Today was the first time I got to use my grooved graphene brake track in the wet. It felt a lot like my alloys. I had to clear the water from the track before I could get real power. And insufficient power would mean the water wouldn’t clear.

The biggest difference was that, if I got hasty and grabbed a bunch of brake to clear the water quickly, the brakes would BITE right after. So I guess it takes a bit more force to clear the water. Overall, I would not rate the modulation on this brake setup. It’s functional, but not very easy to use effectively.

The main issue was this:

^12 second clip. Seems like, at a particular stick-slip frequency, my bike starts juddering. Luckily, this only happens at low speeds. I also had a similar issue when using crappy brake calipers with sticky kool stop pads on alloy rims. The whole bike would shudder and it would sound like a train horn. But that happened at higher speeds. I assume this is a function of the stick vs slip characteristics.

The brake track also turned a bit white after the ride. I wiped it with a paper towel and a bunch of grime came off it. Not sure if it’s road grit or brake pad compound. The track color seems to be returning to normal now.

Lastly, the rims filled up with quite a bit of water. One dry-ish ride was not enough to completely empty the rear. The front was pretty ok. Thinking of figuring out how to plug the valve hole, which is the most open entryway. I have internal nipples, so it’s hard for water to get in that way. Some people on WW recommend asking LB for drain holes but that would definitely affect aero unless you put in a plug.

Just wanted to toss in this small update for anyone who might still be on rim brakes lol