Review: EE Brakes

A Set of EE Brakes costs $680 lets get that outa the way. These are not billed as affordable, they were designed as an attempt to make the best brake on the market. When you aim for the best it comes with a price tag. So before you comment on the price, what the conversation should be is how do these preform.

To get started at 170g they are feather light, not something commonly associated with great modulation and especially braking power. As a bigger cyclist my fear was the power was sacrificed for the weight saving, but from my first ride they put me at an ease, that few rim brake bikes ever have. 

Lets be honest one of the things no one talks about in cycling related to speed is confidence. If you are confident on your bike because your components work better than anything you have ever used before, you can push harder, brake later and lighter and all around go fast. Once I build my Surprise Me Speedvagen Road, from the get go that was the fastest bike ive ever been on. Uphill or down. Its simply because the geo inspires confidence and so does every single part on the bike. Especially the brakes on the descents. 

EE Brakes are pretty simple to adjust, they have a QR to open wide and swap wheels. A micro adjust screw makes centering easy. Cable routing hides the cable dead center behind the frame which is more aero if thats your thing. Aesthetically the are polarizing. Industrial, almost architectural, but distinctly designed by a human. Not a human designing to make something look futuristic or look fast. Its such a subtle but important distinction. 

Now im lucky and have the privilege to pedal around some of the most amazing bikes for my day job. I can tell you out of any other rim brake ive spent a lot of time on these are my favorite. Beating brakes from both campy and sram. They just work better than any other rim brake ive used.