Brembo, one of the most recognisable brands in motorsport, has joined forces with Specialized to bring its coveted brakes to downhill racing. While not the Italian brand’s first rodeo – yes, it did offer a mountain bike brake back in 2008 – and this time it’s serious. But aside from confirming the rumours, this announcement is wafer thin on tech details. Guess we’ll have to do some speculation then…

Ferrari red… a nod to Brembo’s motorsport heritage? Credit: Billy Ceusters

What do we know about the Brembo/Specialized brakes?

Very little, it has to be said. The press release is full of puff, such as “This collaboration brings together two brands with deep roots in competition and a relentless drive to win”. And “this venture brings that same championship-winning engineering into mountain biking—giving Specialized Gravity athletes unprecedented control and stopping power”. You know, that sort of thing. Sure, we know that Brembo acquired Ohlins suspension last year, so the MTB connection is there, but if you’re looking for details like piston size, fluid type, rotor diameter, or even basics such as if and when the brakes will be available to buy, you’re going to be disappointed. There’s nothing in the press release. Nada.

The levers look burly, with an angular design that stands out from the crowd. Credit: Billy Ceusters

From the images, we can see that the Brembo mtb brakes use a cast four-piston caliper that’s bolted together in two places. The pads look to be top-loading and sintered metal, although we’d assume an organic compound is also available at the very least. The one-piece steel rotors are 2.3mm thick, with a 200mm option definitely available. We’d assume there’s also a 220mm version, but can’t be sure.

A cast four-piston caliper clamps the basic-looking one-piece rotor.

Moving to the lever, and it uses a conventional piston rather than a radial design, where the hose exits close to the bar for a neat cockpit set-up. There’s a reach adjustment dial incorporated into the lever blade, similar to a Hayes Dominion. But there’s also a second adjustment on the front of the lever body marked with ‘S’ and ‘L’. This is likely to be some kind of pad clearance adjustment, giving riders the opportunity to advance the pistons slightly and tune how much lever travel is needed to actuate the brake. On its motorcycle brakes, Brembo has something called RCS, or Ratio Click System. It adjusts the position of the lever pivot relative to the piston, basically tuning the leverage. ‘S’ stands for ‘Sport’ and ‘L’ stands for ‘Long/less aggressive’ so it’s likely rotating this cam will give riders the choice of a firmer, more binary brake feel, or a softer lever feel that’s easier to modulate.

Common six-bolt mounting makes sense – we’d be surprised to see a Centrelock design.

The lever clamp is split and very similar to a SRAM deign, so should be nicely compatible with AXS pods for shifting and dropper post actuation.

Red fluid has to be faster, right?

We’ve got no idea whether the system uses mineral oil or DOT fluid. From the one image of bleeding the brake, it’s obvious the lever has a separate bleed port on the side of the reservoir. The fluid is red, which doesn’t really tell us anything, but the mechanic isn’t using gloves, which could indicate it’s a mineral fluid. On the other hand, given Brembo’s experience in motorsport, where DOT is standard, maybe its glycol based.

Will the brakes come on a new downhill bike? Or is that a still a little way off?

Pricing and availability?

The big question is, when can I get some, and how much will they cost? Usefully there’s also nothing to go on here. One thing is for certain, if this is a collaboration between Specialized and Brembo, there’s no way you’re going to be able to get these brakes without buying them on a complete Specialized bike. At least for the first year. There will definitely be some kind of exclusivity arrangement for a certain period of time. But given that the brakes look production-ready, they’re definitely going on sale one way or another.

Our bet is that there will be a special Turbo Levo with the Brembo brakes first. Maybe with a moto-inspired fork as well.

So if that’s the case, what bike will they come on? Well, the obvious answer is a new downhill bike. Specialized has been testing their prototype for a few years now, and it must be nearing production. But the latest iteration has only been used for a few races, so we reckon the public release of this bike may be a little way off.

What’s more likely, given that these brakes are also fitted to the Specialized Gravity racers’ e-bikes, is that they’ll come on some kind of special edition Turbo Levo. Maybe with custom rotor guards and an upside down fork for that full moto vibe? We shall see. And price? Well, given that they might be be attached to a fancy e-bike, of which the S-Works version already costs £12,500, it’s likely any kind of special edition will be approaching the £15k mark. If not more. That’s mere speculation though, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Oh, and we have a great buyer’s guide If you want to check out the best MTB disc brakes you can actually buy right now.