KCNC Quality

[Christie]

 

Christie those eebrakes look awesome but.....

 

If they are as powerful as the website claims' date=' it means their mechanical advantage is higher and they can thus not be used with current brake levers.

 

On the flipside, if they are compatible with current brake levers (I'm talking Shimano front and back and Campag front only), then they don't have the mechanical advantage they claim and stop as well as current Shimano or Campag.

 

Secondly, if they do have the high mechanical advantage, it means the pads have to be positioned closer to the wheel. With today's poofter wheels that bend when you stand, it means the pads will touch when you pump it up a hill.

 

Also those two short arms sweep through a small arc with a high cosine error. The pads will wear quickly from the bottom up and eventually give you pad dive right into the tyre - with extreme wear but nevertheless possible.

 

If you carry on staring at them they go from trick to primitive. That external spring on the front is yuk.....

 

And there are just too many moving parts and pivots.

 

No thank you.

 

Not sour grapes either. Of course I have R6k to throw at experimental brakes.

 

[/quote']

Agreed! They look ugly! Could be a component of Schwarzenegger's Terminator

 

I have not read their marketing material, but at least from the looks of them, they could potentially have more stopping power than the rest of the single pivot weight weenie brakes (KCNC, ZeroG, M5 etc) on the market. As for the price of R6k, that is waaaay to much money for something that is designed to slow you down. The whole point of having lighter brakes is that they create the illusion of being 100 grams faster, not so?

 

I got the impression that some hubbers bought some light single pivot KCNC brakes, and expected to have the stopping power of dual pivot brakes. This is being unfair to KCNC imo.

 

 

[Iwan Kemp]

Personally I believe' date=' just as Easton consider it a "waste to use scandium" with 7005 or 6061, that it is waste to use products containing scandium when you are not competing on an international level - ie it is not suitable to me.


[/quote']

Wouldn't you say the same about carbon then?  I don't think that there can only be 400k's available annually. If so how does KCNC, a small eastern company, manage to get hold of some to use in biking gear then sell it at such affordable prices. Doesn't make sense.

[Iwan Kemp]

Are you sure KCNC is single pivot?

[Iwan Kemp]

yup that crank is super light and super smooth but not used for everyday riding as it will be worn after 3 riders and no service to the BB. A few people use them but only for racing with

 

I had a KCNC crank on my Moto Lite and on another bike and it lasted me fine. No problems, no excessive wear, nadda. BB held up fine too. Better than Race Face!

[straatvark]

 

Personally I believe' date=' just as Easton consider it a "waste to use scandium" with 7005 or 6061, that it is waste to use products containing scandium when you are not competing on an international level - ie it is not suitable to me.

 

 

[/quote']

Wouldn't you say the same about carbon then?  I don't think that there can only be 400k's available annually. If so how does KCNC, a small eastern company, manage to get hold of some to use in biking gear then sell it at such affordable prices. Doesn't make sense.

 

Ditto on the carbon (it is not suitable for me personally, but for top riders yes)

 

Then we agree that it does not make sence?

 

[javadude]

 

Personally I believe' date=' just as Easton consider it a "waste to use scandium" with 7005 or 6061, that it is waste to use products containing scandium when you are not competing on an international level - ie it is not suitable to me.

 

 

[/quote']

Wouldn't you say the same about carbon then?  I don't think that there can only be 400k's available annually. If so how does KCNC, a small eastern company, manage to get hold of some to use in biking gear then sell it at such affordable prices. Doesn't make sense.

 

Ditto on the carbon (it is not suitable for me personally, but for top riders yes)

 

Then we agree that it does not make sence?

 

Does anything bling we buy make sense? Do you think if Lance changed his Sram Red for Force he would be any slower? I really doubt it. One thing i do know, if my wife knew how much i spent on bling parts she would beat me senseless.

 

[Marius]

I got the Skewers and the Mtb and Road Callipers / Brakes.

 

The skewers open up by themselves on occation, the Brakes on the Mtb are very very sensitve and the callipers are lower than the normal Shimano goodies, so much so that it might rub against your tyre if it's got big nobbies.

 

The road callipers are even worse, the brake strengh is really bad and as of late my back calliper pulls right and stays right against the f'ing rim, now I have to open it up all the way leaving me without bake brakes. You have been warned.

[Iwan Kemp]

Braking only slows you down.

[Contaminated Haggis]

I got the Skewers and the Mtb and Road Callipers / Brakes.

 

The skewers open up by themselves on occation' date=' the Brakes on the Mtb are very very sensitve and the callipers are lower than the normal Shimano goodies, so much so that it might rub against your tyre if it's got big nobbies.

 

The road callipers are even worse, the brake strengh is really bad and as of late my back calliper pulls right and stays right against the f'ing rim, now I have to open it up all the way leaving me without bake brakes. You have been warned.

[/quote']

 

Wow, you must be one unlucky dude to have skewers, road calipers and mtb calipers made by the same company all go bad at the same time.

[AndreZA]

Does anything bling we buy make sense?

 

I actually un-blinged my bike. No point and the originals works better.

