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Kettle Cycles’ SiCCC SFL Carbon Fiber Brake Rotors Now Shipping

Written by Tyler Benedict
14 Comments
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Kettle Cycles SiCCC SFL silicon carbide ceramic carbon disc brake rotors for mountain bikes and cyclocross bikes

If you’ve been waiting with breathless anticipation (like me) to get your hands on a set of Kettle Cycles’ silicon carbide carbon ceramic disc brake rotors, the agony is over. They’re shipping.

Kettle’s website has been updated with Buy Now buttons for all five rotor sizes for the one-piece SFL rotor – 140, 160, 180, 200 and 203 millimeter diameters. Prices range from $99 to $179. The two-piece rotors are still being finalized – last time we spoke to them, the holdup was mainly cosmetic finishing, so we expect those (and our test set!) soon.
Tyler Benedict
11,281 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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Mike Hunt
Mike Hunt
11 years ago

Stupid tech question of the day but do can you use ( already used for a few months ) stock xtr pads on this or do you need new ( specific ) ones ?

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Steve
Steve
11 years ago

Let’s see !
Maybe I’ll order that and test it with my Avid X.0. Brakes !
Ride with organic brake pads from Trickstuff (TS830NG) !
The brakes as hell with the AVID HSX disc in 180/160mm.
Let’s see if the carbon disc can compete there ?

Hapy trails !

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Tyler Benedict
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Tyler Benedict
11 years ago

Mike – The guys at Kettle say you can use any brake pad you want. They designed it that way to reduce any obstacles to using the rotors, letting them work with standard parts from any brand you like. Depending on what material you use, you can adjust the braking performance to suit your needs. When we get our test set in, we’ll use them with various pad compounds and note the differences.

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Mike Hunt
Mike Hunt
11 years ago

Thanks Tyler looking forward to the review(s). Mike

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joby
joby
11 years ago

Hmmm….maybe these are the answer to the issue with cyclocross bikes eating trough pads in one lap? I seem to recall a well known moto-x mechanic specifying that he switches his riders to solid disks if the conditions are extreme – how do these hold up to serious muck?

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TT
TT
11 years ago

I’m just wondering, and correct me if I’m wrong. If these carbon rotors work well enough in MTB or CX (and I hope they do) is there any point of making road hydraulic disc brakes?
To be more precise: Magura already produces hudraulic rim brakes and I think SRAM is near launching theirs (I saw hi-res photos some time ago). All the talk about road disc brakes is mostly about modulation, not stopping power. I think all current road calipers are real monsters with regard to their stopping performance.
So: if hydraulic road brakes are efficient, and by this I mean they have lots of modulation + stopping power, why producing disc brakes for road bikes? This does mean a bit heavier forks and frames, less aerodynamic advantages, greater susceptibility to crosswinds and – generally sepaking – much more complicated bike.

Guys, a terrible headache has closed around my brain so I can’t think clearly at this moment. Even my English seems to be weird. But these are my painful thoughts. They’ve strayed a little bit from the main topic but all the same…
I’m going to sleep now.

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maddogeco
maddogeco
11 years ago

@TT
I think these will further push disc on road bikes. they are lighter than normal disc. Disc will allow rim makers freedom because they don’t have to build in a braking surface which will lead to lighter stronger rim. Hydraulic brakes will make it easier to pull the brake lever. This has always scared me commuting on drop bars the brake levers are tricky to pull with confidence when you hand are on top of the hoods (This may be my lack of experience on them) Hydraulic will let me squeeze them with 2 fingers and more control and less finger fatigue. Yes there is a lot of work to do in making aero calipers but that’s half the fun of it. ultimately i think disc will lead to better general purpose road bikes especially long distance and commuter bikes. maybe not so much on TT bike where the brakes are hardly used. I will be ordering these when my current discs are worn.

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cxslayer
cxslayer
11 years ago

I wonder how they feel about using these with single activated mechanical disc calipers.

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Canucklehead
Canucklehead
11 years ago

@maddogeco: For that line of thought, you’d think that the 29er stuff would’ve brought about lighter rims …but it hasn’t 🙁 That’s my irk — it’s just showing who will actually innovate vs buy OEM and rebrand rim brake rims.

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MorganJ
MorganJ
11 years ago

I honestly think that rim manufacturers won’t be able to take that much weight out of the rims when they go to disc brakes, especially for clinchers. The main reason being that they need the added material anyways to withstand the outward forces being applied at the bead at 100+psi. Make those too thin, and you’ll have issues blowing tires and you also won’t have as much impact resistance. I’m all for change in a forward progressing movement, but I just don’t think the rims will drop that much weight.

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MissedThePoint
MissedThePoint
11 years ago

Thought the “drilled holes and vents” in rotors helped clean water and grit off of pads, allow water vapor/steam a place to go besides between the pad and rotor, and basically give disc brakes the advantage in less than fair weather and mucky trail conditions.

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Jon
Jon
11 years ago

Anyone else notice this “Made to order, 5 weeks for delivery! ” Looks like they are trying to get kickstarter orders out before promising to fulfill others.

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TT
TT
11 years ago

First things first – I agree with MorganJ. But there’s one thing that bothers me a lot, namely the hydraulic road DISC brake. In my opinion (which also happens to be Magura’s) a rim (alu or carbon) IS the biggest possible road rotor. And we have Magura’s hydraulic road brakes which ARE in fact DISC brakes (rim = rotor).

Here we’re presented with carbon discs. My question is – why? We already have carbon road discs: carbon rims. If carbon discs (for example these shown here) are as heat resistant as carbon rims (for example the latest Deda’s http://www.dedaelementiruote.com/EN/tecnologia.htm?prov=special) so why bother? Do we really need road disc brakes? Shouldn’t we be 100% satisfied with carbon rims which serve as carbon discs (MUCH bigger, MUCH lighter, wheel integrated, more heat friendly, MUCH more aerodynamic)??

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MissedThePoint
MissedThePoint
11 years ago

A rim might have a leverage advantage, but its box section is compressible, absorbing some of the brake force, and it typically isn’t made from the ideal material to be as effective as a rotor made from a material such as steel. This rotor is made of a material that is like that found in a Porsche Carrerra’s and Ferrari Enzo’s disc brake rotor, silicon carbide and ceramic (this rotor has carbon fiber for lightweight structure, not on the brake track).

I believe this is just them just introducing a higher end rotor for bicycle disc brakes in general. It’s not road only. The idea could’ve been as simple as borrowing tech from sports car racing and applying it to bikes. Wouldn’t be surprised if other brands introduced a ceramic composite brake track… there seems to be a market for low weight brakes, with people even trying out aluminum and ti rotors (f that, I wouldn’t use those). If there were a rotor made from simple carbon fiber laminate, I wouldn’t expect it to really be functional.

Regarding the high temp rims–even if the rim doesn’t fail, what about the other components connected to it, including the tire, tube, tubular glue, etc.

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