I know Shimano 105 calipers were available in black (anyone want to get rid of a set?) but what else is available? These are for the Soma

Also, black levers? Hmm.. as much as I dislike Campag do the carbon Records come as a brake-only option? :-)

wayne: If I can find something nice to swap the Campag calipers/levers for you've got first dibs..

i have a front tektro, no rear sorry

My Campag mirage is in black. Mmmmmm.

Hippy

you sir, are a gentleman and a scholar

and not what 31trum called you...

I might ditch the rear although it does make it look more like a complete road bike - which is quite nice as it's my longer distance fixed.
Depends on what I can fill the rear brake boss with.

cycling proficiency badge?

Seems Record calipers are black. Pity I'm trying to ditch Campag. Want something bling too if at all possible, to match the black Phils.


Oooh errr now we're talking! (http://www.parker-international.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/2351) £80 though. :S

then get mavics

Ah, yes, Mavics might do it! (Can their logo be removed easily?)



Or.. hello nurse!



Only £250 for the stainless ones.. £325 for titanium!!

These are only 990 € (£ 671 a pair) !!

What about the new Campagnolo Skeleton brakes. They look really good IMHO.

gotta love brake calipers that cost than most of our bikes.

hippy, and if u haven't forgotten i'm interested in those tyres, wink wink nudge nudge

do they brake automatically at the sight of danger? Can they make tea?

That's the problem.. the Campag brakes I have 'look' good but I don't like the levers or the braking performance of the calipers.
I really should change the pads to something fresh but now I'm keen on black calipers so fsck it! :)
The Campag Skeleton are still £150 a set! Ouch!

Grey Ultegra work but looks?

I know.. but I told ya I need replacements for 'em. I gave my last spare to my gf as her tyre was old and fscked.

Dream: I'm thinking carbon Record levers and Zero Gravity calipers.. fscking 'ell!!! :D

Get the Mavic ones!

Do you have some? :)

Edit: Has anyone used the Mavics? Comments?

On separate bikes I have (in black) a pair of Mavics, a pair of Zero Gravitys and a pair of Dia Compe Grand Compe 9000 Titanium, all in their own way look great. The Mavic's are great, I don't know if the leaf springs actually make them more responsive or whether it's just psychosomatic, but I love em. I use them with Mavic Mektronic levers. The Zero Gravity's were a pain to set up and to start with were a bit temperamental, the pads took ages to break in and I couldn’t change them for something else as the cassettes are non-standard but looked too good to ditch. Once set up and broken in they feel great and have more raw braking power than anything else I’ve used. I use these with SRAM Force levers. The Dia Compe’s have a really classic look to them and a nice finish but the titanium hardware’s been a disaster. I’ve had both pinch bolts shear so have had to replace them with stainless steel bolts, not the end of the world but a bit galling when they started out with shiny titanium bits. Maybe it’s just me but I found it tricky setting these up to get decent braking performance out of them, I didn’t try changing the standard pads for something better and this was probably a mistake. They work okay but don’t have as much “feel” as the Mavics and don’t come close to the Zero Gravitys. On the upside you can (as I did) sometimes pick them up cheap from kinetic-one on ebay, see link below;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DC-Titanium-Brake-Calipers-Road-Racing-Triathlon-Bike_W0QQitemZ170143199108QQihZ007QQcategoryZ33503 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

oh and I use these with Profile QS2 bar end brake levers. If you’re willing to consider spending not entirely sensible sums of money two brakes (also available in black) that I reckon would be worth looking at are M5’s Bram’s brake and Paul’s racer.

