EB18: Trickstuff Direttissima Maxima overpowers its ultralight brakes, Carbon Piccola Update!

The Trickstuff Direttissima brakes are already some of the lightest and most powerful hydraulic mountain bike disc brakes on the market. The new Direttissima Maxima get a revised lever pivot to have more leverage for higher power and combines that with a larger four-piston caliper. The result is 25% more power, and a product that’s going to have very small production runs.

Trickstuff Maxima four-piston mountain bike brakes

With the lever blade and piston rod spinning on four ball bearings in each lever, the Maxima’s carry over the super low friction of the Direttissima. Then throw in Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines to make sure all of the power and modulation makes its way to the updated caliper.

The Maxima calipers uses a pair of 17mm & 16mm pistons versus the standard model’s 17/14mm pairing. Even with all the added oomph, they say it has a smooth, progressive power curve. It’ll use the same pads as the standard Direttissima, there’s just more behind them to push them harder.

Trickstuff says they developed the Maxima after finding that SRAM Code & Magura MT7 brakes matched the Direttissima’s performance, and they knew they could deliver more stopping power without much weight penalty. The new Maxima brakes weigh 290g with a 80cm brake line (that’s still about 55g more than the Direttissima.)

Price and availability for the German made brakes remains TBD. They’re being tested by Mick Hannah and other pros now, and Trickstuff thinks it will only be serious gravity racers who will benefit from the extra power.

Shave grams with a Carbon lever for Trickstuff Piccola XC brakes

Do you already have a set of the lightweight Piccola mountain bike brakes and want to make them lighter? Trickstuff already calls them the “world’s smallest and lightest mountain bike brake” at 159g bled with a 700mm brake line.

Well, one of their customers – who happened to be the carbon experts at HOPP Carbon Parts in Berlin – already making premium carbon components, had decided to develop their own carbon lever to replace the standard CNC’d 7075 T6 lever from Trickstuff. And everyone was so happy with it, Trickstuff worked with him to refine the carbon lever blade, test it, and now it will be available soon as an option to either new Piccola buyers or existing users. Two carbon levers will shave a total of 11g off your bike (5.8g per brake), and presumably a good bit off your wallet as well. No official pricing yet.

Update: The Piccola Carbon upgrade kit is available now (Sept 5th). Each carbon lever including its four tiny ball bearings sells for 135€, or as a 109€ upcharge over the stock Piccola. Remember though these are totally handcrafted, so quantities are limited!

Shave grams (affordably) off your star nut & headset cap with Deckele

Not many components fabricated by Trickstuff in Freiburg fall into the affordable and lightweight category, so enter their answer to tightening your headset – the Deckele. The 30€ machined alloy expander weighs just 13g together with its alloy top cap and bolt.

Even though it looks incredibly thin and fragile, the machined alloy expander actually offers more smooth clamping on the inside of your metal or carbon steerer tube than most other expanders. The head of the short bolt pulls into the expander like a wedge offering even pressure around the full outside width, and a long bolt clamps down the machines top cap. It is available in all of Trickstuff’s standard seven anodized colors, and is also available in a 50€ bundle that adds in a set of matching Ringli 3, 6, 9 & 12mm headset spacers to complete the lightweight look.

An Inside Look at Trickstuff…

Have look inside the Direttissima & Piccola brake levers.

We’re suckers for a nice cutaway, and Trickstuff had these brake master cylinders chopped open to share their inner workings.

Trickstuff.de

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