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I'm no DH'er and the days of holidays to the Alps are long gone due to kids. But I'm curious for people's thoughts on the various ICE/Floating rotors and if they really make any difference for the majority of UK riding?
I've got some XT brakes arriving today for my Gyro to replace the Elixir5s. I'm just planning on using the existing Avid rotors as I'm yet to be convinced of the benefits of anything else for the riding I do.
I use floating hopes for no other reason that they look cool. I tried a set of XTR trail with ice rotors and ice tech pads, and they were pretty sharp, whether they would be equally as sharp at the bottom of the Gap decsent in the shitty weather...dunno
If you're currently overheating your brakes, they might make a difference. If not, then no (though you might be able to go down a rotor size, if you're into that)
Currently running 180mm and 160mm. Never have an issue with overheating. I'll keep downsizing in mind, but for the weight saving on offer, there are other components to swap first.
The main benefit of the Shimano 2 piece rotors is that they are very stiff and resist warping.
I've got a collection of hope floating rotors and I think 3 out of 4 of them are warped to one degree or another.
I've got M785 XT brakes on three bikes, just with three diferent rotor/pad configurations.
Rockhopper = superstar standard flame rotors 180/160 - sintered
Five = superstar floaters 180/180 - sintered
Patriot = superstar flame 203/203 - organic
All have been fine for their intended use.
I did turn the rotors on the Patriot blue on the Fort William DH course last weekend (mainly because I'm a wimp and not particularly lightweight) but the brakes didn't fade at all.
I've got them on my Pitch.
I've not tried them back to back with normal shimano rotors for comparison but they've not overheated (and I have overheated both juicys and old shimano brakes). And they do feel very consistent down a steep track so maybe they do stay cooler.
Can't say if any of thats in my head or not though! I go them as I needed new rotors and the cost difference over normal floating rotors wasn't much.