Aftermarket
components are sort of a hit or miss thing in the bicycle industry.
They're typically lighter in weight or more aerodynamic than the
original parts they replace, and more expensive of course, but rarely
do they work as well. Most people buy theses parts for the cool
factor, though few admit it, and then they'll go on and on about how
great they are to justify the purchase, again failing to admit the
performance is less than stellar (I know I'm guilty!). Magazines don't
help as they seem to always provide glowing reviews of such products,
and only print the negatives after something better has been released,
and write them in such a way as to indicate we were somehow all
magically in-the-know all along. Every once in a while, though,
something special comes along - better, lighter, and way cool. Enter
Feather Brakes.
Feather Brakes are the brainchild of engineer
extroardinaire Bob Barnett. Bob is best known in the world of
motocross for his ARC brake levers - a must upgrade to any respectable
motocross bike. Those who really know their stuff will recognize Bob
as "Mr. Dirt" from the height of mountain biking in the mid 90's. His
products were all the rage back then, and me thinks some of the new
products he's developing will be raging again very soon. Brakes for
road bikes are the first components he's delivering, and Sand Canyon
Cyclery has been his test bed during the final phases of
R&D...lucky us!
Lightweight aftermarket brakes are popular
items, but I've never really enjoyed selling, installing, or using
them. Sure, they're lighter, but they're typically spotty at best with
set-up, and performance is less than anything offered by the big
component manufacturers on the high end. Whether they're Zero Gravity,
or some other over-hyped brand, they just don't work well enough to
replace the less expensive "stoppers" offered by Shimano, Campagnolo,
or SRAM. What they do possess, however, is lots of "Gucci Factor" -
cool brakes are highly visible items, and fun to talk about with your
fellow cyclists, especially when they're admiring them on your bike!
Still, I've stayed clear of them, and was not keen to try the
Feather's when Bob first came calling. One of our guys did try them,
however, and reported favorably on them right off the bat.
Forward
a few months, and Bob came back into the shop with some near production
brakes after completing a few modifications. They were so pretty, and
I was building my F1 Sprint Slipstream bike at the time, so I just had
to have a set because the blue anodized accents on the brakes matched
the frame. Despite previous misgivings about such things, I was now
one of the final guinea pigs. The brakes looked perfect on my Felt -
the design is very clean, set-up was surpisingly easy without any input
from Bob, and the darn things were really light...204 grams for the
set! Problem is, I'm not light. At around 230lbs, I was probably not
the perfect test subject for the near-production brake set, but if
you're going to put something to the test, test it good, no? My first
real ride on the Feather's was an 80 miler from Irvine down to Del Mar.
It was a busy morning getting ready, so I have to be honest and say I
forgot they were even on the bike. In fact, I think one of the best
testaments as to how these babies work is that I rode 40 miles through
Orange County traffic before I remembered I had replaced my Dura-Ace
calipers with the Feather Brakes! They worked so well, I didn't even
think about them until someone noticed them on the bike and asked what
they were. As we rolled through Oceanside in heavy PCH traffic, I gave
the Feather's their first real test: a car darted out in front of me,
and I was forced to stop quickly or eat a bumper. Not wanting to snack
on metal before lunch, I grabbed my brake levers and squeezed hard.
Low-and-behold, I stopped. Not only did I stop, but I did so quickly
and smoothly! No brake grab on the rims, no loud squeals, just a nice
consistent drop from 20+mph to zero. Very impressive.
Not being
an engineer, I would say there are two things that make the Feather
Brakes stand out from the lightweight brake crowd, though I doubt I'll
describe them the way they deserve, and I'm sure there are more
features I'm too thick to understand. The first addresses the achilles
heel of Zero Gravity brakes, the cable routing. The cable is easily
installed on the Feather Brakes and runs straight down from the cable
stop. Zero Gravity brakes have always been a problem with their cable
routing because of the odd angle in which they route through the brake
itself - it's the reason for the difficult set-up, and also for the
inconsistency they display in their performance. With the cable being
correctly routed on the Feather Brakes, it allows a more consistent and
powerful pull when you squeeze the brake levers. Simple. The other
feature I love is the stiffness the brakes display. Let's face it,
with my weight, few lightweight aftermarket components are really made
to handle someone like me, but the Feather's are so stiff, they have no
problem stopping me quickly, smoothly, and consistently. What more
could I ask for?
Since I installed my brakes, we've been able to
pry a few other sets from Bob's hands and install them on a few bikes.
Everyone reports back very favorably - in fact, no one has anything
negative to say about them at all! We have several customers waiting
on their sets to arrive with the first "official" production models due
in mid-June. Only 50 sets will be available, and I can just about
guarantee our little shop alone will sell most of them before July.
While my brakes weighed in at a very svelt 204 grams for the set,
closer-to-production models are actually lighter and break the 200 gram
barrier! Price for the set is $400.00 - right in line with other such
brake sets, and multiple accent colors are available, including custom
stuff if you'd like. More photos are below. Call for questions,
Feather's web site should be up & running soon.
