I've been following the TRP Spyre thread and read with interest the reports of the melting ICE rotors as we've been running them on our tandem. We spent 5 weeks this summer riding in the Italian Alps and the Dolomites and did lots of long relatively steep descents without any problems. I was more concerned about the calipers than the rotors as they have one piece of plastic on them that I was worried might heat up and melt, so I would stop about halfway down any descent to check them. The rotors would be too hot to touch at times and the steel portion definitely got discolored from the heat but we had no issues with melting. In one 4 day period we descended close to 25,000 feet including the east side of Passo Fedaia which had ramps of 14% and 16% off the top and prolonged sections of 10-11% grade. Our second to last ride was the east side of Passo Stelvio which we descended with no issues. It's average gradient over 14.7 miles was 7.9% with 48 hairpin turns that require hard breaking before each. On that descent it was rare that I wasn't on the brakes. We wore out the original set of pads by the end of the trip and I replaced them before we did the Stelvio. On the first set of pads when the brakes would heat up we would get screeching from the rear disc and pads. After changing pads that went away. I'm left wondering why we didn't experience melting of our rotors while others have had the issue?
After reading Mark's (akexpress) post above I'm wondering if those folks who are reporting the melting aluminum on the ICE rotors are using just a single disc on the rear of their tandems? I'd also be interested in knowing combined team and bike weight, make of caliper and type of pad used and what the brake setup is/was.
Our weight: Team plus bike, water bottles, and gear probably pushing 345-350 lbs.
Calipers: Shimano CX75 (mechanical)
Pads: Shimano G01A resin pads
Setup: Dual discs, 203mm XT ICE rotors front and rear.
My only negative experience with the ICE rotors was that they seemd to warp a bit when they heated up on a long descent. They would make a pinging noise as they rubbed lightly against the pads. Once they cooled back down this would go away.
Curt
Last edited by Krenovian; 08-21-13 at 01:59 PM.