Neutron Components’ Emergency Bleed Kit is a portable brake bleeding tool designed to restore your disc brakes to tip-top condition on the road or trailside.

Until now, the New Zealand brand has been best known for its sub-60g Ultralight First Aid Kit and its Oh Sh!t Kit, a multi-tool that stashes inside your handlebar.

The Emergency Bleed Kit is effectively a bleed bucket. The CNC’d aluminium funnel features two threaded caps on either end – a threaded lid and an M5 threaded connector at its base, matching most Shimano and SRAM bleed port screws.

Neutron says you should fill the Emergency Bleed Kit with 10ml of brake fluid before you set off for your ride, ready for when you need to use the kit.

The kit is 75mm long and I weighed it in at 19g (or 29g when full) on my digital scales.

Neutron claims the kit is leak-proof, a reassuring claim because the last thing you want is brake fluid spilling in your pack. The brand claims it has bench-tested the seals to an altitude of 12,000m.

A 2.5mm hex key and a T10 Torx key are included to suit both Shimano and SRAM bleed ports.

There’s also a guide on how to use the kit, but the process is much like how you would burp-bleed Shimano disc brakes.

Neutron Components says it’s best to only use the tool with one type of brake fluid. Mineral and DOT fluid are not cross-compatible with one another. If you switch between brake fluids, make sure you scrupulously clean the bleed kit first with isopropyl alcohol.

The tool isn’t compatible with Shimano road or gravel, SRAM DB8 or Magura brakes, because they use different thread sizes (although you can use an adaptor for the former).

The kit retails for NZ$49, which converts to roughly £24.50/$31.50/€28/AU$45.

Neutron Components Emergency Bleed Kit impressions

I tested the Neutron Emergency Bleed Kit on a couple of bikes with spongy-feeling levers.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well the kit performed – it works exactly as described.

Crucially, the kit seems to be fully waterproof. I dunked a filled kit in a glass of water and couldn’t detect any air bubbles escaping. That said, you’ll probably want to change the seals from time to time because seals can swell over time, particularly if you’re storing DOT fluid.

I burp-bled a Shimano XTR M9100 brake on a Canyon Lux World Cup, managing to eke a couple of rogue air bubbles out of the system and the brake felt noticeably firmer.

I thought the supplied hex keys would be throwaway items, but I was pleasantly surprised by their quality.

The keys were hard enough to avoid rounding the Shimano lever bleed ports screws, which are often as strong as soft cheese.

Things are a little different when it comes to SRAM brakes. You’d very rarely (if ever) burp-bleed a SRAM brake because, unlike Shimano’s bleeding process, you push and pull between the two syringes to remove air bubbles and pressurise the system.

As a result, using the Emergency Bleed Kit to burp bleed a SRAM Code RSC made a minimal difference to the lever feel.

You’ll want to carry a rag that can get rid of any fluid that leaks, particularly DOT because it’s corrosive on paint.

Is the Emergency Bleed Kit worth taking on your next bikepacking trip? Possibly not, if your bike is in tip-top condition. But it could prove useful if you’re venturing into territory with no bike shops nearby.

While the kit is intended to be taken with you on rides, it’s a significant step-up in quality from Shimano’s bleed bucket and could make a nice upgrade for any home or workshop mechanic.

The Giro d’Italia heads off from Fossacesia Marina, midway down Italy’s eastern Adriatic coast, on Saturday 6 May 2023, arriving in Rome three weeks later, on Sunday 28 May.

It’s only just over 160km between the race’s start and end points, but in the interim riders will have covered 3,489.2km, an average of 166.2km a day. They’ll have taken in the best vistas Italy has to offer, as well as a short excursion over the Great St Bernard pass into Switzerland. They’ll also have climbed over 51km vertically.

The big clash is expected to be between Primož Roglič of Jumbo-Visma and Remco Evenepoel of Soudal–QuickStep. The two last went head to head at the 2022 Vuelta a España; Roglič abandoned after a crash, Evenepoel finished as overall winner.

Unlike the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia has limited free-to-air coverage in many countries, so it’s quite difficult to keep up with the action unless you have a paid subscription.

How can I watch the Giro d’Italia 2023 live in the UK?

Eurosport will show live coverage of the Giro d’Italia 2023 and, as usual, there’s an on-demand option. Coverage times are to be confirmed.

Eurosport is being merged with Discovery+, with a subscription costing £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. It’s available on a range of platforms including tablets, mobile, TV with Chromecast or AirPlay, Android TV or Apple TV.

You can also watch the Giro d’Italia on GCN+, with coverage times to be confirmed, although expect to be able to view each stage in its entirety and ad-free. GCN+ usually includes both daily highlights and analysis in its Giro coverage, as well as the live action.

