I got the Barely There Brake Booster for one of my bikes! Look how beautiful it looks.
EVOO × Motolite × Brake Booster (Shovel Research) a pretty irresistible combination.
A brake booster is a part designed to reduce the reaction force transferred to the frame when you apply the brakes.
The arch helps keep the frame from flexing outward under braking.
So the obvious question is: does it actually make a difference?
With disc brakes being so common these days, I’ve still spent all this time riding alongside everyone on rim brakes.
I’ve taken them out into the mountains and on forest roads, ridden MTB parks, and even raced around the wilds of Hakuba Village in pouring rain at OMM
I’m usually the one behind the camera, so the worse the conditions get, the fewer photos there are of me. But I’ve ridden in all kinds of environments, through rain like this, through plenty of mud, and pretty much everything in between.
So, do they actually make a difference?
At the risk of being misunderstood, here’s my completely honest take:
The EVOO × Motolite setup already works so well and has more than enough braking power on its own, so I didn’t feel any dramatic improvement from adding the brake booster.
That’s not to say the booster didn’t work. If anything, it says more about just how good the EVOO × Motolite combination already is.
Ron’s EVOO also has an aluminum frame with a steel fork, so there isn’t a whole lot of flex to begin with. I think that’s another reason why the benefits of the booster were harder to notice.
That said, I’m still extremely happy with the EVOO × Motolite × Brake Booster (SHOVEL RESEARCH) setup.
A big part of that satisfaction may simply come from the excitement I get from the design of their products.
But there’s also one undeniable fact: even when I’m riding in a group where everyone else is on disc brakes, I can keep up without feeling like my brakes are holding me back at all.
And if you’re riding a frame that feels noticeably more flexible, I’d imagine the benefits of a brake booster would be much easier to feel than they were for me.
Now, about the Motolite × Brake Booster setup.
There’s just one small thing to keep in mind when installing it, so I’ll leave a quick note here.
Before fitting the Brake Booster to the Motolite, take a moment to appreciate the SHOVEL RESEARCH name etched into the underside of this ultra-thin booster.
Once it’s installed, this part is almost completely hidden from view. So this is pretty much your one chance to really admire it.
or installation, the brake itself and the booster are fastened together using the bolts circled in red.
You’ll also need the following hardware:
- Two slightly longer bolts: M6 × 30 mm
- Two spacers: 8 mm high × 10 mm wide × 6 mm inner diameter
In other words, you’ll need spacers to raise the booster slightly, along with longer bolts to make up for that extra height.
The original bolts shown at the top are too short for this setup.
Once installed, it should look like this.
You’ll need a spacer here, so keep that in mind if you’re planning to pair the booster with Motolite brakes.
