Black Ops

[aLaN]

Carlos;

Have you seen this stuff?


http://www.avidbike.com/11_blackops/index.html

[carlos]

frank (the wrench from cali) told me about these about 8 months ago and mentioned that he was really glad to see a set of replaceable carts. on the arms. Shimano XTRs have them but Shimano offers no replacement parts. i looked up the number on the cart and found it in a couple of distibutor's catalogs.

they sure look nice.

also, i like the Ti hardware. by default though since i'm kind of a Ti junkie.

[aLaN]

Originally posted by carlos
also, i like the Ti hardware.



yea I knew that you would!

[Greg]

What kind of prices and where can you get them:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[carlos]

i'll find out tomorrow. i'm not sure that they are currently available.

[Greg]

Any update Carlos:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[carlos]

nothing in the current catalog and Avid didn't say anything about a particular date when they would be available for purchase by retail. :(

i guess it truly "Black Ops".

[Greg]

I E-Mailed Avid and here is their response:

Greg,

The Single Digit Ultimate should ship to our distributors the second or
third week of July. Sorry, I do not have a price on the brakes.



:cool: :D :p :rolleyes:

[carlos]

i talked with Frank today and got a few pros and cons about the Black Ops brakes.

he's got 8 XC racers between 5'8"/150 lb and 6'2"/190. they've been using them since June and have got about 500 hard miles on them. he's already done two pads changes and had three sets get sent back.

the first thing he said he threw out was the Overcoat boot. he said it fit so tight over the cable that it caused some cable drag. he chucked them in favor a the new Shimano boots that come on XT and LX brakes.

the second was the bearsing cartridge. he said he liked the idea but didn't like the fact that the site claimed it would be maintenance free. he decided to neglect 4 brakes sets and baby the others. the 4 he left alone got dirt sprayed on them from the rear wheel, as expected, and lasted for about a month and a half. after that there was a very noticable grinding when the cables were changed out and the arms were checked for smooth action.

the ones that were babied are still going strong. he removes the arm from the frame (once every three months)and carefully lifts the seal so that he can flush out the bearing cart with WD-40. he then packs the cart with Finish Line white grease. this is the same as what's used on the WTB New Paradigm hubs, headsets, and botom brackets.

on the bright side he said that he had no problems with the Ti hardware creaking or ticking. the return springs are nice a beefy so the pads stay put after an initial break-in period. the braking power was as good or better than XTR Vs depending on the set up.