A monthly subscription to GCN+ costs £6.99, the same as Discovery+; an annual subscription to GCN+ costs £39.99.

How can I watch the Giro d’Italia 2023 live in the US?

Much of the early-season racing was covered in the US by Flobikes, but the Giro d’Italia will be shown on GCN+.

That means, as for UK viewers, there will be full, ad-free coverage of each stage, with post-stage analysis and highlights available both live and on demand.

An annual pass to GCN+ costs $49.99, while you can also sign up month by month for $8.99.

There’s also coverage on BeINsports.

How can I watch the Giro d’Italia 2023 live in Australia?

SBS will be covering the Giro d’Italia live and on demand on SBS Viceland, with live coverage of Stage 1 starting at 9:35am AEST on Saturday 6 May. The full schedule is here.

GCN+ also has rights to the Giro d’Italia in Australia and New Zealand, so you’ll have the same coverage options as in the UK and US.

How else can I watch the Giro d’Italia 2023?

There’s live terrestrial coverage in many European countries, with Italian chain Rai showing the racing live on Rai 2 and Rai Sport (times TBA), and on Rai Play for on-demand access. If you have a VPN, you may be able to sign in to watch, complete with Italian commentary to get the full Giro experience.

There’s a full list of broadcasters by country on the Giro d’Italia’s site here.

How can I watch the Giro d’Italia 2023 if I can’t watch live coverage?

YouTube is a good option if you want shorter highlights and you don’t have on-demand access to any of the above sources. You can also watch short highlight videos on the Giro d’Italia site, although the Giro’s own highlights are often patchy and appear at variable intervals after the end of the stages.

Both are also good sources for highlights of previous editions to get you geared up for the racing.

The Tour de Lunsar is Sierra Leone’s biggest bike race, set up by bike shop owner Abdul Karim Kamara as a way to give Sierra Leonians the opportunity to race.

The first edition of the race took place in 2013, when 10 riders took to the start line on bikes donated by the US and shipped to West Africa by the Village Bike Project, an NGO that aims to empower communities through strengthening bike culture.

Ten years later, the Tour de Lunsar has grown in size and reputation, attracting cyclists who want to make it professionally.

The 2023 edition of the event started on the 26 April, Sierra Leone’s independence day, with men’s, women’s and junior races, all of which take place on non-closed roads, competing with traffic and causing lengthy tailbacks.

The men’s race is split across four stages. The first starts in Freetown, the country’s capital, and each stage ends in Lunsar.

The women’s race and junior races are single stages culminating in laps of a circuit in Lunsar.

There were 141 competitors in total. 51 riders took part in the men’s race, 19 in the women’s and 70 in the junior competition.

Unlike European races, there are no team buses, just cars that have bikes strapped to them in piles. Nigeria’s Team Access Bank by Pitstop had a masseuse table for its riders – something that is de rigueur at professional races such as the Tour de France, but exceptional at the Tour de Lunsar.

Temperatures rose to 38 degrees and riders sought out shade before setting off.

Cycling may still be a fringe activity in Sierra Leone, but the Tour de Lunsar is helping the sport grow in stature. The 2022 edition was attended by the government minister, Apha Kanu, and it is now in partnership with Science in Sport and has sponsors including Le Col.

The racing in Sierra Leone is a lot more makeshift than in Rwanda, which is set to host the 2025 UCI road world championships and has been a trailblazer for cycling in Africa.

However, the Tour de Lunsar demonstrates an appetite and passion for cycling and bike racing in a way that’s unlike any other competition.

In the words of our photographer Matt Grayson, it is “a story of sporting persistence against adversity” and arguably one of the seedlings of a cycling revolution described in Marlon Moncrieffe’s book Desire Discrimination Determination.

The majority of riders still take part on donated or second-hand bikes, but with an increasing number of riders in Sierre Leone competing and racing at a higher level, the number of high-end bikes at the race is growing, too.

Here we take a look at 10 of the bikes raced at the Tour de Lunsar.

Kerfala Kamara’s Cannondale CAAD8

This Cannondale CAAD8 was ridden at the Tour de Lunsar by Kerfala Kamara, riding for the Freetown-based team C2C in the elite men’s race.

The aluminium road bike shows a heavy dent in the top tube and is decked out with Shimano 105 brakes, Bontrager cranks and American Classic wheels.

There is an IPSXP bike computer on the handlebar with a cable running down to a sensor on the front fork.

Mohamed M Kargbo’s Boardman Sport

While many of the bikes at the Tour de Lunsar come from the United States, Mohamed M Kargbo was racing on a bike from the British brand Boardman for the Lunsar Cycling Team B.

A shallow aluminium rear wheel is matched with a mid-section, carbon Ritchey front wheel.

The bike has a Shimano Tiagra drivetrain with a 10-speed cassette.

