Rim Brake Resurgence? The TriRig Omega One

are Rim brakes even relevant in 2024 actually I think they're Superior let's take a look hi everybody Nick from TRG here and today I want to take you through a deep dive on one of our most popular products of all the Omega 1 Arrow break but first we need to talk about the elephant in the room disc brakes versus Rim brakes a few years ago a couple of large companies made this big push to force everyone onto disc brakes whether they wanted it or not they wanted you to believe that disc brakes are the future yet a lot of people especially those of us who are really data oriented found that their old rim breakes and rim breaking frames were in fact lighter faster and more reliable in the world of triathlon now don't get me wrong disc brakes absolutely have a place but in the world of triathlon they really aren't the ideal solution let's briefly address some of the myths or arguments related to the dis versus Rim debate first is braking power aren't disc brakes supposed to be stronger than Rim brakes well no the problem is that the time of this transition there were a lot of poorly designed Arrow Rim brakes being asked to grip an all carbon Rim so the comparison was unfair at best if not outright rigged if you pick a strong Rim Brak give it a good set of pads and ask it to grip an alloy breaking track there is no appreciable difference in either power or modulation compared to discs in my experience properly designed carbon rims with the right pads can do pretty good as well but for maximum power especially in mixed weather alloy is the top of the line that's why disc rotors are metal and not carbon so that leads us to question number two well if I have to use an alloy brake track for maximum power on rim brakes now aren't I adding weight to the system or compromising aerodynamics in some way no and no on the weight side an alloy Rim will be heavier than than an all carbon Rim that's true but we aren't just comparing rims we're comparing complete systems disc Brak setups require larger hubs the rotor itself and significantly more spokes to withstand the torque once you compare complete systems disc brakes are hundreds of grams heavier than their Rim breaking counterparts and for that same reason the aerodynamic comparison isn't even close again disc brakes require more spokes beefier hubs and the rotor and these things are exposed to the wind the spokes are the worst offender and there's no way to hide those but even if you try and mitigate the break Hub and rotor with clever fairings Etc you're still adding frontal area that wasn't there before and then we get to maybe the most interesting argument well if we remove the rim break can we potentially design frames so much faster that they offset the losses we're talking about well I'm a guy who designs frames for a living and there was nothing about the trig Omni that was in any way hampered by the presence of the rim breake and looking around at the wider industry I'd say no one else has really cracked that nut either there are vanishingly few examples of radical bike design where the absence of a rim Break made any appreciable difference in fact I can only think of three the very radical coup bike is one and the sort of triple column designs of the specialized shiv disc and the kadex tribike are the other two and it's not clear that any of these are are in fact faster than the best bikes out there not one company has demonstrated or even claimed a substantial aerody Dynamic savings from switching to disc brakes turns out Rim brakes were never a liability and when done right they're actually an advantage that brings us of course to Omega 1 this break is the culmination of over a decade of aerodynamic design from our original early prototypes through several generations of production breaks and finally perfected we've always made fast brakes which hide within the frontal profile of your bike's fork and head tube adding no frontal area to the system but with Omega 1 we actually reached a new threshold with the advanced aerodynamic shaping that actually makes the bike faster than if you didn't have any Brak on it at all let me say that one more time adding Omega 1 to your bike's frame makes it more aerodynamic than if you didn't have any break on at all we designed it that way with computational fluid dynamics in the computer we validated that in the wind tunnel on multiple frames and independent third parties like Jim Manon of Aeros Sports have corroborated our findings in testing with real world athletes but more than just a pretty face Omega 1 is strong it's as strong as any break we've ever tested absolutely shattering the iso standard for braking power and it all starts with the mechanical formula that we've refined for over a decade with Omega 1 we maximized everything that provides stopping power including the leverage from the arms the stiffness of each component and the total cable pole while refining the modulation of that power using careful shaping on the cable wedge that gently transitions from high pull to linear pull throughout the brakes lever throw to design Omega 1 we took a brand new approach compared to any of its predecessors first we took all of the mechanical specifications and put them in the computer as reference points or sketches inside of our basic 3D model from there we wrapped all of those points in the smallest possible physical shape while simultaneously honing that shape into a cohesive aerodynamic form finally we took that form and carved out each subcomponent from it this is actually backwards from how we designed all other generations of Omega breakes for those earlier breaks we would start from nothing and build up each part until it created the final form for Omega 1 we start with the final form and chop it up into its individual pieces from there this was the first product we designed using this final form first method but it wasn't the last Sigma 1 was designed with the same approach and we have some other things in the works where this method was ideal as well so what do we have at the end of the day simply put the strongest best modulating most aerodynamic break on the market period it will outperform absolutely any break out there while offering the easiest installation and adjustment no need to get a syringe a bleed kit and rubber gloves to install this brake no need to deal with the dreaded disc brake rub from impossibly small tolerance stack problems if you want a closer brake grab you just adjust one of the two set screws on either side of the brake arms each one offers continuous adjustment to let you get as close or as far as you want from the brake track getting ready to travel easy just pop off the front plate and wedge everything comes free when you get to where you're going you put it back on no adjustment needed got an old frame with trp Cy studs like an old shiv or an old felt bike no problem Omega 1 comes with the adapter to use it there in short Omega 1 is our idea of the perfect Triathlon breake it does everything you need without adding unnecessary bulk or drag ask anyone who's used our brakes over the past decade they'll tell you it's one of the best upgrades they ever made for lots more info in photos or to buy your own Omega 1 break check out the link in the description below or just head to tr.com thanks for watching and I'll see you next time

Channel: tririg

Views: 191,310

Keywords: triathlon, cycling, omni, aerobars, frameset, ironman, 70.3

Id: 3P4IIWsaS5I

Length: 7min 36sec (456 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 15 2024