are drilling holes in the RD cage and putting plastic in there to take up the space that allows the chain to come off and wedge thus ripping off the RD
@shortsguy1: oh well the issue is that this 12 speed dinner plate thing is inevitably becoming a mainstream thing with few options left for those who see no fkng point in running anything else than 9-10sp with max 10-42 cassette. If 10-50 was a niche product, it would be more than fine. But it isn't. Having 11sp XTR installed on my bike I am irritated by the number of gears to go through from top to bottom. That is because I don't give a fk and pedal, I don't let first world problems crawl into my head during long climbs: oh how lovely it would be to have intermediate gear, because this is a bit too hard and this is a bit too easy. Those thoughts are there, but I don't let them move in and take place on my sofa. So I run this XTR because I can't get a decent 10sp middle cage rear mech anymore. So no, it is folks like you buying into a scheme telling me how to ride, what is good for me, Eagle is like taking a good trail filled with chunk and covering it with gravel and smooth rollers. It's last 6 teeth are like running tripple chainring - Well, it allows more losers to ride, at least it makes them feel better about themselves. It's just that I don't care if losers can ride or not, and I piss on their participation medals. I do.
I loved that truck.
I'll be the millionth person to say it, but older (by a few years) Shimano brakes didn't have these problems in the same model lines. It's like they sourced slightly cheaper ways to manufacture seals and bladders and by losing just a little bit of tolerance accuracy everything has gone haywire.
As far as I can tell it's because the seals on the calipers are not the proper (same as they used to be) durometer and barely undersized. Smarter people than me pointed out that possibility btw, it's just the one that makes sense to me.
I know, right...
It's easy to get used to but it is apparent if you don't normally ride one
Ai chihuahua