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Fantastic, thanks for the review! I'm a weenie deep down (when the bank account allows), and there's definitely a few on here.
The bending doesn't entice me, even if they do work. The interested friend is placing well at local hillclimbs so has more investment in them, but I'm unsure if he'd be able to get over the flex.
I first heard of them on your tourer post, didn't make the connection between the two threads! Interested to see how you get on with them on with them over distance. I'll be keeping an eye out!
Arnomatic
Yes they did! I mentioned them in the thread about my touring bike project but I haven't written them up here because I thought I would probably be the only weight weenie at LFGSS. Actually, even at the weight weenies forum I seem to be in a minority of one. Nobody else admits to liking them, and they've nearly all given up on rim brakes anyway. And they all hate Ted Ciamillo, who has stiffed pretty much everyone in the world.
The seller claims they've sold 23 pairs and there are 3 positive reviews. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003081042664.html
They do work, they're easy to fit if you follow the instructions and they don't need lots of adjustment. I'm using them with Sram Red Etap 11 levers. They need more throw than my Sram calipers
The downsides are that they look and feel flimsy and they're narrower than the Lekki8, probably no good for rims wider than 25mm. And after max pressure has been applied between rim and pads, you can continue to squeeze the lever, because the arms bend so much! Probably best not to do that. But very weird to see.
There are stories of them breaking but I've not been able to pin them down. One story does have a photo to authenticate it- allegedly it shows that the 'finger' has cracked. The finger is an AL7075 casting and the instructions say it might be damaged if you don't set the 'lobe' correctly. See the para about 'How to use the microcam'. It's vital to get this right before you fit the calipers. https://www.lekki8.com/instructions The cracked finger story is about a pair installed by a customer. So if it's a true story it could well be a case of RTFM. The other breakage stories are garbled and seem to be about arms snapping near the pad holder. Some of it is probably sour grapes...Ted does have a lot of very bitter enemies.
My theory is that the brakes on aliexpress are a legit Ciamillo product,and were going to be the Lekki8, but Ted redesigned them for wider rims after production had started, leaving his supplier in the lurch with stock of a model which Ciamillo has never announced.
The other difference is that they have the long pad holder extensions from the Ciamill0 Brompton B1 model. No idea why.