I thought you may all want to know the conditions that the NOTUBES aluminum rotors are made for. I was surprised after three races, two of which were muddy races, that these pads AND rotors wore to the point of having to be replaced. I wrote the NOTUBES company and received the following reply:

Hi,
I note in the instructions that my pads will ware real quick in muddy conditions. Most of the pro teams will use a steel rotor and stock pads in the rear and my aluminum in the front in real muddy conditions. In the mud we use mostly rear brakes.

Some stock pads will not last one race in the mud. My pads will usually last two or three muddy races. But if used in dry conditions the pads will last about one year.
http://notubes.com/rotorsandbrakes.htm#Brakes


Rotor life should be 1 to 2 years.
I have designed them with eight holes so they will fit on the standard 6 bolt and also 4 bolt hubs.
Power should be similar or a little better than stock stainless rotors.
The pads will also work well on stainless rotors.
The pads are organic and may squeal on long hard continuous braking but the squeal will go away after a few stops.
Pad life will be greatly affected by wet and muddy conditions.
Rotors may squeal more than stainless rotors when wet.
Pad life is quite well they should last 6 months to a year.
There is little or no brake in time required.
Thanks,

Stan
KG Motors Inc/NoTubes
3309 Chambers Rd
Horseheads NY 14845
(607) 739-2301
Fax 739-8732
www.notubes.com

The instructions NOTUBES is referring to is on the website was not present in the package I received from NOTUBES. As a final note the website states that the pad lifetime is greatly reduced in muddy conditions so check your pads closely after each muddy ride if you use this system. Don't end up like I did with a $220 disc rotor/brake pad replacement system that lasts three rides that I can't use.

Almost all brake pads (disc, or canti) will have greater wear in muddy conditions, and should be checked after every muddy ride. This is due to the rough particles being trapped in spaces between rotor (rim) and pads.

Was the wear on the rotor cause by the muddy pads or by the pad backing after the pad wore out? If the former then there is a good warning for all of us using these.

Cyco, in sunny Sydney - 3 muddy rides in 2 years!

...unfortunately I think this is one of those things where weight weenying can go too far.

I'm all for shaving grams, but when performance - in this case reliability and longevity - are compromised, its not worth it.

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.....but it still has to work!

Polaris is right, you should think about durability of lightweight components. That's why I'm using new Mavic X618 ceramic rims with pads for ceramic rims and I can say that these pads last for ever!

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Light weight everything!

I have used these rotors for months, with no problems. The pad life, even in muddy conditions was fine for me. I am on one of those "pro teams", and the rotors are the same as offered to the public. I'm all for them. They saved me around 175g of rotating weight from my wheels, and stan, the owner is a very nice guy, he will address all problems with professionalism. I stand behind the products 100%.