Brakes are one of the most overlooked components on bicycles in triathlon. Some of the most popular bikes aimed at triathletes come standard with some of the cheapest brakes that can be spec’d on a new bike. I suppose that is tolerated for a variety of reasons including the individual nature of triathlon cycling and typically nontechnical courses employed in most multi-sport events. To me, stopping is important on every bike I ride and brakes are one of the components I consider most important. Braking power and modulation (the feel and control) matter to me and I think it would matter more to triathletes if they could experience great braking just once.
Weight has also become an issue in high end brakes with a few companies entering the market with brake sets which are lighter than offerings from Shimano, SRAM and Campy. Less weight is nice but not if it comes at the expense of performance in an area as important as braking. Also, brakes are static weight having a much less noticeable effect than rotational weight.
For the last month, I’ve been using a pair of eecycleworks’ eebrake on my bike. I’ll tell you upfront that I think they are amazing. These brakes excel in the 3 main areas of importance discussed above, power, modulation and weight. I contacted eecycleworks after reading a few articles on the brakes and falling for the industrial design look of them.
Appearance
My impression of the eebrakes appearance was confirmed when they arrived. The look is polarizing - you either love them or hate them. My black brakes look solid and the contrast of the metal finish and return spring, bushings and bolts give them a industrial look that I love. eebrakes are also available in a bare metal finish that would look great on dark color bikes.
Installation
There is a remarkable amount of adjustability available with eebrakes. The arms are shorter than on a typical brake but an eccentric mounting post allows for plenty of range for compatibility with any wheel and bike combination. Since most people leave the wrenching to the mechanics, I won’t go into too much detail on the installation. I will say that at first glance, eebrakes seem complicated to install. In reality, installation is strait forward and the step by step instructions provided allow anyone with basic bicycle mechanical skills to install them. The installation is just different from standard brakes but certainly no more difficult and in some ways, such as centering the brakes, is easier.
Speaking of easy, if you often swap brake pads between aluminum training wheels and carbon race wheels, you will be amazed at the ease at which that task is accomplished with eebrake. Instead of a tiny screw to keep the pad in the holder, the eebrake holder has a tab inside the holder that secures pad placement. To install the pad, you just slide the front of the pad into the holder and press down. Just seconds to install and remove brake pads - that in itself is worth the premium price versus D/A, Red or Record brakes to me.
Performance
The eebrake performance is nothing short of amazing. They have the rock solid feel of the heavier standards from the big 3 even with their substantially reduced weight. There is no feeling of flex that is present in other hyper-light brake offerings. Power is ample and requires no more than two fingers on the lever for enough force to induce lock up but I’ve rarely used more than one finger in even the most demanding situations. All the power in the world is useless if you can’t control it and that’s called modulation. Modulation with eebrake is simply the best I’ve ever experienced. While D/A, Record, Red all have great modulation, eebrake is even a bit beyond them and it was something I noticed within the first few stops. The feeling is akin to high end hydraulic disc brakes on a mountain bike and my brain seemed to immediately know what to do with that little bit of extra control without me really thinking about it. You can read more about the differences in the eebrake approach on their web site but I suspect this “different” feeling is due to the fact that instead of a curved lever as most brake calipers use, eebrake employs three shorter, strait arms that combine to offer a greater mechanical advantage along with greater control - whatever, it works really well.
There could also be an aerodynamic advantage to the eebrake as well. As you can see it the pictures, in addition to presenting a compact profile to the wind the way eebrake routes the cable housing aligns it with the headtube of the bike. While I doubt this was an intentional aero consideration, it definitely moves the cable out of the wind and, though slight, should reduce drag. The same design at the back of the bike causes the housing to hug the frame tightly and likely results in a tiny reduction in drag as well. While I have no proof of that other than looking at it and thinking that the caliper appears to present a compact profile to the wind and the cable lines up with head tube, as an aero geek it is enough for me to consider it an added bonus over standard brakes.
All good?