Osman Trumpet Kalokoh’s Team USA Felt bike

Some of the riders on the Lunsar Cycling Team A were racing on Team USA Felt bikes, like this one used by Osman Trumpet Kalokoh.

The bikes were purchased in a crowdfunding campaign, having been used previously by riders in different age groups in the USA national cycling programme.

Some had been crashed and damaged, but US mechanic Jamie Bissell repaired the carbon frames, which were then bought by Lunsar Cycling Team.

95 per cent of bikes in Sierra Leone are said to reach the country by shipping containers.

They are donated to organisations such as Working Bikes in Chicago, Village Bicycle Project in Salt Lake City, Mikes Bikes in California and Re-Cycle in the UK.

Ibrahim Kamara’s Planet X Superlight Pro Carbon

C2C’s rider Ibrahim Kamara was racing on a more modern Planet X Superlight Pro Carbon.

The compact carbon frame is decked out with a Shimano 105 drivetrain and brakes components, DT Swiss RC 46 Spline hybrid carbon and aluminium wheels, and a slammed stem.

Kamara raced with a Hammerhead Karoo 2 bike computer.

Sahr Josiah’s Cannondale R1000 Aero

Sahr Josiah rides for the Kono Cycling men’s team and competed on this Cannondale R1000 Aero.

Disrupting the narrative of aero bikes being a relatively new phenomenon, the ‘made in America’ R1000 Aero was released in 2000.

The bike has an integrated seat mast with a cutaway saddle clamped to the top.

The wheels comprise of aluminium Mavic rims laced to Shimano Ultegra hubs and are shod in Michelin Dynamic Sport road tyres with red sidewalls.

The bike has an Ultegra drivetrain with Shimano 150 rim brakes.

Mohamed Bangura’s Specialized Allez

Mohamed Bangura of Kono Cycling Team came second in the junior race.

He rode this Specialized Alllez donated by an American who lived in Kono, in eastern Sierra Leone, roughly 240km from Lunsar.

The disc brake-equipped bike has a mechanical Shimano Ultegra drivetrain with a semi-compact chainset and Shimano 105 shifters.

The Roval C38 carbon wheels are wrapped in S-Works Turbo tyres.

Ali G Koroma’s Procycling steel steed

Racing for the Lunsar Cycling Junior Team, this is Ali G Koroma’s first bike, given to him by Abdul Karim Kamara via the Village Bicycle Project, an organisation that provides bicycles and maintenance training to people in rural villages in West Africa.

The steel frame shows where cables have worn away at the paintwork and rust dots the cassette, rear hub and quick-release axle.

The bike’s drop handlebar eschews bar tape and has stem-mounted shifters.

Preye John Dede’s Giant TCR Advanced

Preye John Dede of Nigeria’s Team Access Bank by Pitstop was the overall race winner in the men’s elite category.

Dede raced on a Giant TCR Advanced in a dream spec comprising of SRAM, Hunt, Continental, CeramicSpeed and Rotor components.

The bike has deep-section Hunt 50 Carbon Wide Aero wheels with Continental GP5000 tyres, a SRAM Red eTap AXS groupset with CeramicSpeed pulley wheels and Rotor power meter cranks.

Dede won the first three stages of the race to claim overall Tour de Lunsar victory, with teammate Bright Emmanuel taking the fourth stage.

Emmanuel launched an attack before heading into the final crit circuit of the fourth stage.

Jack Duncan and Nate Mesmer of Team Mike’s Bikes from the USA tried to close the gap, but Emmanuel held his lead to the finish line.

Mojirayo Olaniyan’s Cervélo S5

One of the highest-spec bikes at the race was this Cervélo S5 owned and raced by Mojirayo Olaniyan from Team Access Bank by Pitstop.

Olaniyan finished eighth in the women’s race, 17 minutes behind winner Roxanne Hargreaves.

Like Dede’s Giant TCR, Olaniyan’s aero road bike has a SRAM Red eTap AXS groupset with CeramicSpeed pulley wheels.

The Reserve 65mm-deep wheels are wrapped in 25mm Continental Gator Hardshell tyres.

Nate Mesmer’s Cannondale CAAD13 donated by Mike’s Bikes

The Tour de Lunsar saw a number of riders compete on older Cannondale bikes, but Nate Mesmer raced on this Cannondale CAAD13.

Mesmer donated his bike to the Lunsar Cycling Team after the race.

The Mike’s Bikes Foundation facilitates bike donations from the USA to Sierra Leone. It works with partner bike shops in Sierra Leone to pay for the shipping of the bikes.

Bikes must have a market value of at least $50 before being sent.

The partners in Sierra Leone sell the bikes or use them for parts. Profits are used to pay wages, help run races and fund cycling projects.

More from the Tour de Lunsar

As well as shooting these bikes, Matt Grayson was on the ground in Sierre Leone to photograph the racing action in the Tour de Lunsar.

