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eeBrakes Get Major Update – Now Stiffer, Sleeker & Still Insanely Light

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2015 eebrake ultra lightweight road bike brake caliper

Coming this August is a major new version of one of the best, lightest road bike brake calipers on the market.

It’s impressive 168g claimed weight (per pair!) with pad holders (but not pads) remains the same, but word is they get massively stiffer, improve modulation and power and get easier to install and set up. Oh, and they look better than ever. And there’s more tire clearance.

To do all that, a lot of things had to change…

The forged alloy arms were redesigned in CFD to improve stiffness. Complementing that are thinner bushings between each piece, leaving less room for flex. From an aesthetic standpoint, the bushings were trimmed tighter so the edges no longer extend beyond the pivot points. Together, those changes make the brake stiffer, which translates into better modulation, too.

To make installation quicker and set up easier, founder Craig Edwards switched from an eccentric center mounting bolt to a traditional round bolt. The logo plug on the front hides the bolt for a cleaner look (and bolt), and word is the plug will be available in colors. You can see an example of this on the new Specialized McLaren Tarmac.

Besides creating the base to connect the caliper to the frame, concentric bolt allowed you to both adjust the height of the brake (and thus pad position) and center the caliper on the rim. Now, the pads bolt into longer slots, giving them a more traditional method of setting the pad height to meet the rim’s braking surface. A new wire adjuster sits behind the upper arm, letting dial it to center the brakes – without tools.

The changes opened up the rim compatibility, letting it fit 18mm to 28mm wide rims and easily clear 28c tires.

A few of the fan favorite features remain unchanged, though. The pad holders still allow for quick, tool free pad changes. The quick release strut on the top still just pops up to open the brakes fully, making wheel swaps super fast.

The eeBrakes’ design moves the pads equally on both sides, and it’s a mechanical sight to behold. The leverage ratio has been tweaked ever so slightly, too, and it’s designed to work equally well with older and current generation Shimano, as well as SRAM and Campy levers. We’ve been testing a set of the current model for a while and been very happy, but these changes certainly sound enticing, particularly at the limits of braking or if your cable housing is less than ideal (they particularly benefit from high quality, compressionless housing).

While the weight stays the same, price may go up a bit. Jason from Fair Wheel Bikes (who sent the pics and info, thanks!) says he expects them to be around $625 per set, subject to change. They’ll have them in stock as soon as they’re available. Target is late August.

All of the changes will be available on the direct mount version, too.

eeCycleWorks.com

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Psi Squared
Psi Squared
9 years ago

Yes, please.

Will Hilgenberg
Will Hilgenberg
9 years ago

CFD is for aero. FEA is for structures.

rustlemania
rustlemania
9 years ago

CFD for stiffness, rofl

Brattercakes
Brattercakes
9 years ago

Anyone else here think that brakes like these are the reason we don’t need road disc brakes?

why, WHY
why, WHY
9 years ago

Disc brakes are the future. Stop the bitchn and just deal with it.

Mike
Mike
9 years ago

“The forged alloy arms were redesigned in CFD to improve stiffness.” It doesn’t take an armchair engineer to know CFD is fluid dynamics software. FEA would be the tool for optimizing stiffness.

Speshy
Speshy
9 years ago

I think the price point and aesthetic make road disc look way more attractive.

Big mike
Big mike
9 years ago

They look really good, and are light, but $625 for brakes?

DT
DT
9 years ago

Best road brakes for the weight hands down. Had a customer put over 10,000 miles on a set of his originals with out any issues.
Can’t wait to hear everyone complain about the price.
“why so expensive bleh bleh bleh” Get over it, pony up and you’ll know why they’re so expensive.

H_P
H_P
9 years ago

http://www.fouriers-bike.com/prduct_page.php?class=22&sn=113&psn=111

230g – > $ USD 165.45

+ 60g
– 460 $

-> works perfekt for me (>10.000 miles)

——————-

http://www.fouriers-bike.com/prduct_page.php?class=22&sn=113&psn=50

210g -> $ USD 394.45

+40g
– 230$

craigsj
craigsj
9 years ago

“…pony up and you’ll know why they’re so expensive.”

Yeah, it’s so that they can afford all the recall notices. I know because I keep getting them.

Plenty of brakes work well for a lot more reasonable cost…and you don’t put miles on brakes.

You can get fine MTB disc brakes for half that money and it includes everything, not just the wheel end, and they don’t destroy your rims.

Nice brakes, absurd cost, and hard to change wheels with them. Look elsewhere.

Nick
Nick
9 years ago

@Brattercakes, no, because they still don’t work nearly as well. Not difficult.

Randall
Randall
9 years ago

@Brattercakes, across the sport, $625 brakes don’t replace $85 brakes

Lodz
Lodz
9 years ago

The amount of ignorance on display here is staggering; ride these brakes and you’ll know that they’re the real mccoy; stronger than anything else out there (the old ones are as strong as my Dura-Ace discs on my other bike, HA!), light, and US-made

GTz.
GTz.
9 years ago

Curious… did eeCycleworks license their design to Trek/Bontrager?

brattercakes
brattercakes
9 years ago

Right.

Robbie Mubbledutt
Robbie Mubbledutt
9 years ago

@Lodz – I’d love to hear more about your Dura Ace discs…

Lol, ok.

Rusty Toolshed
Rusty Toolshed
9 years ago

Where’s the sleek part?

dw
dw
9 years ago

@H_P
I’m sure the Fouriers brakes work fine, as does eebrakes, but your examples show the cost of weight reduction. The difference between the BR-S003 and the BR-DX001 is 20g and $229.
So to attain the lower weight of the eebrake at 168g you would need to spend an additional $458 on top of $394.45, equaling $852.45. Your examples don’t add up.

WV Cycling
9 years ago

“Best road brakes for the weight hands down. Had a customer put over 10,000 miles on a set of his originals with out any issues.”

I’ve had older ultegra and the first generation SRAM Rival brakes with 10,000 miles on them, easily.

Aaron
9 years ago

To everyone mentioning disc brakes: the point of eebrakes is that they’re light, and cost is no object when certain people require lightweight components that also work well. Disc brakes are a whole lot cheaper and they work better, sure, but they’d easily add a pound or more to the overall weight of a bike. These aren’t for people who want the greatest brakes in the world, nor people who don’t care about weight.

Built into the cost is the low manufacturing volume, plus the engineering work that got them light and stiff.

Your argument is no different than someone in the market for a Lotus Exige, but you’re complaining about a minivan having more practical room and a lower MSRP.

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