Before I tell you what I consider to be the only legitimate negative to eebrake, I want to point out that if the installation instructions are followed, this only negative is greatly minimized. Further, thoughtful installation and a few extra minutes considering this issue during installation and explaining it to the user can nearly eliminate the chance of a ride ending experience due to this difference in design.
As good as these brakes are, it isn’t all good. Brakes always have a way to open the caliper wider to facilitate wheel removal. eebrake has this feature too and it is quite easy to squeeze the caliper and flip an arm up, opening it up so that even the widest tire could freely move through. It works well and once the procedure is reversed, the brakes go back perfectly to the original setup but when the caliper is open, it is completely disabled. Irrelevant for wheel removal but not as useful if your wheel goes out of true due to a crash or broken spoke when a wobbly wheel may need a little extra clearance to roll. With the systems employed by Shimano, SRAM and Campy the calipers can be opened wider (though not as wide as eebrake) but remain functional allowing for some mid-ride adjustment by even the most mechanically challenged riders.
I feel this is a legitimate issue as most brakes have the little flip up lever and most of us know to use it to open the brakes up when clearance is needed. Triathletes aren’t often known for their mechanical prowess so I could see how it could cause some disappointment for someone who hasn’t been told how to deal this issue specifically or who’s eebrakes were not installed according to the instructions. However, as I said in the opening paragraph of this section, if the brakes are installed according to the instructions this issue is largely negated. All road brakes have a barrel adjuster that allows for fine tuning of the caliper. Most mechanics install brakes with the barrel adjuster all the way in or nearly all the way in allowing for adjustment only to tighten (move the pads closer to the rim) the caliper. The eebrake instructions have the barrel adjustment in the middle of the range so that there is room in both directions for adjustment of the pads. So, while not as simple as flipping a lever, one could easily dial out some tension and move the pads further from the rim to accommodate a slightly wobbly rim.
In other words, this will likely be a complaint at some point with an eebrake user (and I’ve seen it noted in other reviews and articles) and it may be legitimate due to what the majority of cyclists/ triathletes are used to but the number of times it “should” be a problem are nearly eliminated by proper installation according to the instructions. As you can tell, it bugs me when people ignore instructions and then blame the product. Of course, I don’t have my rear brake installed exactly according to the instructions but I like the way it feels better the way it is - and I’m not complaining about it either.
I’ve heard a few complaints about cleaning the eebrakes. I don’t think it is a legitimate complaint for two reasons. Most brakes calipers are hard to keep clean and I haven’t found it any more difficult to clean an eebrake than any other brake I’ve used. I took the pictures of my Orca with the eebrakes after a few rides in wet conditions (to show real world conditions, not because I didn’t feel like cleaning my bike). As you can see, the brakes don’t get any worse than others.
Price
These bad boys are expensive but not that expensive relative to other top shelf brakes. At $520 eebrakes command an $80 premium over Shimano’s Dura-Ace 7900 calipers at retail. Yes, that was hard to type with a strait face. Like many of the products we’ve looked at here at TgR, this is one of those goodies you’ll look at after all of the essentials are handled. I would certainly consider spending $520 on these brakes to complement a bike with D/A 7800 already installed versus dropping even more to upgrade to another set of carbon cranks or before upgrading to 7900. Plus, eecycleworks is a small company with unique ideas and, in my opinion, companies like that are worth supporting.
To sum it up, I love these brakes. For only the second time in TgR history, I like something enough that I will say to a manufacturer of a product who was kind enough to work with TgR and provide a product for review that I will not send said product back as I had earlier agreed to do. I will pay for them, but I will not take them off of my bike.
Mark
Note: I used two different set ups during my test. I used the brakes for a short time on an aero bike (the fabulous 2009 Orbea Ordu) with a SRAM Force drivetrain and SRAM aluminum TT brake levers. I then installed them on a 2009 Orbea Orca (what, I like Orbea bikes) with a mix of SRAM Red, Force and Rival components. Of course, all that matters for the test is that I used Red shifters. I neglected to take pictures of the Ordu set up and do not intend to reinstall the brakes just to snap a shot but I have included pictures of the Orca.
|