Modern braking for bikes is dominated by three systems: the disc brake, the caliper rim brake and the V-brake.

The hydraulic disc brake is rapidly taking over, with its widespread adoption on road bikes following the much earlier swap to discs on mountain bikes.

That increasingly leaves caliper rim brakes and V-brakes as the domain of cheaper bikes, although some top-tier road teams outside of the WorldTour still race on rim brakes.

Here’s everything you need to know about bike brakes, including the different types of brakes available, how they work, and a short history of every brake that has ever existed.

What type of brakes does your bike have?

There are three main types of brakes on modern bikes: disc brakes, rim brakes and V-brakes. We’ll cover each of them in turn.

The majority of new bikes, whether that’s road bikes, mountain bikes or hybrid bikes, now use disc brakes that operate by pushing pads housed in a caliper against a brake rotor attached to the wheels’ hubs. We’ll go into different types of disc brake below.

Over the past five years, road disc brakes have rapidly taken over from rim brakes, which push brake pads against the wheel’s rim. There are good reasons for that, mainly related to more efficient and consistent stopping, whatever the weather.

On that note, and as we mentioned at the top, mountain bike disc brakes have been commonplace at all levels for years, providing powerful stopping power uninfluenced by trail conditions.

Disc brakes and caliper rim brakes take the lion’s share of braking duties across most bikes, but you’ll also find V-brakes on some cheaper urban or commuting bikes.

These also work on the rim and are attached to frame bosses on either side of the wheel. V-brakes (also known as direct-pull cantilever brakes) are operated via a cable that runs from one side of the brake and across the top, pulling the two halves together.

There are other brake designs out there, but they’re a rarity on mainstream bikes. Still, we’ll give you a full rundown at the end of this article.

Anatomy of a bike brake

Almost all bike brakes are operated using a lever mounted on the handlebars.

On bikes with a flat handlebar, including mountain bikes, there’s usually a brake lever separate from the bike’s gear shift levers.

Drop-bar road bikes and gravel bikes usually combine the brake lever and gear shifter into one unit (with separate units for the front and rear brakes), although older bikes had separate shifters on the down tube, and you can sometimes see shifters at the ends of the bars.

Single-chainring groupsets (known as 1x, or ‘one-by’) will have one brake lever with a gear shifter built-in, while the other lever will only work as a brake.

Singlespeed bikes have levers that just operate the brakes, as there are no gears to operate.

When you operate the brake lever, either it pulls a cable or pushes hydraulic fluid through a hose. In either case, there’s a physical line to the brake caliper from the lever.

We’ll explain the differences between how rim and disc brakes work in detail below, but in both cases, applying the brakes pushes pads against a braking surface to generate friction and heat to slow or stop the bike.

How do disc brakes work?

In a disc brake, the brake pads are housed in a caliper bolted to the frame.

The front brake caliper is attached to the left fork blade and the rear brake usually to the left chainstay, but occasionally to the left seatstay or between the two. They house brake pads that act on a rotor attached to the wheel’s hub, pressing against this to slow the bike.

The brake caliper is either mounted on posts protruding from the bike’s frame (usually found on mountain bikes). This standard is referred to as post-mount.

Flat-mount is an evolution of this and sees the caliper bolted to a designated flat surface on the frame (the default system now used on road bikes, gravel bikes and some cross-country mountain bikes).

Disc brake pads are typically made from an organic, sintered or semi-metallic compound, each with its own advantages and disadvantages depending on the type of riding you’re doing.

Disc brake rotors

The disc brake rotor is usually made of steel and sized between 140mm and 203mm in diameter, with larger rotors used where stronger braking is needed, such as on downhill mountain bikes.

The rotor may be connected to the wheel hub with either six bolts or using Shimano’s Centerlock system, where a lockring screws onto threads in the hub.

Centerlock is seen on the majority of road bike wheels. The lockring is usually threaded on its inside face and tightened with a cassette lockring tool.

You can also buy externally flanged lockrings, which tighten with a bottom bracket cup tool. Some wheels need an externally flanged lockring because the axle is too wide for a tool to fit on an internal flange.

One potential issue with disc brakes is that the rotor can get quite hot when in use. This can lower braking efficiency and also cause the rotor to warp.

Brake manufacturers try to get around this in a few ways; first, rotors and pads may include cooling fins to help lower their operating temperature. It’s the method used by Shimano in its road and mountain bike rotors.

Second, rather than being made in one piece, the rotor may be ‘floating’. This is where the braking surface is riveted to a carrier spider that bolts to the wheel hub. When it heats up, a floating rotor should expand more evenly than a solid rotor and so is less likely to distort. The float also helps even out pressure between the pads acting on the two sides of the rotor.

