Coming up with genuinely new ideas in this industry can be pretty tough. A lot of times it’s been done before, and often times there is a patent to stand in your way. When it came to designing a brake lever with reach adjust, Box thought inside their group and looked to the engineer who the lever was ultimately named after. Dubbed the Irene lever, Box’s new prototype brake lever takes an interesting approach to reach adjust and replaces the typical dial or screw with a quick release lever that mates the back of the brake lever.
Just part of their forthcoming disc brake design, the Irene lever gives you an idea of what Box has inside.
When the adjuster is closed, it functions just as a normal brake lever would. But if you want to adjust the reach of your brake, simply open the orange lever like a quick release. At that point you can position the brake lever where you would like within the range and then simply close the lever to preserve the adjustment.
This is the very fist pair of rideable samples of Box’s new quad piston disc brake which at this point are equipped with 17 and 14mm pistons. Based on a DOT fluid system, the brakes will probably change a bit before production, but will be available by the end of the year.
Other big news out of the Box, is this final CNC sample of their rear derailleur. Yes, it’s still a sample, but it is the closest that we’ve seen to production so they are getting close. The fully anodized derailleur retains the Shimano XT 10 speed compatibility and all of the features we have seen to this point including the spring loaded cable stop. Box assures us that this will be in production by the end of the year along with their matching shifter.
There were quite a few 35mm bars on display at the show, and like Box most companies say the larger diameter allows for stiffer and lighter bars while keeping widths nice and wide for those who want it. Box will be doing exclusively 35mm bars while the cheaper Promax counter parts will be produced in 31.8mm. Available this Spring, the X series carbon bars will be available in 0, 15, and 30mm rise at 700, 760, and 780mm wide respectively. For the narrower bars, Box kept the mold wider so if the market demands a wider flat bar, they can easily make it happen. The flat bar is swept back 6 degrees, while the 15mm rise bar is 7 degrees, and the 30mm at 9 degrees. The Promax bars will have the same rise and sweep but will be 31.8mm in diameter with the retail set at $99 as opposed to $139 for Box X Bars.
Like the carbon BMX bar we saw at press camp, the X bar is very angular in its design leading to what is becoming the Box aesthetic.
To be able to offer a complete cockpit set, Box is also introducing a static seatpost. On the production version the head will be part of the post, forged as one piece instead of the two piece design shown here. Otherwise, the design is pretty close to complete with a twin bolt clamp that uses a slot on one side to allow for easy saddle changes without completely removing the hardware.
