Officially, the big news from ultra-premium German brake specialists Trickstuff at Eurobike was that their super-powered Maxima mountain bike brakes were now available in all-black. But the bigger news in my mind really, was that they were actually available now. So we decided that after years of lusting after Trickstuff brakes, it was time to give them a try…
Trickstuff Maxima mountain bike brakes, now in all black
Trickstuff’s maximum stopping power Maxima brakes were first teased to us back in the summer of 2018, before getting an only slightly more official launch in a crowdfunding campaign later that year. Being hyped as the “world’s strongest hydraulic disc brakes” at the time, they also turned out to be both incredibly expensive and incredibly hard to get a hold of. It wasn’t unheard of to hear about 9-12 month lead times if you wanted to purchase a set of Trickstuff brakes. Fast forward to 2022, and DT Swiss acquired Trickstuff, with what seemed pretty much like a primary goal of making it easier for consumers to get ahold of a set of Trickstuff brakes.
A couple of years late and seems like that’s worked.
What’s new?
From a technical perspective, the only real new feature of the Trickstuff Maxima Black brakes is that they are black vs. the original silver & orange. Trickstuff already offered their long-running, most popular Direttissima in mix-and-match silver and/or black anodized finishes. And their lightweight Piccola Carbon brakes also come in shiny silver or black. Now their top gravity brakes get stealthy in all-black too.
One other small recent update is that the Maximæ also now get a 5mm black Kevlar hose option, too. That’s important for a lot of modern bikes (like mine) because their standard Goodridge braided steel hoses measure 6mm in diameter and oftentimes will not fit inside bikes with guided internal cable routing. Trickstuff used to offer a bare 5mm braided hose without an outer plastic coating, but is happier with the new 5mm Kevlar hoses. In either case, Trickstuff assures that the Kevlar hoses deliver the same braking power, just a slightly different bite point feel.
Tech details
The 4-piston Trickstuff Maxima brakes are CNC-machined in Germany from 7075 aluminum, and now everything anodized black.
They feature a 9mm diameter master cylinder pump with low-friction Polyoxymethylene (POM) plastic pistons, and ball-bearing pivoting brake levers with tool-free reach adjust. Inside, they push special environmentally-friendly vegetable oil Bionol brake fluid (like mineral oil) to the caliper. Trickstuff also says the made-in-Germany low-viscosity Bionol has a higher boiling point than conventional mineral oil or DOT fluid.
Inside the 2-piece calipers held together with steel bolts, there’s a combination of 16mm & 17mm hollow stainless steel pistons, optimized for equal braking pressure through both pairs of pistons and reduced heat transfer from pads to the actual braking system hydraulics.
Two-piece clamshell bar clamps also feature optional Matchmaker or I-Spec adapters to mount modular shifters or remotes for a clean cockpit. The brakes come standard with steel-backed Trickstuff 730 Power+ organic resin brake pads.
But they do not include rotors, or caliper mount adaptors which you need to purchase separately.
Here are my 203mm Trickstuff Dächle rotors in either HD heavy-duty (390 g for the pair) or UL ultra-light (304 g for the pair), both 2.05mm thick in this diameter.
Actual weight
Trickstuff claims brakeset weights starting at 540g in total for the Maxima, with my Black+Kevlar build said to be 262g (front) plus 278g (rear). On my scale, they came in at literally just a few extra grams over that at 263g & 280g, respectively. 543g in total for my Trickstuff Maxima Black brake set with uncut hoses.
First Impressions, in the workshop & on the trail
Update: I’m going to change how I first referred to the bleeding process, below. My initial impression was that it was “quite fiddly”.
That’s partially because the Maxima does have a very basic bleed procedure that requires the open bleed ports to be facing up while bleeding. That means that both lever & caliper need to be detached from their final mounting position and strapped to the bike in a vertical orientation. That is unique to the Maxima, while Trickstuff’s other brakes have bleed port valves that mean you can bleed them however they are mounted to the bike.
The other reason was that after bleeding the brakes, I wasn’t 100% confident that I did it correctly. That’s because, after the bite point, these brakes are literally so powerful that you can still slowly pull the levers to the bar. That seemed disconcerting. But in reality, it’s a sensation you only get on the workstand. That movement happens after the brakes have already pulled the brake pads so firmly against the rotor that they are fully stopped, and further movement is the ‘ramping up’ of more progressive force that can ultimately even flex the super stiff caliper. On the trail, what this translates to is a feeling of easy movement to the powerful bite point, and then less force required at the lever to add even more power. You will never actually pull the lever to the bar while riding. And this is said to reduce arm pump significantly.
It’s just an unfamiliar feel at the end of the otherwise familiar bleeding procedure, unlike pretty much any other brake I had ridden or bled previously.
The Trickstuff Maxima Black brakes come packed in a nice wooden box, so the first impression of unveiling them feels suitably premium to match the price. The machined alloy brakes feel so precise in hand, and look great on the bike. Their bleeding process though is quite fiddly different, with a successful result that feels unlike almost any other brakes on the market. I still would think most mountain bikers willing to pay this much for a brakeset would be willing to pay a professional to install them and setup them up on your bike. But, as long as you can accept that the correct feel after bleeding them will be different than what you are used to… it’s a simple procedure that any capable home mechanic can tackle.
The feel at the lever almost felt too light at first, making me think I might have needed to rebleed them or something. But out on the trail, the effortless stopping power was pretty impressive from the get-go. Getting my new 16.5kg Scott Ransom + Formula Belva super-all-mountain enduro test bike up to speed in our local bikepark, the Trickstuff Maxima Black brakes brought it back to a stop in an instant.
After a few days riding, it feels like the light action, massive power, and smooth modulation of these brakes will encourage higher speeds on familiar tracks. And maybe forearm pump is a thing of the past? Only time will tell.
Trickstuff Maxima brakes – Pricing, options & availability
The rub with the new Trickstuff Maxima brakes is that they are expensive, costing 1300€ for the pair in either new black or classic silver. Technically there are 5 different combinations of black vs. silver brakes, and Goodridge braided steel lines in raw/black/carbon effect or black Kevlar hoses. And then you pick which lever to actuate which brake. All options are available now, and should be able to be sourced through your local Trickstuff DT Swiss dealer bikeshop in a relatively short time span.
