Kettle Cycles Carbon Rotors

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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crohnsy
Posts: 399
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:43 pm
Location: Canada

by crohnsy

Still being ignored regarding the warranty of my one rotor, getting pretty tiring, at least I have one working rotor.. I got an interesting email from Aaron at Kettle though, not sure why he sent it to me...
Last edited by crohnsy on Sun Oct 06, 2013 12:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

by Weenie


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Cheers!
Posts: 1483
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 2:29 am
Location: Mountain View, California
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by Cheers!

I'm having an OK experience with them so far. I've had them on for 1/2 the season now. I bought hte 3rd batch through the kick starter campaign. They did not get C processed or whatever from Kettle.

Right now they are installed onto Hope X2 Race (1st generation, not the green accented version) running the stock original organic pads.

Impression:
Braking... very modular. Coefficient of friction not very high. Need to brake early. No last minute high braking power for oh-shit moments or misjudegements allowed.

I run them for XC racing and such. They work well for this type of riding and terrain where the trails are relatively tame and not constant decents. I would not run these in North Shore Vancouver type riding. You need a lot of force from hands for pull force to translate to lots of braking.

This is compared with the stock original Hope X2 Race Saw rotors. I run 160/140 for Kettle and Hope original rotors.

One point is that the kettle cycles rotors were thicker than the Hopes. 2mm vs 1.8mm, Had to get caliper alignment perfect to make them work ok.

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ms6073
Posts: 4290
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2004 8:24 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

by ms6073

I was an early backer of the KickStarter campaign and have had the rotors since the beginning of March and initially intended to use the rotors with Shimano CX75 mechanicals on the cross bikes but the rotors I received were a tad out of true from day one and no amount of adjustment with mechanical calpers (Shimano CX75/Avid BB7SL) got them to work with out significant rubbing/binding. I then moved them over to my SS 29er with Shimano XTR and Ashima Ai2 rotors and while the carbon rotors still produced a very minor amount of pad rub, I felt it was acceptable. Although I don't get out on the 29er that much, after a few rides I was starting to like them until this past week. After finishing a lunch time ride with friends, as we finished and while rolling around in the parking lot I asked to check out a friends Scott 29er which had the same brakes and Ashima Ai2 rotors and even for a neophyte MTB rider like me, the difference in stopping power was night and day. So over the weekend I put the Ashima rotors back on and yesterday, I opened a ticket with Kettle and mailed my SICC 160mm rotors back for C-Processing and some carbon pads but at this point, it really doesn't matter as I doubt I will ever see those rotors again!
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"

laspalmas
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:33 pm

by laspalmas

I received my Carbon rotors 4th. July.
Installed them, nice and light and true.
180mm front, 160mm rear; did fit without any problem.
After burn in and testing them about a month, I took them off again and installed my XT rotors.
The carbon rotors were not performing well enough for the mountains here, they could not stop the bike when going down steep hills/mountains.
Too bad. I wanted to like them otherwise I would have not paid the heavy price.
Guess they will be good for other kind of terrain, light, nice and easily dose-able.
I paid 292.99 US $for them and on their website the price has gone up to 328 $ now.

Anybody give me a good offer and I will send them.

elmar schrauth
Shop Owner
Posts: 501
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:12 pm
Location: cochem -germany

by elmar schrauth

Did anyone got some rotors in the last weeks?

we ordered, paid, nothing happens. no answers...........

seismic
Posts: 198
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:40 pm
Location: Tokyo

by seismic

I have to agree with anyone else here. Have the Kettle rotors and pads. I have set them up with XTR 987 and I can honestly say that even on a WW XC build, the rotors are not good at all (and I ride light XC only). Very little bite, can hardly brake downhill and inspire no confidence whatsoever.I still use them, but only because I am still in doubt what other lightweight rotors to get. Good for the scale, good for posing, - terrible for braking.
Last edited by seismic on Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

njee20
Posts: 545
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:58 pm
Location: Surrey, UK

by njee20

How are they still producing them!? :shock:

seismic
Posts: 198
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:40 pm
Location: Tokyo

by seismic

njee20 wrote:How are they still producing them!? :shock:


Because people like us are still paying for them...... :shock:

CGT
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:33 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

by CGT

elmar schrauth wrote:Did anyone got some rotors in the last weeks?

we ordered, paid, nothing happens. no answers...........


Don't buy anything from Kettle, I think their business model has evolved into pure fraud. They don't answer their phone, they don't reply to e-mails and they don't supply their customers. Someone should sue them, and I'm not joking.

TheRookie
Posts: 926
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:23 pm
Location: Midlands, United Kingdom

by TheRookie

seismic wrote: I am still in doubt what other lightweight rotors to get.

I have a lightwieght alligator disc on the rear, a little heavier than an Ashima but a fraction of the price, that is 72g in 160mm, on the front I prefer a (near) full braking surface for extra power when needed (and I can't be bothered keep changing depending on route) and run an A2Z Teppenyaki with the alloy spider (this is riveted and not a floating design, I have no clearance issues with Shimano callipers) and that is 89g for a 160mm, so for circa 45g penalty (and a purchased cost of about £35, or 1/6 the price) over the carbon discs I have braking that is just as good as running something like a 140g disc from Avid etc (the rear I don't see as having a slight loss in performance as you can't use any more braking without lockup anyway).
Impoverished weight weenie wanna-be!
Budget 26" HT build viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110956

roadbikenewbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 3:14 pm

by roadbikenewbie

wow this is nice...

EvoUltimate
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:21 am
Location: Canada

by EvoUltimate

CGT wrote:
elmar schrauth wrote:Did anyone got some rotors in the last weeks?

we ordered, paid, nothing happens. no answers...........


Don't buy anything from Kettle, I think their business model has evolved into pure fraud. They don't answer their phone, they don't reply to e-mails and they don't supply their customers. Someone should sue them, and I'm not joking.



Not the greatest company to deal with. Had to wait a few weeks just to get an answer from them.

CGT
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:33 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

by CGT

You should be glad that you actually got an answer... When was this?

EvoUltimate
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:21 am
Location: Canada

by EvoUltimate

CGT wrote:You should be glad that you actually got an answer... When was this?


That was back in june or july.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
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snowdevlin
Posts: 213
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:51 pm

by snowdevlin

any project that looked so interesting, going down the drain :-(

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