KCNC CB1 Brake Calipers – £169.99

KCNC has been producing high quality bicycle components for the past decade, and its founders are driven by a desire to produce the world’s best CNC’d parts, something that’s very clear from these startlingly light and exquisitely machined brake calipers.

Stock brake calipers from the likes of Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM have all advanced over the years and now offer once-unimagined levels of braking performance, being powerful, light and reliable. So that leaves the main reason for wanting to upgrade your standard stoppers purely down to weight and customisation.

If it’s weight you’re concerned with and saving a few grammes from your overall build, then you can’t get much lighter than KCNC’s stoppers. Excessive use of aluminium, scandium and titanium has helped to bring the weight of each calliper to just 82g: that’s nearly half the weight of the benchmark Shimano DuraAce caliper, in itself no portly component.

But light weight is nothing without braking performance, and here KCNC adopt a dual-pivot design with a unique channel-guided pivot to ensure arms move equally, with a spring across the back of the arms. Grunge and general road grime does build up around here though so regular cleaning needs to be adhered to ensure good working order.

A smooth quick release cam makes for simple wheel removal. Triple compound brake pads come fitted for use with alloy rims and carbon-specific brake pads are supplied in the box.

On the road, RCUK put them to test in several sportives, including the torrentially wet Burgess Hill Rumble. The first thing I noticed is just how flexy they are: pull firmly on the brake lever and you can visibly see the caliper arms flexing. Considering their lack of weight it shouldn’t come as a surprise really, but it does however adversely affect their braking performance. There is plenty of modulation, but they just lack the bite you need when trying to come to a rapid halt.

For the purposes of this test, my weight is around 150lbs [in your dreams – ed.], and I found the braking performance at times less than adequate, especially when hurtling down the steep side of Toy’s Hill (in Kent) in the rain. Lighter riders will probably find the degree of braking performance adequate, but heavier cyclists should probable seek to lose weight elsewhere.

Available in anodized black, gold and silver.