Pete’s just taken delivery of these lightweight rotors and organic pads from Fibrax to see if he can get the feeling he’s after from his brakes.
Brake pads and rotors may not be the most exciting products on Earth but they are easily up there with the most important.
After struggling to find what he was after with the standard setup on his long term test Ariel, and following a chat with the guys at Fibrax, Pete’s swapped to some organic pads and smaller, lighter weight rotors to see if they can do the job.
Braking performance is something very personal and goes beyond just finding a ‘brakes that work’. Some never find it, but Pete is on a mission to get his brakes working perfectly to concentrate on getting the rest of the bike tuned to 100%. Riding a lot of very technical, slow trails, interspersed with flat out stuff, creates a unique demand on a set of brakes.
A brake needs to, therefore, offer high resistance to heat build up, but have enough bite for those slow-speed trials moves on the steep, technical trails.
In come the Fibrax Light Weight rotors and organic pads. In previous experience, pads with a high metallic content seem to offer better fade resistance but lack outright bite and modulation. These organic pads have been designed to offer good modulation plus better fade resistance than previous Fibrax offerings and other organic competitors. Essentially a semi-metallic pad, a hybrid, in this case, of a resin and sintered pads with numerous extras to keep fade and wear low.
With the rotors, lower weight usually means thinner discs and more cutaways. These will heat up faster but cool down fast too. A drop from 160mm out back comes in the thinking that a smaller rotor, while heating up quicker will offer greater power due to more pressure on the pads. Time will tell.
To complement their range and keep their pads and rotors, plus your calipers, running sweet, Fibrax are now offering a disc brake cleaner as well. Unoffensive to the nostrils and the environment.
Fibrax pads start at £11.99 for the organic and £16.99 for the sintered offerings. Rotors, currently prototypes, will be available in September and cost £24.99 for the 160mm and £26.99 for the 180mm. Disc brake cleaner is £6.
