Disc rotors and pads for daily use road/adventure bike.

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

Moderator: Moderator Team

Post Reply
User avatar
MattSoutherden
Posts: 1376
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:22 pm
Location: London

by MattSoutherden

I'm putting together the build kit for my new Kinesis Tripster. The vast majority of miles will be daily, all-weather, commuting in and out of central London, which includes training. I will also be using it for weekend rides of mixed terrain around the Home Counties, and occasional more offroad ride further afield.

Brakes are Shimano RS685 hydros with 785 calipers. Hubs are 6-bolt. I weigh 75-80kg depending on how much racing I'm doing.

Options I've been considering in descending order of minimalism/weight:

* Shimano RT86 Ice-tech
* Hope Race X2 Lightweight
* Ashima AI-neon

I assume I would need sintered pads for the Ashimas.
Are the Hopes aggressive on pads?
What sort of pads would best suite my use?
Lastly, any recommendation for IS to 160mm post adapters other than getting an XTR one?
Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
-
Finsbury Park CC

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



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

by TheRookie

For a good disc - A2Z Teppanyaki spades, have one on the front of my MTB, really nicely made, cost £28 ea and are 89g for 160mm, I use an Alligator on the rear where heat capacity isn't an issue.
http://www.a2zcomponents.com/02products_02teppan.html
http://www.merlincycles.com/a2z-teppan- ... 67900.html
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/cycling ... otor-160mm
A2Z sell some really good stuff, always worth considering!

You don't need heat capacity in your brakes for commuting so I use Alligators both ends on my commuter 67g each (160mm), organic pads and they are still working fine after 5000miles, only gone through one set of front pads in that time.

Calliper wise, if you have IS mounts then try and get some XTR IS mount callipers (M965, M975) I use one on the rear of my MTB and it saves 39g in adaptor and bolts (versus a lightweight adaptor not a heavy one) Hope and Avid do some light adaptors if you want to keep with a PM mount calliper.
There are some XTR callipers on ebay.co.uk right now make sure you get the right end as the front is set up for a 160 (so 140 if fitted to a standard rear) and the rear also for 160 (so 180 is fitted to a standard front).
Impoverished weight weenie wanna-be!
Budget 26" HT build viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110956

User avatar
MattSoutherden
Posts: 1376
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:22 pm
Location: London

by MattSoutherden

Thanks.

The Tripster has post mount on the rear and IS on the fork. I already have the brakes/callipers and the finned organics that came with them.
Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
-
Finsbury Park CC

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

by TheRookie

Your not worrying about weight to much if you are using finned pads, I really doubt you need them, and the XTR calliper is a good WW option.

Either way, I'm really impressed with the A2Z discs and would strongly recommend them, full sized breaking surface for 89g (160mm) is good.
Impoverished weight weenie wanna-be!
Budget 26" HT build viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110956

User avatar
MattSoutherden
Posts: 1376
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:22 pm
Location: London

by MattSoutherden

The pads are just what was supplied with the callipers. Happy to change them for what's most appropriate.

I think they're supplied like that as Shimano want to give the default setup the ability to run 140mm Freeza rotors on a road bike that may be subjected to long, high-speed, descents.

If I'm running lighter 160mm rotors, I'd want them not to eat pads for breakfast in wet and grimy conditions.
Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
-
Finsbury Park CC

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

by TheRookie

The disc has little to do with wear in grimly conditions, it's the grime that does that, I've not really noticed faster wear on 'minimal discs' anyway, but the A2Z has a near full surface anyway.

The aluminium backed from the likes of Uberbike are a good lightweight pad.
Impoverished weight weenie wanna-be!
Budget 26" HT build viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110956

TheKaiser
Posts: 653
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:29 pm

by TheKaiser

Regarding wear on minimal discs with lots of cutouts vs. a more solid design, it apparently can make a huge difference, but only under certain conditions. If you want to know more, try googling "Cyclocross nationals disk brake wear" or something like that. In the U.S. nationals last year, there were a bunch of disc users who burned completely through pads, even sintered ones, in a standard length CX race due to rotors with cutouts! Apparently running solid rotors makes a huge difference and so now many riders will keep their foul weather wheels set up with sram solid rotors.

That's only in soupy abrasive mud type conditions though, so unless your commute includes a lot of dirt roads then you are probably good with any design, with only a minimal difference in pad life between them.

User avatar
MattSoutherden
Posts: 1376
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:22 pm
Location: London

by MattSoutherden

Thanks for the tips.

I was umming and arring over those A2Z 'dots', but went with the Hope X2 Lightweight in the end, some black Ti bolts, and some non-finned XTR Ti-backed sintered pads.

Should be a reasonably light setup, and I like the look of the saw rotors. 8)
Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
-
Finsbury Park CC

User avatar
MattSoutherden
Posts: 1376
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:22 pm
Location: London

by MattSoutherden

This may be a bit of a thread resurrection, but I thought I'd update it in case anyone finds this from the Googles.

I found the Hope X2 Lightweights to have an odd vibration pulse on the front under hard braking. Nothing too bad, but a bit annoying.

The real killer was that they only lasted about 3000km before they were worn-out. In places they were under a mm. That was with one set of Shimano metal pads. I think the aggressive drilling creates points of very high bite, resulting in the vibration and high wear.

So I've ended up with a pair of the A2Z 'dots' after all. They are only a few grams heavier, but they don't vibrate, and have already lasted the same milage without any noticeable wear at all.
Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
-
Finsbury Park CC

User avatar
Lelandjt
Posts: 834
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:10 am

by Lelandjt

Ignoring weight and purely talking braking performance (especially at the bottom of a hill) Shimano Icetech rotors and sintered Icetech pads are hands down the best.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Post Reply