New Revl Carbon brakes: 116g per wheel

Back at Eurobike we spent some time sheltering from the storms lashing the Charge Bikes party at a neighbouring stand, one that had a roof. Mostly it was full of mountain bikes which were jolly nice but not of particular interest to us. One section, though, was full of excellent large bodied hubs and Carbon brakes and nice looking chainsets. We took some pics, intending to post them on the site, then forgot. So imagine our surprise when a press release for the very brakes we'd been lusting after dropped into the inbox.

The callipers in question are 116g Revl Carbon single pivot units, and the'yre the brainchild of a collective called The Hive who describe themselves as "an emerging consortium of uber-knowledgeable, hands on engineers and industry luminaries based out of several locations in the US as well as abroad". Sounds promising, and the Revl brakes certainly look promising too.

The Callipers are all-Carbon in construction, and the hardware is a mix of Aluminium and Titanium. In common with many lightweight brakes, they're a single pivot design. Normally this would mean that they're not as powerful but the Revls feature a Cam system, the Rockarolla™, which adds a mechanical advantage to the cable pull, giving a braking force that is, The Hive claim, the equivalent of the best dual pivot brakes. There's two versions of the calliper with different mechanical advantages; one for Dura Ace 7900 and Ultegra 6700 and one for everything else, although The Hive point out that the 7900/6700 brake can be used with standard levers for 'even greater rim crushing force'...

Other nice touches include a very tidy quick release that sits below the barrel adjuster and gives 4mm of travel, and the speccing of top quality Swisstop pads. You'd expect those for the asking price of £279.99 though!

For more information about the Revl brakes in the UK, email info [at] jungleproducts.co.uk or call 01423 780088