Trickstuff Piccola Brakes - Eurobike 2016
The lightweight lever clamp is designed to make maximum contact with the handlebar for well-distributed pressure and friction. But the lever body is also shaped to sit on the bar to counteract leverage from the, er, lever for stiffness.
German uber-tech brand, Trickstuff, are asserting to have engineered the lightest disc brake in the world – 157.83 grams for the front system (excluding adaptor and disc rotor) including brake pads. With a 160mm Dächle disc and 70cm hose the weight should come in around 266g, although the new even lighter Dächle UL pictured should shave even more weight. Compared to Sram's recently launched Level cross country stopper, which is claimed to be 318g with a 160mm rotor, 80cm hose and Ti hardware.
Trickstuff Piccola Details
• Two-piston caliper
• Post mount
• 4x cartridge bearings per lever
• High pressure kevlar hoses or Goodridge
• Delivered with hoses pre-cut and bled
• Mineral oil
• Made in Germany
• Weight: 158 grams (front, excluding rotor and adaptor)
• MSRP: €345 each (brake lever, caliper and hose)
• Availble Autumn 2016
• trickstuff.de
• Two-piston caliper
• Post mount
• 4x cartridge bearings per lever
• High pressure kevlar hoses or Goodridge
• Delivered with hoses pre-cut and bled
• Mineral oil
• Made in Germany
• Weight: 158 grams (front, excluding rotor and adaptor)
• MSRP: €345 each (brake lever, caliper and hose)
• Availble Autumn 2016
• trickstuff.de
The goal here wasn't only to create the lightest brake available. Foremost, Trickstuff wanted to design a brake that works and actually slows riders down, followed by a weight weenie exciter. The Piccola doesn't have the same massive power as the four pot Direttissima, but should be a good stopper nonetheless. The Piccola shares details like kevlar or Goodridge hose options, 4x cartridge bearings in the lever hinge, and a nicely chamfered outer edge of the disc rotor. A full range of 80's anodized colors will be available.
The Dächle UL disc has a 60º chamfer on either side. Not only because it feels good to the touch for bike geeks like us, but it also helps to mount wheels more easily. The chamfer won't catch the brake pads or caliper and should let your disc slide right into the slot.
Trickstuff also claims that the Dächle disc is cut from a particularly high-quality steel, vacuum hardened and is 25% stronger than your average rotor. The same kind of steel used in jet propellers. Normally I take these kinds of facts with a pinch of salt, but seeing some of the crazy tech stuff from the Freiburgians, I believe them.
I have been testing the Piccola's bigger and older brother, the Direttissima over the last few weeks and have been duly impressed, expect a full review soon.
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Not actually bearings designed for Enduro
So I have high hopes for these ones
"In fact, they’re so powerful we could not measure their performance in the lab as their vice-like grip exceeded the safety cutout for the dyno, setting alarm bells ringing."
enduro-mtb.com/en/best-mtb-disc-brake-can-buy/15
542.88 Canadian Dollars.............I hope you're prepared to bicycle, and stop a lot, because I'm not. It's not like it's a new technology, I don't see the valuation. They're nice, but so is passing gas, and it's free.
also quote this! Brained in Freiburg, manufactured near at hand.
This looks like a very poor design to me. There is a reason bleed and hose ports are usually positioned at the top of the caliper. This is so that any bubbles in the caliper will work their way up to the ports, meaning they will then leave the system during the bleeding process. This design with the ports positioned on the back of either piston, while the internal channels will, I assume, cross over at the top caliper bridge, means that the caliper will be nigh on impossible to bleed without removing the caliper from the frame, and very difficult to bleed even with the caliper removed.
The lever has the same type of issue. The port from the master cylinder to the reservoir must be near the position of the master piston with the lever extended. During riding, this means that the reservoir port can not possibly be at the highest point of the master piston. This is dangerous. If any air does manage to find its way into the system, it will not be flushed into the reservoir by pumping the lever. This will result in a loss of braking power only rectified by stopping the bike and reorienting the lever into a position that puts the reservoir port at the highest point, then pumping the brake. In short if this happens on a steep descent you will likely loose all braking, and not regain it until after you crash. Every other major brake system on the market (shimano, hope, magura, sram) will "self bleed" while in use, avoiding disaster, and allowing you to ride home relatively unaffected, at which point you can bleed any air out of the system. Unless I am mistaken (which could well be the case if there is some important detail not shown in these pics) I would not ride these brakes.
They use steel in jet propellers? "o.O"