Finally, rotors may be made of a sandwich of steel with an aluminium core, which again helps with heat dissipation and also reduces weight.

Hydraulic disc brakes

In a hydraulic disc brake, a piston in the brake lever pushes hydraulic fluid through the brake hose when the brake is applied. The fluid pushes the brake pads together and against the brake rotor. When the brake is released, a spring pushes the pads away from the rotor and back into their housings.

Hydraulic disc brakes will work efficiently with convoluted hose runs from the brake levers to the brakes, so they are a good option for triathlon and time trial bikes with internal hose routing.

Most hydraulic disc brakes have one piston on each side of the rotor, but disc brakes designed for downhill riding often have a total of four pistons to allow more braking force to be applied.

Disc brakes use a wide variety of pad designs and shapes. If you’re replacing your pads, you need to be careful that your new ones will fit your brake caliper.

Hydraulic disc brakes have the advantage that there’s no friction in the hose and so all your braking effort is transmitted to the brake.

As the hydraulic line is a closed system, there’s less maintenance required than a cable-operated brake, though the system may need bleeding occasionally if it gets contaminated. Learning how to bleed brakes is a key skill for any committed home mechanic.

The pads will also need to be replaced when they get worn or contaminated with oil or other substances, which reduce braking efficiency.

Different brands use different hydraulic fluids in their brakes. It’s important to use the right one if you need to bleed the brakes, to avoid damage and possible failure of your equipment’s seals. Boiling the brake fluid is potentially a problem with prolonged, hard braking as well.

Cable (mechanical) disc brakes

In a cable-operated disc brake (sometimes referred to as a mechanical disc brake), the physical connection between the lever and the brake caliper is made with a wire cable.

The cable pulls a lever on the caliper, which usually pushes a pad on each side of the caliper into contact with the rotor. SRAM’s Avid cable-operated disc brakes only move the outboard brake pad. The rotor pushes against a static inboard pad.

Hydraulic disc brakes vs cable disc brakes

Due to the frictional loss and stretch in the cable, cable-operated disc brakes lose out to hydraulics both in out-and-out braking force and modulation, but the best models are still more efficient than the majority of rim brakes.

Cable disc brakes are a cheaper option than hydraulic brakes, so are often found on lower-spec bikes, and are easier to fix out in the wilds.

However, most mid-to-high-end bikes with disc brakes will have a hydraulic system for good reason.

Rim brakes

Side-pull caliper brakes were the primary choice for road bikes for decades.

They’re lightweight and can provide strong braking, although they’re much more susceptible to performance degradation in the wet than disc brakes.

Braking performance can be degraded on carbon rims in the wet too, and there’s a risk of overheating with prolonged braking on carbon brake tracks.

It’s for those reasons, plus the opportunity to fit wider road bike tyres and to make carbon rims lighter if they’re not used for braking duties, that modern road machines have moved substantially to disc brakes.

That said, a pair of well set-up rim brakes on alloy rims are more than sufficient for nearly all riders. Bikes equipped with rim brakes are also usually significantly cheaper than their disc equivalents, even if they’re hard to come by on the latest releases.

There’s a wide variety of different caliper brake designs out there, and we’ve explained some of the more common types below.

Single-pivot caliper brakes

In days gone past, single-pivot caliper rim brakes were the norm.

With these, both arms rotated around a single, centred pivot, which theoretically allowed the brake to self-centre and track an out-of-true rim more effectively than a dual-pivot brake. These brakes were attached via a single bolt in the fork crown and the rear brake bridge.

Centre-pull brakes were the norm in the peloton (more on these later) until the introduction of the legendary Campagnolo Record sidepull brake in the early 1960s, which was both lighter and nearly as powerful as the centre-pull design.

Side-pull brakes quickly became favoured by the pros and, with roadies of the past just as keen to imitate the peloton as today’s riders, the demand for side-pull brakes grew massively, with most manufacturers bringing their own imitation of Campagnolo’s revolutionary brake to market, quickly marginalising the poor old centre-pull.

Campagnolo’s single-pivot design remained largely unchanged until the late 80s, when dual-pivot caliper brakes were introduced by Shimano.

Single-pivot caliper brakes are rarely seen these days because they have been superseded in almost all cases by dual-pivot caliper brakes.

Dual-pivot caliper brakes

Just like single-pivot brakes, dual-pivot brakes are mounted by a single bolt in the fork crown and brake bridge, but they have a yoke that attaches to this and separates the pivot points for the two arms.

This design offers greater mechanical advantage than a single-pivot design and is also far easier to centre.

Dual-pivot caliper brakes are best thought of as a combination of the actions of a centre-pull (more to come on that) and side-pull brake – the offset pivots mean that the two arms follow a similar path when the brake is applied.

A dual-pivot brake will often come in slightly heavier than a single-pivot brake, but the difference is marginal with modern, featherweight designs.

