The Tririg Omega X brake provides an exceptionally clever design that’s powerful, fast and very easy to live with.
For over a decade, Tririg’s Nick Salazar has been determinedly creating thoughtfully designed, minimal and practical alternatives to existing tri bike components. One of the brand’s most popular early offerings was the supremely aerodynamic Omega brake, which launched in 2012.
The Omega X, an upgraded model, followed in 2015 and while that makes it a little long in the tooth in bike technology terms, its brilliance remains undimmed to this day.
So, what makes the Omega X so special? Nothing less than the fact that Tririg has perfected the aero rim brake. It’s extremely powerful, has exceptional modulation, is easy to adjust and saves watts too.
The centre-pull design utilises a wedge system upon which the brake arms rest. When the wedge is pulled upwards by the brake cable, the rollers on the sidearms are engaged, levering the pads into contact with the rim’s braking surface. It’s beautifully simple yet devastatingly effective.
When you pull the brake, it engages rapidly. If you pull hard, it brakes hard. When you let go, the brake arms snap back instantly. This lever feel and braking feedback is incredibly confidence inspiring, as opposed to the often squishy feeling that comes with most aero rim brakes, whether integrated or bolt-on.
Tririg has also considered the ease of installation as much as performance. The brake fits both single bolt and direct mount bikes thanks to a clever bridge adapter for Shimano and TRP U-Mount, which is included with the brake.
The cable is simply inserted into the top of the brake, secured with a central grub screw in the wedge and trimmed to length. A plastic aero cover is then secured with magnets. This part is the only weak link we’ve come across with the Omega X, our model developing a few hairline cracks that don’t impair performance – and to be fair, that’s after four years of day to day use.
Ensuring correct pad alignment is simply a case of securing hex bolts while grub screws on each of the arms allow you to independently adjust spread up to 32mm wide. This is so quick and easy – there’s zero fiddling with cable tension to accommodate your wider race wheels.
The super-slim design (64mm at its widest point) means the Omega X stays well within the fork profile of most bikes and with its wind tunnel tested credentials, it should mean a drag saving for any tri bike with an out-front brake. Coming in at just 129g including the brake shoes and supplied Kool-Stop salmon pads, there’s no weight penalty for the Omega X, either.
