Weight Weenies

xjbaylor wrote:Make certain that your cable housing length is correct, i.e. not pushing or pulling on the caliper too much. With the correct housing length my brake arms move almost completely symmetrically.

That is what I noticed also. Any residual force coming from the cable housing becomes part of the overall balance of forces.

Has anyone got the blue ones? Is it a close match to Tune blue? Hard to tell from photos.

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I have the blue Cnc ones. Post up pics tomorrow. Match very well to the blue on a Z4Parlee if that helps. No dramas so far with centering. Stopping is also fine with stock pads for me.

xjbaylor wrote:Make certain that your cable housing length is correct, i.e. not pushing or pulling on the caliper too much. With the correct housing length my brake arms move almost completely symmetrically.

Yup, am changing cables so got the mechanic to try remedy things; he agreed with this assessment too. Thanks anyway!

I hope it works out. These brakes are a little quirky to set up but the performance/weight/cost matrix is amazing. I find the fall between Ciamillo and Sram/Shimano in setup difficulty, fall just below Sram/Shimano in power, and are the cheapest of the three.

Just as an FYI, Planet X USA has the black brakes back in stock after not having them for at least a couple months. I just ordered a pair to replace a set of Ultegra 6700 calipers. The Ultegras have been pretty flawless, just looking to drop some weight and I have another bike to put the Ultegras on.

I'm excited to get them and set them up. Will let you all know impressions after I get a few miles on them.

prendrefeu wrote:Yeah, just thread it through the nut, do not use the binding screw, and tie a knot on the other side of the nut (self-knot). That's pretty much it.

Getting it to the right length, however, takes some magic.

So here's an update:

*DO NOT* use PowerCordz with these brakes... at least for now, until a better solution is found.

tldr version: cable showed fraying upon inspection, a better nut needs to be designed.

Originally I had the PowerCordz working with these brakes. The solution is, on the surface, simple (but, again, don't do this) - simply take out the setting screw in the barel nut (saves .25g), leaving the barrel nut loose on the cordz. Then tie a knot on the cord (simple knot will do, or Ashley's Stopper Knot if you have patience). You'll need a lot of patience and re-do's however as getting the knot in the proper place post-initial stretch from the levers is a long process.

But, anyway, don't do that. Please, please don't.

I was cleaning my bike last night and in my usual OCD fashion inspected everything... lo and behold, a bit of the casing on the Powercordz was somehow damaged and the inner fibers were visible. They weren't frayed, but the fact that the casing was somehow not there (perhaps an internal scratch in the nut?), I'm expecting the fibers are next to be cut.

I used these for weeks, even a wet descent a few days ago... I'm happy that I did not encounter any problems, but I'm back to ptfe coated steel cables again. Weight savings have been denied to me!

It seems that the barrel nut has a few sharp edges internally which don't help the PowerCordz over time. A better nut needs to be designed/developed.

I gave this a try too. Never did try pulling the nut out. Could never get the knot to the perfect length and found that after a few re-ties the powercord started to split exposing the fibres below. Straight to the garbage.
On thing I did do was pass a couple cm of liner over the power cord prior to putting the nut on so that the part that went into the arm was wrapped in liner so that it wouldn't fray going in and out of the arm or from the action of the relatively sharp edges of the arm against the powercord. May solve your problem.
Frankly the whole experiment really didn't seem worth the wasted money and time.

Kayrehn wrote:

xjbaylor wrote:Make certain that your cable housing length is correct, i.e. not pushing or pulling on the caliper too much. With the correct housing length my brake arms move almost completely symmetrically.

Yup, am changing cables so got the mechanic to try remedy things; he agreed with this assessment too. Thanks anyway!

Have you tried fiddling with the grub screw attached to the return spring?

Located on the right hand side (of the front brake). Loosening or tightening it should adjust the rim clearance of just one arm ...I think.

Has anyone got experience of running these with DA 7900 levers?

Currently running KCNC CB1s with the 7900s but the feel and performance could be better.

Would swapping to these or 7900 brakes be loads better?

Will Planet X brakes work with wide wheels such as the Bontrager Aeolus D3's?

cwilli15 wrote:Will Planet X brakes work with wide wheels such as the Bontrager Aeolus D3's?

Have you got calipers to measure the wheel width?

27.5mm wheel width.

willhouse wrote:Has anyone got experience of running these with DA 7900 levers?

Currently running KCNC CB1s with the 7900s but the feel and performance could be better.

Would swapping to these or 7900 brakes be loads better?

7900 calipers will be a lot stronger with DA levers. P-X ones will still be considerably better.

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I used to run CB1's They are not that good but I found they worked much better with these pads
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gooey-Cartrid ... 19c0bcff9b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They make a big difference . They do wear quicker in the wet but they made the Cb1's a lot better