Clearance for wide tyres is typically quite limited with dual-pivot caliper brakes – you can usually squeeze in a 28mm tyre – but long-arm versions of the brakes are available for those who want to use mudguards on their road bike.

Direct-mount caliper brakes

Direct-mount caliper brakes mount via posts integrated into the frame.

They’re now the norm on high-end rim brake road bikes because they can offer stronger braking, alongside increased clearances and purported – if very small – aero benefits.

While similar in appearance and mounting to some direct-mount centre-pull brakes, they are mechanically different because they’re not operated by a straddle cable.

Since the two caliper arms are not connected to each other, applying the brakes can result in the two half calipers moving apart from each other, particularly on skinny seatstays, which reduces braking efficiency and modulation. For this reason, you’ll often see a thin metal bridge connecting the two sides of the rear brake.

Bike makers went through a phase of positioning the rear direct-mount caliper under the bottom bracket. This wasn’t a good idea: the brake was in the firing line for road dirt and tended to rub against the wheel rim under heavy pedalling loads. Fortunately, it’s a thing of the past on the latest road bikes.

Centre-pull caliper brakes

Centre-pull brakes operate in a similar fashion to dual-pivot caliper brakes, but are actuated by a straddle cable that is attached to both arms. Both of the pads travel in an upwards direction.

Centre-pull brakes were the norm in the peloton until the introduction of the aforementioned Campagnolo Record brake and its many imitators.

The brakes offer excellent power, modulation and generous clearances, but require additional hardware over a side-pull design (straddle cable, cable hanger) and typically weigh quite a bit more.

Centre-pull brakes have enjoyed brief periods of popularity for various purposes since then, and remained popular on cheaper road bikes and touring bikes until the early 1980s. You will most commonly see centre-pull brakes in the wild on bikes from this period.

These days, smaller manufacturers such as Rene Herse and Paul Components continue to make centre-pull brakes, with modern designs that offer generous clearances and exceptional power (especially when mounted using braze-on studs), still making them a compelling choice for touring and randonneuring bikes.

As an aside, the legendary Campagnolo Delta introduced in 1985 was (sort of) a centre-pull design and is often considered to be one of the most beautiful brakes of all time. It is still coveted by collectors of retro bike parts despite its extremely questionable functionality.

V-brakes

V-brakes – or direct-pull cantilever brakes by their proper name – work in a similar way to traditional cantilever brakes (see below), with the two halves bolted to bosses welded to the frame.

They are side actuated, with the cable housing fixed to one arm by way of a ‘noodle’, and the inner cable clamped to the other. As the cable is pulled through the housing, the two arms are drawn towards one another, moving the pads towards the rim.

V-brakes were introduced at a time when suspension was becoming more common and, as a V-brake system does not require a fixed cable stop on the frame or fork, they quickly became popular on mountain bikes, eventually supplanting the traditional cantilever brake in most cases.

V-brakes didn’t become widely popular for use on cyclocross bikes because the reduced clearance between the pads and rim, and the proximity of the ‘straddle’ cable and tyre, can cause issues in especially muddy conditions.

While V-brakes have been replaced by disc brakes on the vast majority of mountain bikes, they remain popular on hardy touring bikes, some hybrids and tandems, with even the biggest manufacturers offering modern brakes that are more powerful and easier to set up than ever before.

V-brakes can be prone to rubbing if they’re not cared for though, as the two sides may not pull back from the rim symmetrically if not set up right and kept clean.

V-brakes use a different cable pull ratio to cantilever brakes (cantilever brakes use the same cable pull ratio as caliper brakes) so a special long-pull lever, which pulls through roughly double the amount of cable as a regular lever, must be used.

This makes regular V-brakes incompatible with road levers without the use of a Travel Agent-style, cable pull converter. (Tektro’s RL520 brake lever and a few others are the exceptions here because they’re optimised for use with regular V-brakes.)

Short-arm, mini-V brakes that work with road levers do exist, but further exacerbate clearance issues.

Every brake that has ever existed

Rather like the history of life on earth, the bike brake has gone through an evolutionary journey on its way to the apex stoppers that rule the world today. For the brake nerd, here’s a guide to the hopeful monsters that have roamed the earth attached to bicycles past from BikeRadar’s deputy editor, Jack Luke.

Most were destined to extinction, but a few live on in forgotten niches of the cycling world.

Drum brakes

In a drum brake, the brake lever pulls a cable to operate pads enclosed within the hub. These are pushed outwards towards a braking surface on the inside of the hub, to slow the bike down.

The design means that the braking surface is fully enclosed and so is weather resistant. But the brake is heavy and prone to overheating. Drum brakes are a bit of a living fossil, as they’re still found in Dutch bikes and as drag brakes on older tandems, but pretty much nowhere else.

