by nicrump on Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:25 pm
EE brake first impressions
Ok, sue me, I didn’t weigh them before installation. I don’t care, when I was handed the box I thought to myself “thanks for the empty box bub” I think we have plenty of reports on just at 100g per wheel. Right?
Part in hand. Feel very light. Looks cool and is nicely anodized. Is much smaller than the impression you get from pics. Mostly some small CNC alu pits, hollow pins and bushings. And a cool single arc spring which can apparently be hand tuned for those who care. I find the stock return and resistance to be just about perfect but I will probably play with it just for grins.
Ok, they went on really easily. Really smart people could probably toss the instructions but I recommend them. You find out real quick that the caliper is held onto a post by a pinch bolt and the post is one with the mounting post. I chose to follow Craig’s lead in the docs and pull the two apart. I think you might get away without this but it insures good geometry and lubrication in your setup.
The setup is a touch more complicated than an ordinary DA or Record but I still found it quite simple. There are a couple of key geometry related adjustments that are important to nail for good performance.
The are clearly called out in the docs but are essentially
1. the parallelness (is this a word?) of the 2 lines drawn through the pad attachment point and the two larger pivots.
2. The 7/8” to 1” distance from the barrel holder to the QR lever. These are most likely dictated by rim width and actual distance of your brake mount hole on the bike/fork.
The brakes came with pad holders, no pad and require Shimano. I put a pair of Mavic branded yellow “carbon pads” Is there much diff?? Anyway, pad changes are about as simple as can be. No tools, No forcing, No lube or tap tap tap. You simply pop the rear end of the pad inwards(centerline of the bike) and slide. Craig put a nice little notch which nests in the groove in a DA pad quite nicely.
On the road. Ran with the yellow blocks on both Edge 38s and Campy Proton Alu.. What can I say, I didn’t do any measured stop tests but I know how my DAs perform with these wheels. I am an idiot who always uses the black DA pads on everything so these results are not dead head to head. I’ll get those out next week.
Yellow pad on Edge 38. Far better than ever. Feels better(stopping power) than my black DAs on Aluminum. That is saying a lot! Modulation is about the same to slightly more than my DAs. These are very analog feeling and I like it.
Yellow pad on Alum. Better than I imagined for miss-match materials but missing just a slight bit. Modulation obviously still right on. I think the stopping power judgment here is not fair. When I get some more DA rubber in here I’ll pop em on and give an update but I have no reason to think they will not match or beat the performance of the DA calipers.
Other comments. No rattles as someone suggested. Very tight. No need for lubrication(on pivots), all self lubing polymer bushings. Cant say how difficult to keep clean, hasn’t been long enough. So I’ll report back on these points as well as black pads on Alu.
I guess right off the back the upshot is true a weight weenie brake with no performance loss, actual or perceived through feel. What I mean is they are not like apple to oranges as so many WW brakes against the “standards” are. So it’s a $ to gram thing. You either want them or you don’t. If you get them, at least in the first few rides, you should not be disappointed.
Nick