Any recommendations on Centrelock rotors for gravel use? On my mountain bike I’ve typically used SRAM Centreline or Galfer Rotors, but with metallic/sintered pads. Is it worth buying higher end rotors (currently have Shimano resin only rotors with GRX calipers and resin pads) or just stick with the basic Shimano/SRAM centrelock models? Plan to keep using resin pads with the new rotors
Rotor thickness makes all the difference. Galfer now offers their MTB waves in 2.0 mm thickness also for centerlock. We decided not to stock anything else for gravel and MTB as the difference in brake feel and performance is really big.
Does the increased rotor thickness make a significant difference to brake performance or more related to fade resistance under sustained braking? I did swap the MTB to sintered/metallic for the resistance to fade but now curious if I should try a rotor thickness upgrade next time as well.
Not having brake fade issues with the gravel bike (not many sustained hills where I’m living currently) but more curious if better rotors will make a notable difference to feel over the basic Shimano resin only ones
Very happy with swisstop catalyst rotors on my gravel bike. I was using the Galfer wave rotors which were quite light but didn’t last that long and probably had too much material machined from them. These were the road versions.
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The road galfers are very lightweighty and the performance kinda sucks compared to the MTB discs.
The basic Shimano rotors are tangibly worse then the better stuff regardless of brand. What I like the most about the thicker rotors is their increased resistance to warping/bending. The lever feel is more solid with thicker rotors and I just feel better braking on them. Can’t say if they will stop you faster.
Campy AFS/Ekar rotors. They’re solid steel, have as good or better stopping than Shimano and are silent 99% of the time. Everyone that I’ve recommended them to has been very happy. The only downside is a touch heavier.