Ciamillo Design, LLC is a manufacturer specializing in custom super-light road cycling components, established in 2002. With over 30 years of expertise in CNC machining and carbon fiber molding, the company produces a range of high-performance products, including the L8 Ultra Road Brakes, Ciamillo Brakes, and Ciamillo Cranks. Each component is crafted in the USA, utilizing in-house CNC machining, anodizing, and carbon fiber compression molding processes.
Ciamillo Design caters to cycling enthusiasts and professionals seeking lightweight, high-quality components tailored to their specific needs. The company’s offerings include various models of brakes and cranksets, such as the Zero Gravity and Gravitas, which are known for their innovative design and superior performance. By providing customizable solutions and accommodating specialized requirements, Ciamillo Design aims to enhance the cycling experience for customers building custom road bikes.
Ciamillo Design, LLC has a positive customer experience.
Reviewers consistently report positive experiences with Ciamillo Design, LLC. Customers often highlight brakes, ciamillo, brake, years.
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A minority mention drawbacks around never, refund, received, brakes. Overall sentiment is strongly positive with an average rating of 3.9 stars across 55 reviews.
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
Rating, volume, share of the score, six-month trend and fake-review risk for each source
Source
Rating
Reviews
Weight
6-mo
Fake risk
★
Trustpilot
Imported Trustpilot reviews
3.9
55
100%
● Low
3.9 / 5 overall
=
55 reviews across 1 scored source
How fake risk works ⓘ
Reputation trend
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Jun 2025.
Last 3 months
1.0
12-month avg
2.3
All-time
3.9
Category avg
4.1
Monthly averageCategory average
Monthly average rating and review count
Month
Average
Reviews
Jul 24
1.0
1
Aug 24
—
0
Sep 24
—
0
Oct 24
5.0
1
Nov 24
5.0
1
Dec 24
—
0
Jan 25
—
0
Feb 25
—
0
Mar 25
—
0
Apr 25
—
0
May 25
1.0
1
Jun 25
1.0
2
What people praise & complain about
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 55 most recent reviews.
Top praiseof 40 positive reviews
Customer service43%
17 mentions
Fast & efficient25%
10 mentions
Easy to use13%
5 mentions
Quality13%
5 mentions
“Thank you Ted for your exceptional customer support”
On “Customer service” · Oct 20, 2024
Top complaintsof 14 negative reviews
Refund43%
6 mentions
Never received36%
5 mentions
Payment issues36%
5 mentions
Delivery29%
4 mentions
“Not only have they failed to ship my order, but they're also ignoring my refund requests”
On “Refund” · Jun 13, 2025
How it compares
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Sports Equipment.
Overall rating and review count for this company and similar companies
Ciamillo Lekki 8 Brake sets have been perfect finishing pieces for my beloved bikes.
My BMC SLR01 has seen the most kms fitted with the Lekki 8s, providing strong braking whilst keeping the overall weight of the bike extremely low. The durability has been excellent,
and look of this brake set on the BMC was always a head turner.
While I can’t say it was a recent experience I do have and ride several times per week the first pair of Gravitas SL brakes that Ciamillo ever made. They have with stood the test of time. 5 years on my current road bike and several years on the bike before that. What can you say? They modulate well. powerful braking. They look beautiful still years later. They even work well in the wet with carbon fiber rims.They still get positive comments when ever I show up for a team ride on my Blue AC1.
Brilliant engineer that's always on the cutting edge of the bicycle parts industry. Its not everyday that you have someone that can "IMA-GINEERED" a product just by talking about it and coming out with a working product within months. Only be-spoked companies like Ciamillo Design can actually cut all the board room ho ha's and just get on with the job! Just look at the B-1 Brompton Brake Caliper and Gravitas13 cranksets, pretty impressed with the details and workmanship and they really work when installed!
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Super light brakes and more powerful than you would expect. Have done 1000s of KMs on mine over 10 years, and when I needed some tech advice and spare parts recently, the response was very quick and they sorted the issue and posted out the required bits.
I used a set of Ciamillo Gravitas brakes for 10 years and they still work great up this day, the only reason I have replaced them is because the caliper did not open wide enough for the more modern wider wheel sets of these days.
I’m now using the Lekki8 calipers and so far have been happy with them and there performance as well as the service I have received from Ciamillo, Ted has always helped me with any problems and answered any questions I have had about the calipers.
It may take him a little while to get back to you sometimes but I think that is understandable in a small custom operation where your talking to the actual owner and inventor of the product and not just some representative who may or may not know the in’s and out’s of the products. AAA+++
I have been using Ciamillo brakes for 10 years now, last year i bought a pair of Ciamillo Lekki 8,and love the simplicity of setup, and performance, braking is good in all conditions winter wet alloy rims, as well as summer carbon rims, I had a question a few months after purchasing them of which was answered within 30 minutes by a phone call by the man himself Ted ! Absolutely fantastic after sales couldn't be happier with the service and brakes.