Coaster brakes

Another living fossil that lives on in bikes from the Netherlands, the coaster brake works on the rear wheel. Stop pedalling and the bike will freewheel, but turning the pedals backwards will operate the braking mechanism.

Again, the advantage is that the brake is weatherproof. It also means there’s no bar-mounted brake lever and no cabling, lowering maintenance needs. But like the drum brake, it’s heavy and prone to overheating. It’s also easy to lock up, causing skidding.

Cantilever brakes

A recent extinction event has been the near-demise of the cantilever brake; it wasn’t so long ago that it was the go-to stopper on cyclocross bikes, before it was out-competed by the disc brake. You can still find cantis on some touring and tandem bikes, and they live on among die-hard cyclocross traditionalists.

The canti is a rim brake with the brake calipers screwed onto bosses on the bike’s fork blades and seatstays. There’s a separate caliper on each side, with lever arms protruding outwards, which are connected by a straddle wire. Applying the brake pulls up the straddle wire and applies the brakes.

The design has the advantages that it’s very light, gives very wide clearance and can exert a lot of leverage on the wheel rim. On the down side, setup can be tricky, resulting in poor, noisy performance if it’s not done right.

U-brakes

Enjoying a brief heyday in the 1980s, like a cantilever brake the U-brake is mounted to frame bosses. It has the same issues of adjustment and maintenance as a traditional cantilever and also problems with leverage, clearance and clogging. You still find U-brakes on BMX bikes though, thanks to their low profile.

Hydraulic rim brakes

Another living fossil, the hydraulic rim brake uses a hydraulic cylinder on each side to push the brake pads against the wheel rim. Magura’s H series hydraulic rim brake is still available and uses this tech, although the system is now only available for flat-bar bikes. It’s less efficient than disc brakes and has a whole lot of proprietary parts.

Roller cam brakes

Roller cam brakes are a fascinating design, which is similar to a centre-pull caliper, but uses a triangular cam that moves over rollers (hence the name) in place of a straddle wire to actuate the brake arms.

This can be hard to visualise, so we recommend you have a look at this video, which shows the brakes in operation. The design is interesting because altering the shape of the cam can alter the characteristics of the braking.

Rod brakes

Rod brakes used steel rods in place of cables to pull both sides of a braced caliper upwards, striking the inside diameter of the rim.

If you ride a bike with these brakes, you’ve most likely either nicked a bike from outside a butcher’s shop or enjoy tinkering with stationary steam engines.

Spoon brakes

When pennyfarthings with solid tyres were the acme of bike tech, spoon brakes were the stoppers of choice. Spoon brakes were practically the same as a rod brake, but used the outside diameter of the tyre as a braking surface. This is basically a more elegant version of jamming your precious shoes between your frame and wheel. Mercifully gone and forgotten.

Fixed-gear braking

And for the sake of the pedants out there, we do realise a fixed gear is technically speaking a brake. While we would never recommend relying solely on a fixed cog for braking (what if your chain rolls off the cog or chainring?) unless you’re on the track, and it’s not road-legal in the UK, slowing your bike down with your meaty calves is an experience worth trying.

It’s been another week jam-packed full of freshly prepared, gourmet content on BikeRadar, but the weekend has arrived (and it’s another long one here in the UK, at that).

That means it’s time for another edition of First Look Friday, our weekly round-up of the latest and greatest swag to land at BikeRadar towers.

Before we get into that, though, let’s recap some of the week’s biggest stories and reviews.

Early in the week, we published a story looking at a prototype Pinarello XC bike being ridden by Team Ineos Grenadiers stars Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.

Official details are scant, as things stand, but it looks as if the Italian brand is set to launch its first cross-country bike for over a decade.

Wahoo announced ‘Summit Freeride’. This new feature automatically detects upcoming climbs and works out a profile as you ride. It means you no longer need to load predetermined routes to get climb info.

Pirelli updated its highly rated P Zero Race 4S tyre to make it tubeless-ready. The clincher version is well regarded by the BikeRadar team as a tough yet fast-enough option for year-round road riding, but the addition of a tubeless casing makes sense given the direction of travel for road bike tyres.

In terms of wheels to mount them to, BikeRadar’s senior technical editor, Ashley Quinlan, published his review of ENVE’s new SES 4.5 wheelset, awarding them a near perfect score. They don’t come cheap, but it seems there’s little to be desired in terms of pure performance on the road.

Ahead of the 2023 Giro d’Italia, EF Education-EasyPost has announced its latest limited-edition kit.

This year’s design showcases Rapha’s Excess Collection, which uses leftover materials to create a patchwork design. Style is subjective, of course, but I think this is another great kit that pushes the boundaries of cycling kit design. Chapeau Rapha.