 

Anyone for silver KCNC pulleys?

 

 

[Christie]

Are you sure KCNC is single pivot?

 

Positive - I have a set' date=' single pivot for sure.

 

...The road callipers are even worse, the brake strengh is really bad and as of late my back calliper pulls right and stays right against the f'ing rim, now I have to open it up all the way leaving me without bake brakes. You have been warned.

 

Single pivot brakes are sometimes hard to center, but the KCNCs have got a pin to keep them straight.

 

I would guess that your problem is with the attachment to the frame. Either the "nut" is too short and does not engage the "bolt"well, or the metal is not gripping well on the frame - for this you can try one of those spikey washer thingies.

[Johan Bornman]

I got the Skewers and the Mtb and Road Callipers / Brakes.

 

The skewers open up by themselves on occation' date=' the Brakes on the Mtb are very very sensitve and the callipers are lower than the normal Shimano goodies, so much so that it might rub against your tyre if it's got big nobbies.

 

The road callipers are even worse, the brake strengh is really bad and as of late my back calliper pulls right and stays right against the f'ing rim, now I have to open it up all the way leaving me without bake brakes. You have been warned.

[/quote']

 

It is quite refreshing to find someone not defending their purchase but objectively analysing it and pointing out its faults. My experience is that the more an item costs, the more its owner will defent it.

 

I've looked at those skewers and promised my arse never to put those skewers on my bike.  I've never seen the V-brake arms (?) you describe but if it is as you say, it is an inferior product.

 

Single pivots are notoriously difficult to centre. The slightest bit of friction differential on the two springs and you have a biased caliper.

 

I am warned.

[TheLegend]

 

I got the Skewers and the Mtb and Road Callipers / Brakes.

 

The skewers open up by themselves on occation' date=' the Brakes on the Mtb are very very sensitve and the callipers are lower than the normal Shimano goodies, so much so that it might rub against your tyre if it's got big nobbies.

 

The road callipers are even worse, the brake strengh is really bad and as of late my back calliper pulls right and stays right against the f'ing rim, now I have to open it up all the way leaving me without bake brakes. You have been warned.

[/quote']

 

It is quite refreshing to find someone not defending their purchase but objectively analysing it and pointing out its faults. My experience is that the more an item costs, the more its owner will defent it.

 

I've looked at those skewers and promised my arse never to put those skewers on my bike.  I've never seen the V-brake arms (?) you describe but if it is as you say, it is an inferior product.

 

Single pivots are notoriously difficult to centre. The slightest bit of friction differential on the two springs and you have a biased caliper.

 

I am warned.

 

agh, marius is just a pansie - he probably didn't set the brakes up properly.

 

[Marius]

Yeah, I just noticed last night after doing Killarney without brake just how sensitive the brake setup is. I was so frustrated with them after training at neck break speeds with out breaks I got home, took them off and opened them up, took them apart and applied some oil, thinking it might help...well, I don't know if it did, I managed to put them together again, but they looked all lobsided and crooked...so I took them appart again and pulled the wire thingy a bit more to the left this time, Oooooo glory, not the thing is totally lobsided and only one side "pulls" in when I apply the brake, I'm really gatvol of this stupid brakes!! I'm taking them in to Mark today, he can figure the k@k out..

[Morwa]

I'm also riding with the KCNC SC Bone flat bars.  My only experience is don't tighten the bar-ends to much.  Bend the bars where the bar-ends tightens.  So....very very soft.  And there's no bar end plugs to fit the SC Bone bars.  Tried Hope Grip Doctors....but hole is to big. 

[GoLefty!!]

Scandium:

 

Much of what Johan and a few others has said is correct. Scandium does improve yield strength but only slightly.

It's primary function is too make the grain boundaries in the metal longer so that they contact over a bigger area. This improves FATIGUE life of aluminium alloys.

 

Why only fatigue life? Well if you make a part superlight out of any aluminium alloy it has to be super stiff and therefore super uncomfortable. not a desirable properly. A few sprinklings of Scandium dust by the alchemist and hey presto you have a thin  walled tube that you can bend repeatedly without it workhardening, cracking and failing. Thats what scandium does, its all it does. increased yield strength comes from other alloying compounds like Zinc, Tn Copper, Magnesium etc. Scandium is a grain boundary refiner. Nothing more,nothing less.

 

In any bicycle componet that says "SCANDIUM", there is precious little scandium present, it's all mostly alloys of Aluminium.

 

I could give the history of scandium in the aviation industry but I think I posted that somewhere already.

 

also, they don't turn Mig's into bicycle parts. They turn Migs into Migs. The scandium containing alloys are used in the Main spar and backbone ofthe airframe. These are high value alloys and are not downgraded to bicycle parts. They are reforged into new main spars and backbones for new airframes.

 

The only place its useful on a bicycle are the seatpost and rear triangle of the frame where compliance is soughafter. Anywhere else it's a waste. because you want stiff main frames and bars, stem, cranks.

 

wy on earth anyone would want to use it on a brake caliper is anyones guess.

 

I'm sure the devil made them do it.