Have had a set of Lekki 8 brakes for a couple of years and been really happy with them. First set was a prototype that was replaced because of to narrow rims. The replacement set has been working great.
Design and innovation taken to the extreme limit.
This is not cheap or simple stuff for everybody, but if you want to stick out from the crowd these are excellent.
My favorite set of brakes are Lekki8, because of their weight savings and very good braking, and because I like to support small businesses who focus on innovation.
I’ve ridden on Lekki8 brakes for over two years, and I also have a set of Dura-Ace BR-9100 and a set of eeBrakes G4. Lekki8 are the lightest at 132 grams without pads, followed by eeBrakes at 176g, and DA at 300g, all weighed on my Park Tool DS-2 scale. I only ride in dry weather, and DA has the best braking performance, particularly if you tend to “ride“ your brakes. Lekki8 and eeBrakes are comparable, and are both very good.
Note: I have had problems with cracks at the Lekki8 side posts where the brake pad holders attach, which were covered under warranty. I thought that maybe they were over torqued during installation, but turns out it was a bad batch. Unfortunately, I had to wait several weeks to get them back, probably because of pandemic induced supply chain issues. (I also had to wait a couple of months to get new eeBrakes.)
You can’t go wrong with any of these brakes, but if you’re a weight weenie and want very good, reliable braking, buy Lekki8.
Side note: before I bought Lekki8, I was also nervous about what I read about the company (i.e., customers never receiving product and not getting their money back promptly), but then I found they had a dealer in the US, irishcycles.com, and Joe, the owner, alleviated my concerns, and is very responsive. Ted, the owner of Lekki8, has also moved back to the US, and I’ve spoken to him a few times last week, and he is an upright guy, so I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another set.
Hi, I bought Lekki8 from Ted Ciamillo in 2021 and while the product delivered is as stated (light and functional, though does not provide as powerful braking as the heavier mainstream products), I had to wait 3 MONTHS for the product to arrive, following my payment.
In the meantime, I was deceived and manipulated by Ted in his procrastinating emails and lost a lot of nerves and time. The delay also messed up my training and racing plans.
All in all, I am fortunate not to have been completely robbed by this person. Customer service at Ciamillo is horrible, so take that into account when considering purchasing an otherwise cool product from TC.
I have been riding a Serotta Ottroat Ti/Carbon bike I built about 20 years ago. While I have replaced components over the 20 year span, the bake calibers are original. They are a pair of original Zero Gravity Ti brakes from Ciamillo Design. They have held up incredibly well over the years in all riding conditions. It appears over the years my sweat dripping down took a toll on the cable adjuster on the front caliber and it would not adjust. I reached out to Ted at Cianillo Design and asked if I could purchase a new adjuster for the caliber. He quickly responded with sure, I'll send you new ones for the front and back. Then he said he would send them at no charge, wow! It's rare you find a company that supports any product that is 20 years old. I just wanted to give a shoutout to Ted at Ciamillo Design for the impressive product support and customer service!
Thank you, Ted!
Horrible experience - ordered brakes and never received them. However, they took our money. Now we are disputing this transaction with our credit card since they are refusing to answer our daily emails.
This review is for the L8 Ultra and includes the Lekki8 and Zero G20 SL. I started with the G20 SL and was very favorably impressed. The setup took a little bit of time but paired with CoolStop pads the breaks were excellent. Much lighter than any breaks I have used in recent years which include Campagnolo Record/Super Record, FSA SLs, and TPR Magnesium. So decided to take the plunge and go for the Lekki8. Lighter still and very nice. Smaller profile on a TT bike, great breaks and always get positive comments from others. Only regret, did not order the RED DEVIL model - those are just plain cool. Have one other bike - it is all carbon, at least as much as possible - and when I saw the L8 ULTRA I knew I just had to have them. Not only lighter that the others but setup was easier and performance better. I live in Colorado and have NO issues taking my downhill riding to my limits since I know the brakes will do whatever I need them to do. Would highly recommend.
Ciamillo Design, LLC is a manufacturer specializing in custom super-light road cycling components, established in 2002. With over 30 years of expertise in CNC machining and carbon fiber molding, the company produces a range of high-performance products, including the L8 Ultra Road Brakes, Ciamillo Brakes, and Ciamillo Cranks. Each component is crafted in the USA, utilizing in-house CNC machining, anodizing, and carbon fiber compression molding processes.
Ciamillo Design caters to cycling enthusiasts and professionals seeking lightweight, high-quality components tailored to their specific needs. The company’s offerings include various models of brakes and cranksets, such as the Zero Gravity and Gravitas, which are known for their innovative design and superior performance. By providing customizable solutions and accommodating specialized requirements, Ciamillo Design aims to enhance the cycling experience for customers building custom road bikes.