We starting to be big fans of SRAM. Not just because the stuff works and looks good, but because it seems to making a great job of running a load of separate brands but making them all work together. It’s not SRAM’s way to buy up a respected brand and then bin the name – RockShox, Avid and Truvativ are all part of the SRAM empire, still carry the original branding, but with each iteration each brand converges in style with the others.

All of which pontification brings us neatly to this, the new Avid Juicy Carbon disc brake. Following the announcement of SRAM’s new X.0 transmission, all silver and carbon fibre, the launch of a brake to go with it is the next natural step. And here it is, all silver and carbon fibre.

The new brake takes Avid’s popular Juicy Seven and adds a big pile of extra toys. The lever itself is now carbon fibre to shave some grams. The Speed Dial knob, that lets you choose at what point in the lever stroke the pads actually contact the rotor, is anodised aluminium rather than the slightly easily-mangled plastic dial on the Sevens. Ease-of-setup features like the split lever clamp and TriAlign caliper mount are present and correct, enhanced with titanium mounting bolts.

The new brake will be available in 160, 185 and 203mm flavours, with a front 160mm brake claimed to weigh 395g. In keeping with the weirdness of the bike industry calendar, the 2006 brake will be available in July 2005. More details at www.sram.com.