Lastly, our latest Bike of the Week was the Lapierre Prorace – a stealthy carbon XC bike with the brand’s signature triple-triangle rear end.

Trek Ballista helmet

First up, we have Trek’s recently announced Ballista, a top-of-the-range aero road helmet designed for the rigours of WorldTour racing.

Replacing the previous Bontrager Ballista, the new Trek helmet sees a 10.1-watt improvement to aerodynamic efficiency at 45kph.

According to the American brand, this saving is worth “more than one bike length during a final sprint”.

The Ballista uses an elongated, almost teardrop shape with minimal venting, designed to smooth the airflow over the rider’s head and onto their back.

There’s also a groove running horizontally across the helmet towards the rear. Trek says this is designed to trip the airflow from laminar to turbulent and reduce drag.

Inside, Trek includes a MIPS Air liner, which is designed to protect your brain from rotational injury in the event of a crash or accident.

At the rear, the Ballista uses a Boa dial system to adjust the cradle tension.

On our scales, a black size medium (54-60cm) Ballista comes in at 264g, just over 9g heavier than the 255g claimed weight (for European-spec helmets – US models have a claimed weight of 275g).

Still, though, that is competitive with many other high-end aero road helmets. Specialized’s S-Works Evade 3 (£275/$300/€330), for example, weighs 272g in the same size.

At £229.99/$299.99/€299.99, the Trek Ballista is priced to compete with other flagship aero road helmets too.

Continental GP5000 TT TR

First unveiled at the 2022 Tour de France, Continental’s fastest road bike tyre, the GP5000 TT TR, is now production-ready and available to average Joes as well as pros.

According to Conti, the GP5000 TT TR uses a thinner, 2-ply casing and tread to shave off weight and reduce rolling resistance. Continental says it is the fastest road tyre it has ever produced.

Compared to the Continental GP5000 S TR (which has a 3-ply casing) – one of the best tubeless road bike tyres currently available – Conti says the TT TR version can save a rider 17 seconds over a 40km time trial.

Of course, the trade-off for this improved speed will almost certainly be reduced puncture protection and durability, but these are (as the name suggests) time-trial specific tyres and that’s par for the course.

Per Conti’s recommendations, we’ve got our hands on a 700 x 25c and a 700 x 28c tyre.

When used with the narrower tyre on the front wheel and the wider one on the rear, this combination is said to provide the best balance of aerodynamic efficiency and rolling resistance.

In terms of weight, our samples tip the scales at 230g (700 x 25c) and 252g (700 x 28c) each. For context, a 700 x 28c GP5000 S TR weighs 280g.

While they may be light, these tyres aren’t cheap, coming in at £95.95/$118.95/€108.95 per tyre.

Probably not one for clocking up training miles, then, but if you’ve got a time trial bike or hill climb bike in need of some rapid rubber, these could be just the ticket.

Bont Vaypor inner soles

I’ve long been a fan of Bont cycling shoes, but if there’s one area where they’ve consistently disappointed it’s been the basic included inner soles.

Thankfully, Bont looks set to finally address this oversight with its new range of Vaypor inner soles.

Produced in partnership with Cobra9, an Australian manufacturer of custom cycling orthotics, the Vaypor inner soles feature a carbon fibre core wrapped in dual-density EVA foam.

Three different colours are available (black, red and blue), with each offering different levels of arch support (low, medium and high, respectively).

As with Bont’s cycling shoes, such as the Vaypor Classic and Zero+, the inner soles are designed to minimise stack height.

This is claimed to help improve pedalling efficiency, because there is less material between the rider’s foot and the pedal.

At $99.95 per set, they’re not a cheap upgrade. However, a cheaper Riot version is also available for $39.95, which loses the option to choose a different level of arch support.

Silca Aero Socks – Tall

Aero socks are one of those modern cycling inventions that attract ridicule or admiring glances depending on when you wear them.

Wear them to your local time trial and almost everyone will nod approvingly, eliciting a shared sense of pride in how clever you all are.

Rolling up to your local Sunday club run in aero socks, though, risks you being the subject of the day’s jokes. Especially if either of your socks should unfortunately fall down during the ride.

Silca thinks it has the answer, though. Its aero socks are made from a traditional knitted construction, rather than the skinsuit-type materials normally used.

This means it can be far stretchier and, as a result, much less likely to fall down.

The socks get their aero credentials from the subtle chevron pattern on the rear, which is incorporated into the knit.

According to Silca, this can save anywhere between 5 and 8 watts at an unspecified, but likely fairly fast, speed.

This latest ‘Tall’ version isn’t only for tall people, it’s simply a longer version of the Aero Sock.

With a cuff length of 19.5cm and six available colours, long-sock lovers will surely be thrilled.

At €36 per pair, though, you might want to save the white versions for dry days (or be ready for the Daz Doorstep Challenge).