Trickstuff Piccola HD Titanium
Intended Use: Trail / All-Mountain
Features:
- Four-piston caliper
- Radial master cylinder assembly
- Adjustable reach (2mm Allen key)
- 3D printed titanium lever blade
- Kevlar hoses
- Bionol vegetable-oil-based fluid
- 850 pad shape (shared with SRAM G2 / Guide / Level four-piston)
Stated Weight: 212 g (front) / 230 g (rear)
MSRP: €1,100 w/ 19% VAT; North American pricing TBA
Intro
Trickstuff has been making very light, very expensive brakes in Germany for some time now, but their products have generally been hard to come by in North America. We’d hoped that Trickstuff’s acquisition by DT Swiss would change that, and while it took a few years to get there, Trickstuff has expanded its production capacity to the point that they’re ready to offer official North American distribution through DT Swiss. They’re also launching an updated version of their four-piston Trail brake, the Piccola HD, now featuring a 3D-printed titanium lever blade. Let’s see what they’ve been up to.
Design
There are four models in Trickstuff’s current brake lineup, ranging from the XC-oriented Piccola Carbon to the gravity-focused Maxima, with the Piccola HD Titanium and Direttissima in between.
All four models use two-piece calipers and lever bodies machined from aluminum, with stainless steel pistons that are extensively hollowed out to save weight and slow heat transfer from the pads to the brake fluid. All of Trickstuff’s brakes use Bionol vegetable-oil-based fluid, which Trickstuff says has a much higher boiling point than either mineral oil or DOT fluids, between 360° and 420° C at atmospheric pressure. The models differ in their lever design, piston count / size, and lever blade material, depending on their intended use, as detailed below. All of Trickstuff’s brakes are made in Germany.
Piccola HD Titanium
We’ll start with the Piccola HD Titanium, since it’s the lone model getting an update right now — the existing Piccola Carbon, Direttissima, and Maxima continue unchanged. The Piccola HD Titanium uses Trickstuff’s smaller, lighter Piccola radial master cylinder assembly paired to a four-piston caliper. The C42 caliper used in the Piccola HD Titanium features two 17 mm and two 14 mm pistons, and uses the same pad shape as SRAM G2 / Guide / Level four-piston calipers. It’s compatible with rotors up to 2.1 mm thick. Trickstuff’s stated weight of 212 g (front) / 230 g (rear) for the Piccola HD Titanium is very notably light for a four-piston Trail brake, and is substantially lighter than even many two-piston XC ones.
The new titanium lever blades are also available separately and can be retrofitted to existing Piccola HD Carbon and Piccola Carbon brakes. We don’t yet have pricing for the lever blade upgrade, but a full Piccola HD Titanium brake set retails for €1,100, including 19% VAT.
Piccola Carbon
Now we’ll circle back to the most XC-oriented brake in the Trickstuff lineup, the Piccola Carbon. This version uses the same master cylinder assembly as the Piccola HD Titanium, just with the same carbon fiber lever blade that Trickstuff has offered for some time in place of the new titanium one.
Where we’d expect to see more of a difference is in heat management, with the bigger, heavier four-piston caliper of the Piccola HD Titanium presumably able to absorb and dissipate heat more effectively over longer descents. And speaking of weight, the Piccola Carbons are really light, at a stated weight of 340 grams for the pair. That’s lighter than a single SRAM Maven Ultimate or Magura Gustav Pro brake (which, granted, are both four-piston gravity brakes that deliberately feature calipers with extra material for heat dissipation reasons). Still, that’s also a lot lighter than most two-piston XC brakes (e.g., Shimano XTR M9100s are about 65 grams heavier per pair).
The C22 caliper used in the Piccola Carbon uses the same pad shape as SRAM’s two-piston brakes (Level two-piston, various drop-bar brakes, and a number of other two-piston brakes from Magura and Campagnolo). They’re available in both post- and flat-mount versions, and are compatible with rotors up to 2.1 mm thick. MSRP is €1,100 for a pair, including 19% VAT.
Direttissima
The Direttissima uses the same C42 caliper used in the Piccola HD Titanium, but with a bigger lever assembly that positions the master cylinder roughly parallel to the handlebar, in contrast to the radial Piccola one. Both lever versions use a 9 mm diameter piston, but the Direttissima lever offers more mechanical advantage for increased power and a tool-free reach adjuster. The Direttisima lever is machined from aluminum, and the MSRP for a pair is €1,100, including VAT. Their stated weight is 520 grams per pair — substantially less than the vast majority of four-piston brakes.
Maxima
Finally, the Maxima is Trickstuff’s most powerful gravity-oriented brake. It uses the same master cylinder assembly as the Direttissima, but with a different lever blade assembly that produces greater mechanical advantage for more power. The Maxima caliper is also bigger than the C42 one used in the Direttissima and Piccola HD Titanium, with two 17 mm and two 16 mm pistons, which should produce further gains in power over the Direttissima at the expense of some weight. The Maxima caliper uses the same pad shape as Hope V4 calipers and is compatible with rotors up to 2.3 mm thick.
The Maxima uses Goodridge braided stainless steel hoses by default, but lighter Kevlar hoses are also offered — either for folks who want a lighter option than the Goodridge ones, or who simply need a smaller diameter hose to fit through their frame’s internal routing. The black and “carbon effect” versions of the Goodridge hoses feature a plastic sheath over the stainless steel portion of the hose that bumps the outer diameter up to 6 mm; the raw stainless steel version forgoes that sheath for a standard 5 mm outer diameter, which is the same as the Kevlar version. Trickstuff lists the weight of the Maxima at 540 grams for the pair with the lighter Kevlar hoses, or 580 grams with Goodridge ones. MSRP for a pair is €1,300, including 19% VAT.
Distribution
Trickstuff’s brakes have historically been hard to come by in North America, between not having formal distribution and generally limited availability due to production capacity. DT Swiss bought Trickstuff in late 2021 and is now officially distributing their products in North America.
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) Trickstuff brakes have always been expensive, but have received a lot of praise from folks who’ve spent time on them. How do their various models perform, and what do they do on the trail to justify their premium price?
(2) Having official North American distribution is a great start, but how available will Trickstuff brakes really be on this side of the pond? They’ve historically been produced in small numbers with very long wait times, making them hard to come by even by folks who are willing to pay for them. (For what it’s worth, Trickstuff’s Germany-based direct sales site shows limited availability of both Piccola variants, but many of the Direttissima and Maxima versions are in stock at the time of publication. That site only allows for shipping in Europe, and North American distribution will be handled separately.)
Bottom Line (For Now)
We’ve long been very intrigued by Trickstuff brakes, but they’ve been hard to come by, especially in North America. Trickstuff’s new distribution through DT Swiss is an exciting step, and we’ve got multiple versions of their brakes on the way for review. We should be receiving the Maxima very shortly, with Piccola Carbon and Piccola HD Titanium sets to follow, so stay tuned for much more on them as we progress with our testing.