Trickstuff Premium MTB brakes, made in Germany

I happily accepted the invitation and on the next day I headed to the Trickstuff headquarters in Freiburg-Merzhausen, a picturesque suburb outside of the city. When I walked in, I was kindly greeted by the entire team comprised of 5 employees, Klaus and a few four-legged friends.

At the bike festival, I was super impressed by the Direttissima and Piccola MTB disc brakes. Their construction, contact point and the ability to mix and match colours for each individual part were part of the reason why I accepted Klaus’s invitation to Trickstuff. It is also always a treat to see German engineering at work.

After I arrived, Klaus sat me down in front of a computer and showed me how the Direttissima brake is constructed. It was clear that the designer, Cornelius, had put thought into every detail and tried to improve even the smallest of parts that make up a good brake. Of course, this wasn’t done alone and Cornelius and Klaus often had long discussions about the tiniest of details, like whether to use ball bearings or bushings in the brake lever. For the record, ball bearings won out. This resulted in them also being used in what has become the most lightweight brake set (316 g) on the market, the Piccola.

After the design process, the brakes are CNC-machined. Both the Direttissima and the Piccola are cut out of a single block of aluminium. For each brake, it can take up to 45 min. to finish the raw machining. It may seem a little ridiculous to take so much time, but when you have the machined pieces in your hand, you know it is definitely worth it. Even without the brakes being assembled, they look beautiful. Here, Klaus reminds me that they don’t just look great, but they also perform flawlessly.

After a round of quality control, the machined parts are anodized. One of the things that makes Trickstuff so great, is the amount of colours they have available. Each part is anodized in multiple colours, which gives the customer the chance to mix and match as much as they like.

Assembling each MTB brake, whether Direttissima or Piccola, takes roughly two hours. Oliver, the employee responsible for assembly, checks, preps and puts the parts together. To make sure everything fits perfectly, he also polishes and machines contact areas before assembling.

At one point, Oliver told me that each and every brake he assembles still excites him. This goes for the wildest of colour combos as well. It was easy for me to understand, because once you have the parts in your hand, it is hard to put them down.

Markus, responsible for quality control, goes through the process of seeing how much brake power each one can deliver. The highly sensitive test machines can also check the temperature and the stopping power of various types of brake pads. This ensures that the correct pad is selected for each type of brake.

The test stands also ensure the high quality of each brake assembled at Trickstuff.

After seeing how detailed the Trickstuff team works on each individual brake, I was excited about the chance to try out the Drittissima. Klaus gave me a test bike and I took it for a spin near their headquarters. I tapped the brakes and felt an immediately response that left me speechless. I was shocked at how much power they really have.

Now that I have spent a day with Trickstuff, I know how hard the team works to produce their high quality products. The best part is, they don’t just offer strong and lightweight MTB brakes, but also small parts like brake rotors and pads that can improve your existing brakes. Overall, I was impressed with Trickstuff and was happy I had the chance to stop by and check out their headquarters.