I just acquired a set of Token brakes. I did not know what to expect but I was still looking forward to them. Of course I set them on a scale, and the pictures speak for themselves. With a claimed weight of 211g they came under. They are over 40% lighter than my couple year old Ultegra brakes. The weights are with the cylinder than pinch the cable and acts as the quick release. Sure they aren’t the most weight weenie brakes, but for people looking for an alternative to the big three that looks good, is cheap, and can for sure stop you then these brakes will be fine. There is also some weight to be saved by going to new pad holders.






The first thing that stands out about these brakes is the cam and quick release mechanism. The cam has its pivot in the center with a roller bearing on the end which smooths out the operation throughout the pull. After a single ride on these brakes I am noticing the better modulation. I'll write about it more in the coming week once I have tuned the pad position and got some more miles on them.



The quick release mechanism is a cylinder with 2 bolts on either side. The cable goes through the middle and the bolts pinch it inside. It is a much cleaner looking system than the traditional pinching under a washer. I haven't had any issues of cable slippage as some people have said with earlier models. The bolts stay against the cable and doesn't appear to be as destructive to the cable as pinching it under a washer. I'll comment again on this after later.



Now to the actual construction of the brakes, they are CNC milled from Aluminum and the anodizing looks good. The machining looks very nice but I’m sure some weight could’ve been saved by removing some more material in the arms. Looking at the back you can really see how much material is removed. The surface is polished everywhere and the front has a fine grove texture. It was hard to capture in a picture but the close up of the brake shows it a bit. It's that texture which is fun to run your nail over.The center bolt and return spring are made of Titanium. The titanium return spring on these is much snappier than the spring in my Ultegra brakes. The brakes snap back open without hesitation. The Shimano compatible pad holders have an orbital adjuster so adjusting toe in is nice and simple.





I was skeptical of how red would look but it actually worked out quite well. I don’t smoke enough ganja and forgot that Rasta is red green and yellow…so now I have to paint my front end green. Maybe some green rims and yellow spokes with a red hub body as well.

Here are some more pictures of the brakes on my bike.



Putting the brakes on was simple, they center very easily and stay there. They are definitely squishier than my Ultegra’s but what I do like is I can scrub speed off with them much easier than with my previous brakes. I didn’t have the chance for any emergency stops, I’ll do that next time I’m out. Looks like thunderstorms for the next couple of days so we’ll see when that’ll be maybe I'll find an hour window tomorrow morning. Overall I am pleased with how they work, I’ll be in Philadelphia the first week of May so I’ll try them out on slightly hillier terrain. I trust my Ultegra brakes to stop me from 50mph+ in a short distance and these feel as if these could do the same thing. I'll probably be getting some swiss stop pads if I don't like the stock pads after I get back from Philly.

If anyone is within 3-4 townships of Bryn Mawr pm me, I could use someone who knows good routes.

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My Lynskey R420 with Chorus 11

NEW Developments! If you are interested in a Weight Weenies kit please respond to the thread. I want to make the order happen before long.

same as/made by? http://www.featherbrakes.com/199.php

pm me for info on where you got them and for how much. Thanks.

I got those from Ernie @ procycling@aggienetwork.com for fraction
over $200 a year ago (I was one of the first users) and I like them still.

One suggestion - swap around cable pinch screws(pic#6) and
brake pad stopping screws (pic#4).

Original pinch screws are not "strong" enough and brake pad screws are owerbuilt.

yeah same design as those except for a fraction of the cost. SL58 has the right idea on where to get them. Ernie is a good guy to work with.

SL58,

Sure I've only had them for a couple of days but the pinch bolts look like they will hold. If I notice some slippage in the next weeks I'll know what to do. And yeah the pad screws are beasts...luckily this is an old heavy steel rig so I'm not overly worried about it's weight. The Lynskey is my weight weenie project.

_________________
My Lynskey R420 with Chorus 11

NEW Developments! If you are interested in a Weight Weenies kit please respond to the thread. I want to make the order happen before long.

I talked to the Featherbrake guy at Sea Otter. He had a display of other brakes that apparently have used his patent, including Token.

feather = token = kurve

all from the same taiwanese factory. token tells me that theirs have some additional ti hardware, but what i've seen looks exactly like the tokens.

So the weather has been crappy here, but the rain held out until the evening yesterday,so I went out in the early afternoon. It was still wet and sprinkling every now and then but after spending 5 days off the bike because of bad weather I'll take what I can get. I found a nice long 12.5% grade to climb, and on the way down the brakes worked great. Braking in the rain felt better than with my ultegra brakes on which I had stock Shimano pads. I felt the brakes grip right away as opposed to having to wait for the rim to dry as with my ultegra.

Since I was riding on a couple of busy streets (as I dont' know the area too much) I needed brakes that could stop me instantly and these definitely did the job.

Overall I am very pleased with the brakes. The quick release mechanism is a bit odd being that you have to remove the cylinder from the brake entirely. I'd prefer a lever which just opens the brakes. With these brakes I've found that having them a bit further from the rim does not ruin their performance. The cam does it's job in keeping the pull linear so it's still just as strong at the end of the pull as it is in the beginning.

_________________
My Lynskey R420 with Chorus 11

NEW Developments! If you are interested in a Weight Weenies kit please respond to the thread. I want to make the order happen before long.

Sqweeze the brake w/one hand and pop cylinder free from cam.
If brakes adjusted properly that's all you need.

I run 20mm tiers so I do not even do that to get the wheel out.

yeah i know how it works, just saying it's annoying because you can't just open the brakes up and still have them functioning. I also don't need to use it when pulling my wheel out.

_________________
My Lynskey R420 with Chorus 11

NEW Developments! If you are interested in a Weight Weenies kit please respond to the thread. I want to make the order happen before long.