M5 are a recumbent manufacturer run by Bram Moens who have in recent years developed some rather nice bits of light weight kit, with Bram’s brake, Bram set out to produce the lightest, stiffest brake possible, it also looks great. I was going to get a set of these but managed to get the Zero Gravitys cheap from a friend. Bit of me still wishes I’d gone for the M5’s, they cost 395 euros a pair, can see them here;

http://www.m5-ligfietsen.nl/site/EN/_m5__Lightweight_bike_parts/M5-side-pull-brake/

Paul’s racer’s are almost the exact opposite, his modern take on a pair of traditional centrepulls. I’ve not seen a pair in the flesh so to speak but had a set of his motolites on my Xtracycle and they were beautifully finished and worked flawlessly, no reason to think the racers would be any different. They’re $266 a pair (plus shipping and taxes) and you can see them here;

http://www.paulcomp.com/racer.html

I also like the look of the titanium Campagnolo records, on reflection I think FRM’s light weight callipers are available in black to. I would have posted some pictures but I can't work out how to find out the address for the location of pictures I've uploaded to Flickr, I realise there's another thread on posting pictures but can anyone enlighten me?

Dia Compe 9000 Ti = shearing bolts, no thanks
ZG's = £250, look v. nice but £££
M5 Brams = £286.00, look v. nice but £££ (I'd love them but half the cost of the bike 'again' on brakes that I don't actually need..)
Mavic = £125, nice and still expensive but these are looking good.
Paul Racer = interesting but not my style

Thanks for the massive and informative post! Exposed some options I've never seen before - if a little pricey :)

Right-click on the image to find its full path (it should end with .jpg or .gif, etc.) then past that into the image tags (click the little screen icon above this 'Enter your comments' editor box)

Ha-ha, thanks Brett, I to now know how to post pictures, here are some pictures of the aforementioned M5 brakes.

No, but you can use them to stir your tea.

ahhh, bargain!

I forgot about these, how about Miche's black calipers;



if you only need a front brake this bloke's selling a rear on ebay you could swap the mounting bolt on to make it a front brake;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Miche-Performance-rear-brake-caliper-for-road-TT-bikes_W0QQitemZ190144101726QQihZ009QQcategoryZ2794 9QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
or if you need a pair Kinetic-one are selling them on ebay for no more than £35.90 (+postage)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Miche-Team-Calipers-Road-Racing-Triathlon-Bike_W0QQitemZ170141590544QQihZ007QQcategoryZ33503 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My last post on this thread, I promise! Thought I'd drop in a picture of the black FRM calipers, I've never used them but they look rather nice and while not inexpensive are cheaper than the ZGs.

They're on ebay here for £135 (but coming from Japan which may prove expensive/risky, though the sellers got oodles of +ve feedback)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-FRM-CALIPER-CL2-Ti-Set-road-brakes-Front-Rear-192gr_W0QQitemZ280146672799QQihZ018QQcategoryZ2794 9QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

cane creek BR200sl..?...lightweight and black!

Brakes?

lol
but you will need them on your scorpion trike recumbent Mr object!

Yeah, they're those things that let me corner faster than brakeless riders.. :P

(Not actually true, can't corner to save my life, but I'm not taking any brakeless shit :P)

Cane Creek SCR-5:

http://www.canecreek.com/scr-5.html

FSA SLK:


Tektro R310:


Tektro R580:


Tektro R750 (£95/pr, 296g):


Campag Mirage (£25):


Campag Record D Skeleton (£125):


Campagnolo Veloce-D Infinite Skeleton Brakes (£53):


Mavic SSC Brakes (£110, 314g):

Here's a nice resource for brake calipers, weights, prices and stuff..
http://roadcomponentsdb.com/index.php?category=brakes&ROWS=20&man=1=1&orderby= 3

P00bags! The Mavics have no quick release. :(
I (heart) my Shimano brake's QR lever.

Campy (nor the Mavic it seems) brakes don't have quick-release mechs on the brakes. Campy build the release mechanism into the hoods, which makes it harder to run a mixed system.

I know, but I have old Campy levers (until I change them as well) that don't have a QR so I'd like a QR on the calipers.

No Smeear. Bad Smeear. I will not be buying a recumbant (This year)