balut bandit

Nailed it. He was also able to finish the ride albeit with somewhat reduced braking.

tyrion

Break-away rotors.

fietsbob

Obviously more aggressive (Downhill MTB) a rider than I .. (JRA around town)

I note the Avid disc is thinner than the Magura Disc.. and so Shimano may be more like A, than M..

Marcus_Ti

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THIS TERRIBLE NOISE THAT IN NO WAY IMPLIES SOMETHING IS TERRIBLE HORRIBLY WRONG"
-Bike owner

wschruba

They're serious about the minimum thickness, especially for the stainless-clad aluminum rotors.

Kedosto

Time to call the attorney. It's the American way!


-Kedosto

balut bandit

Surprisingly there was no noise, I was right on his tail. Just a sudden change in lever feel. I thought that he pulled off because he flatted.

mcours2006

Minimum thickness 1.50 mm is what it says on mine. I changed them at 1.60. If that was the front it could have been castastrous!

wolfchild

Some of my rotors are 11 years old. I never measured them yet. Mine are used mostly for commuting and a little bit off road trail riding.

Cyclist0108

I blow through XT/Ultegra rotors about once per year. (I replace them following the Shimano wear recommendation.)

DrIsotope

Apparently I don't use my brakes very much, because the 160mm RT-86 IceTech on the rear of my bike has over 15,000 miles on it. Or more likely, organic pads FTW.

veganbikes

Gotta love cheap people, they run their equipment into the ground and can get hurt but don't want to pay a cent to fix anything but somehow want it to work.

balut bandit

Gotta love hysterical, judgmental people who assume that his rotor wore out because he was too cheap to pay a cent to fix it.

The truth is that he had the replacement rotor on his shelf and just hadn't gotten around to swapping it. Nevertheless, his rear brake continued to work and didn't pose an injury risk despite your chicken little comment.

Kedosto

veganbikes

Hysterical? Wow I didn't think relaxing calmly hanging out on the internet made me hysterical. Bike Forums has rarely if ever gotten me hysterical, occasionally my dander goes up a smidgen but not usually and not for this.

So maybe he wasn't too cheap to buy the rotor but certainly too cheap to get it installed or just too lazy to do it himself and allowed it to get to the point of being unsafe. That rotor was worn down past the limit for a long time or they did almost nothing but braking that entire ride and wore it down in an afternoon. Sure his rear brake was functional at the time but that doesn't change much. A person has two firearms in their hand they shoot one person with one hand but didn't use the other. "but Officer, this hand didn't shoot anybody".

If you don't take care of your equipment you can end up hurt pretty easily. Your title was "Getting the most value out of your rotors" not something about a defective product so I responded as I did because I see this all the time. People too cheap or lazy to think about their own safety and in some cases the safety of others and it is wrong. We can all make excuses but in the end this is not a smart thing to do, letting your rotor wear down to the point it breaks apart. Luckily it seems nobody was hurt but things can happen and people can get hurt or die because their brakes don't work.

Though again for reinforcement I am quite calm, chewing some delicious tropical fruit flavored bubble gum and posting about bikes. I also have youtube playing in the background, Rick and Morty clips actually.

DrIsotope

Oh, they're better. I've never had brake fade with IceTechs, not even once. And they clearly outlast stamped rotors. The sole downside to them is the cost-- which is likely offset by the lifespan.

i've ridden several other bikes with "regular" rotors, and they definitely had a sweet-spot where they worked the best, while the IceTech feel the same at the lever just all the time. Hot, cold, wet, doesn't matter.

I wouldn't be buying rotors that cost 5x as much and weigh 3x as much if they didn't work better.

balut bandit

It wasn't unsafe. He rode for another hour+ on his newly light weight rotor, on technical singletrack, in the dark.

veganbikes

You aren't really winning me over here. The rotor was not safe and just because he still rode on it doesn't make it magically safe. Broken worn down rotors are not something I would tell anyone is safe. Sure he got really lucky but that doesn't equate safety.

Also people do get hurt and one of the former owners at my shop's son died because the shop she took his bike to didn't properly fix the brakes and he slammed into a semi truck. I have also seen the effects of people not having safe brakes and getting less majorly hurt. You can face palm all you want but I should be the one face palming you.

balut bandit

Yes. People do get hurt. While I am typing right now thousands of people around the world are getting hurt. Also, the Sun rises in the East.

His rotor was safe. He continued to ride safely, without getting hurt, as described above.

Most folks aren't so Glum.

veganbikes

His rotor was safe? What about being worn and broken is safe? Being able to finish a ride and being lucky to have done so, does not equate safety. I don't know what sort of Bizarro world you come from but that rotor does not look safe. I took a lighter and a can of hair spray and didn't get hurt so it must be safe, no?

I cannot believe you are trying to argue that rotor is safe. You or your friend are literally holding fragments of rotor in your hand that had collected by the caliper. How is that safe? Y'all are running off the rails on a crazy train.

balut bandit

There was still half of the clamping area left. He continued to ride safely and was uninjured. He even continued to have fun. So yeah, it was safe. Luck had nothing to do with it.

I get it. You're a super fearful person. That's ok. Hopefully some day you'll understand that many folks don't go into hand wringing mode when something harmless happens during a ride.

u235

What percentage of bikes do you think are as safe as they can be? Maybe in a cross section of this forum there is a high percentage but not everywhere else. I rode a bmx bike for years in the hills of Pittsburgh suburbs with a freewheel and no brakes at all and everyone else pretty much only had one brake in the back or front. In the end did it really matter? I wiped out just as many times with or without brakes. If you know what you have and how to use it, you ride accordingly. I am not encouraging unsafe practices at all but I don't view a single failed rotor on the trail as a OMG moment even at my current age. It would bother me and I have full confidence I could adjust and be fine to myself and those around me.

rumrunn6

impressive!

BirdsBikeBinocs

Boy, you've made quite a debut here on the forum. 26 posts and they are all rather instigating. Just imagine what the future holds for you....Glad your buddy made it safely home. He might not next time. And there's no arguing that point as you have.

Brakes on a bike are probably the most important part and should be 100% in working order 100% of the time, for every ride. Glad your buddy made it safely home. He might not next time. You're hard headed. Relax for a change.

balut bandit

For someone who is self-admittedly clueless about basic bike stuff, struggles to understand how his $300 bike works, and appears to have extremely limited experience even riding a bike, I'll assign the following credibility to your comments:

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