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Omega gets an Upgrade
article & images by Nick Salazar
Oct 22, 2012  hits 14,136

The Omega is now in production! Get yours from the TriRig Store.
New nylon rollers reduce friction and eliminate the need for grease

Update: these upgraded parts are now in every new Omega brake sold. But they are no longer available for purchase as a separate upgrade kit. The ONLY way to get these 'Gen 2' parts is to buy a new Omega.

Time for a little update on the Omega brake! It's been an amazing journey. Just four months ago, we began shipping the very first Omega brakes to our customers. The response from the triathlon community has been overwhelmingly positive for these little buggers, and we at TriRig are incredibly grateful for that.

But we haven't been resting on our laurels. We've been working on a number of other production projects like the Gamma extensions and the Sigma stem, and some others that are still a secret, but we didn't forget about the Omega. We carefully listened to feedback from our customers, to hear about what bits you loved and what bits might stand to be improved. We've instituted a number of rolling changes to new brakes, the most significant of which are about to be released.

So I'm going to walk you through these new revisions. But before we get going, the upshot is this: All NEW orders will have all of these new upgrade parts included already. If you ALREADY own an Omega, you can buy these parts as an Upgrade Kit in the Store. There's nothing wrong with the origina parts, and they will continue to work fine. But we have made the Upgrade Kit available because we know some of you will want to have the latest and greatest.

Stronger pad holders reduce breakage risk

Okay, with that out of the way, let's get to the meat of it. There are two major changes here. First, the Levers have been revised to include a nylon roller instead of acting in a friction interface with the Wedge. This increase the service life of the brake, and also means you don't have to grease the Wedge any more. I'm all for making things easier, and this was one way we could do it. The rollers are even color-consistent (black brakes get black rollers, white brakes get white ones). They're held in place with a simple tension pin.

The second upgrade has to do with the Pad Holders. The threaded boss that held the M5 Pad Holder bolt is somewhat small, and prone to over-torqueing. People were getting a little heavy-handed on their wrenches and shearing it right off, breaking the pad holder in two. So we changed it from a cylindrical boss to a conical one. It now interfaces with the Brake Arm in a cup-and-cone mate that makes the pad holder much stronger, but also creates a stronger grip between the two parts.

And that's really the long and the short of it. We put together an Upgrade Kit that consists of two new Levers, two new Pad Holders, and two new Brake Arms (to fit the new Pad Holders). It comes with all the relevant bolts, so if you order a kit, you'll end up with some extra bolts to keep as backups. And again, EVERY new Omega sold will have these parts included. So if you're thinking of buying, now is a good time. If you already own, we've got you covered too.

Tags » centerpull,  omega,  tririg
  • The Levers have had rollers installed to reduce friction and improve service life.
  • The new pad holders use a cup-and-cone interface for greater strength and a tighter fit.
  • The Brake Arms had to be modified for the new conical interface.
  • Here is the complete Upgrade Kit in white.
  • You can see an old Pad Holder (left) compared to a beefier new one on the right.
  • Here is a complete white Omega with the new parts.
  • You can barely tell they're there, but the rollers make the service of the brake easier.
  • The new pad holders look identical from the outside, but have greatly improved strength.
  • The white Omega.
  • Of course, the kit is available in black as well.
  • Here is the black Lever, which gets a black roller as well.
  • Color-matched rollers keep the brakes looking very sleek indeed.

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