EB14: Jagwire Warms up to Disc Brakes w/ New Finned Cooling Rotors

Another plus is they aren’t a laminate like the Icetech, so hopefully no melting issues like the Icetech had in that German test, sponsored by Tour mag i think.

Looks good, but at only 5% less than Shimano, I don’t think many will be likely to experiment.

@tom. Unless they are running 6 bolt, and dig the freeza

The only heat transfer areas are the small stamps, it won´t help much in cooling the large breaking area.
Plus the scoops in alternate directions…

This rotor has not been studied for long.

The picture shows a 6 bolt. I’m in!

@Tom: Agree with @dlub, the Freeza is currently only available in centerlock, but I still have bikes the with ISO disk brake (6-bolt) hubs from Salsa (OEM) and Chris King.

I agree with wallyman and many others.

I don’t understand this statement at all.
“They’ve benchmarked them against Shimano’s IceTech rotors, and they say performance is equivalent, even being a hair better for the first 100 seconds they’re the same.”

Anyway, on all these tests, how hard are they braking? I can probably drag brakes for a long time at low speeds and shallow grades. If I am braking at 1000W, the difference will be extreme. It be nice if they just gave us the rated power input for these brakes or at least the tests.

I will definitely buy these as Shimano has chosen to only accommodate the Centerlock market with their Icetech.

Anybody who has smoked a rotor and pads on a long steep downhill (us fat guys and tandem riders) will want to get these. But they need a 8″/203mm!

@Gillis: I think chasej is talking about Freeza rotors being CL only.

@Dedge
I’m an engineer, work with engineers. Know lots of engineers that make/made incorrect assumptions and decisions.
I’m not saying what you said is false, I just don’t like people stating “I am a” or “I work…” to show intellectual superiority while discussing a complex subject where the only thing to inspect is a picture.

I’m assuming Jagwire’s benchmark test to the Icetech rotor was the same test, so the fins probably do something (or the test load isn’t high enough to matter). Whether that is because the scoops/design or not, very few of us can say. All we know is that it seems to benchmark with Icetechs for whatever load they applied in the test. For all I know, Icetechs don’t perform better than normal rotors. I’ve never actually seen the data compared to a same size normal rotor with equal cross drilling and the same brake load applied.

Nahh, my bad. It apparently only works the other way around.

For those who don’t know: Shimano does offer ICE rotors for 6-bolt. They offer them in an XT level and SLX level.

I need these, I build big custom cruiser bikes, we do a ride down alpe d’huez in france each year, massively overheated my discs last year and had the scary moment of no brakes approaching a hairpin. The more faith you have in your brakes the harder you can push.

These could be great on tandems, which are the heat management canaries in the cage, but for this need to be in 203 mm.

Re the “centerlock only comments” between my wife and I we have 4 mtbs in the garage equipped with 6-bolt Shimano Ice Tech rotors.

Not quite sure where the idea that these are available only in centerlock originated.

Can I lighten up the discussion a little? A little OT, but what is that axle that he’s using? I’ve never seen that before.

Well, if everybody like this way…

But as an engineer (what domain?) I though you knew the difference between conduction and convection. Here after some brakings, the aluminium part will expand more than steel, and the fins will float around their stamps. So the physical contact between aluminium and steel parts, very poor on static, will be even smaller when heated. You will have mainly a convection process, which is the least performant. So this is not optimal. Do not forget that after some use, the small space between steel and aluminium parts will be filled with dust, dirt, and water sometimes.
If you add that steel conducts temperature way less than aluminium, than you will see that the aluminium fan will remain very cool, and will not help a lot the braking area.
Plus the scoops that do not create a real ventilation flow that could evacuate away the heat from the steel band, and the vapor from the brake pads : take a look to Shimano Ice rotors, it clearly shows that an air flow is created when the rotor… rotate!

I would be suprised to see a thermal picture of the rotor during use, I am sure that the outer area will be a lot warmer than the inside.

Well, here is an explanation of my mind on this rotor.
I am ok with your point of view about people who claim more than they can really explain, and I should have started with this. But if you are as clever than you say, you should be ok with my mind.

Dedge is 100% right. The riveted-on cooling fins are pointless decoration on this particular rotor. I’d prefer the Shimano Freeza hands-down since the aluminum fins there start as a sandwiched laminate layer between the steel surfaces and therefore have a huge conducting area that’ll never be compromised by dust.

One thing that is laughable is that these Jagwire finned rotors were benchmarked against the Shimano Icetech rotors. First of all, Icetech rotors don’t have fins. The Freeza rotors have fins. Of COURSE the Icetechs will heat up faster. Secondly, a solid steel rotor (like these Jagwires) will have more total heat capacity than the sandwiched aluminum of icetech or freeza so yes, for the initial heating I’d expect the solid steel rotor to be a bit slower to heat up. Meanwhile, the Freeza is conducting that heat into its cooling fins at amazing rates while the Jagwire here is just heating further since its fins are largely decorative.