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First Look! New Ultralight Ashima AiNEON Two-Piece Disc Brake Rotor

ultra lightweight Ashima AiNEON two-piece disc brake rotor for road cyclocross and mountain bikes
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ultra lightweight Ashima AiNEON two-piece disc brake rotor for road cyclocross and mountain bikesWayne at Ashima is always working on something new and lightweight when it comes to disc brake rotors.

When we saw him at Eurobike, he had some very interesting dual layer designs that incorporated a unique bonding/mating design as well as some fan-cooled rotors for heavy duty applications. While the rapid prototype air cooled systems might still be in the back of his head, the new AiNEON two-piece rotor shown here all but replaces the dual layer carbon-steel-aluminum D-Matrix rotors.

Using an alloy carrier that, yes, uses just half of the standard 6 mounting bolts, he’s claiming a weight of just 72g for the 160, making it one of if not the lightest two-piece rotors on the market when it hits in April. A 180mm will follow at the end of May. Carriers will be available in Red, Blue, Black or Gold.

The stainless steel braking ring appears to have the same pattern as the minimalist design as the Ai2 rotors we’re testing, but Wayne says the higher heat conduction rates of the aluminum carrier improve heat management.

UPDATE: We just got word they are working on a 6-bolt version, too, due to customer demand. Pricing for the 160mm rotors will be US$ 68.00 with 3 titanium bolts and US$ 50.30 with 6 steel bolts.

Despite the bare bones look and weight, they’re claiming usage from XC to AM. Word is there’s a package on the water for us with these new guys, so we’ll put ’em to the test when we get them.

Interested in doing a little comparison? Some other recent lightweight rotors we’ve posted include the Absolute Black and Saris’ coverage of Scrub  at NAHBS.

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29 Comments
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euan
euan
12 years ago

Make sure not to fit them to a disc braked road bike this time

Brandon
Brandon
12 years ago

I can’t wait to see what happens when you come bombing down a mountain on your CX bike dragging these the whole way!

pamtber
pamtber
12 years ago

Hooray for sheared disc mounts on hubs. Hub makers better beef up the mounting tabs thereby negating weight savings in the rotor. Brilliant idea.

off-roadie
off-roadie
12 years ago

Being a fairly lightweight rider (143lbs), I really like lightweight rotors because I can almost always get away with using them. However, I just can’t talk myself into only using 3 bolts. Bring ’em out with 6 bolts and I’ll take 2 sets.

dicky
12 years ago

As always, loving all the hate. Anybody have a % on how many pros (including downhillers) that run 3 bolts? Anybody remember the old school AMP disc brakes with three rotor bolts?

That said, I run six anyways.

dicky
12 years ago
Fisho
Fisho
12 years ago

3 bolts, really?

At least make them 6 bolt, and the idiot on the bike choose to use 3 to save weight.

Safety > Performance

dicky
12 years ago
Steve M
Steve M
12 years ago

At least these guys are consistent- another bad idea.

craigsj
craigsj
12 years ago

Do not want. In fact, I’ll ignore everything from Ashima from now on out of principle. It appears they don’t know what they are doing.

dicky
12 years ago

Surely Sam Hill wouldn’t risk a World Championship by running three bolts that will most certainly rip his wheel apart.

http://www.nsmb.com/3943-sam-hills-world-champs-bike

Chris
Chris
12 years ago

Are they really saying these are a valid option for all mountain riding?

I’d be scared to use them going downhill the highest “mountain” in Florida (Sugarloaf, 312 feet).

professore
professore
12 years ago

Hope has 3 bolt rotors in 183mm and I haven’t heard of any issues of bolts shearing.

Primoz
Primoz
12 years ago

But the Hope rotors have less of a force acting upon them (the radius on which the bolts are located is larger than the 6-bolt IS standard) plus i think the bolts themselves are larger. They are made for their own 3-bolt hubs.

mountguitars
mountguitars
12 years ago

i’ve been running 3 bolts on my rear rotors. i use the front brake most of the time anyways. and again, there’s still the front brake if you lose 1 or 2 bolts on the rear wheel. besides, if the installation is done right (thread lockers do a good job of not losing these bolts), 3 bolt rotors are as good as 6 bolt rotors.

pamtber
pamtber
12 years ago

Pro downhill guys running 3 bolts are not doing it on weight weenie hubs which is surely where these rotors will end up. Someone call AC and ask them what they think of the idea. I don’t think they make an aluminum reinforcement ring big enough to work with these rotors!

dicky
12 years ago

I only pointed out the DH guys to prove that it only takes three bolts to hold a rotor on under extreme use. Lots of XC guys have been doing the same thing on their lightweight hubs for years.

alloycowboy
alloycowboy
12 years ago

Please bare in mimd that the six bolt disc mounting design was built to handle the largest braking loads that a down hill bike sees using large diameter disc brake rotors. Using a six bolt design is defintley over kill for on a cross country/ marathon bike.

Fragglepussthechaste
Fragglepussthechaste
12 years ago

I saw a recent photo of Cedric Gracia’s V-10 from the last WC and he was sporting 4 bolts, instead of 3 (or 6) like in years past. We were discussing that here at the shop and came to the conclusion if you happen to lose one bolt out of a 3 bolt set up you’re pretty much screwed. But if you lose one bolt out of a 4 bolt cluster you should still be fine (in a WC DH format). A number of pro DH’ers around here have been running 3 bolts for years with absolutely no problem-and that’s on 200mm rotors.

ShopMechanic
ShopMechanic
12 years ago

dicky, you are my hero.

craigsj
craigsj
12 years ago

“I only pointed out the DH guys to prove that it only takes three bolts to hold a rotor on under extreme use. ”

And yet AC can’t build hubs that don’t fail even with all 6 bolts unless the rotors are properly reinforced. Sorry, dicky, but your argument doesn’t hold water. Sure people have been omitting bolts for years, but they race on scales.

The lack of 6 bolts isn’t the only problem with this garbage. When the manufacturer claims improved heat management from the aluminum carrier despite a lack of thermal mass in the carrier and minimal thermal contact with the outer ring, you have to wonder if there’s anyone there that isn’t an engineering hack. This thing is designed to overheat and buckle.

Mindless
Mindless
12 years ago

Three bolts?

The most asinine design decision I have seen in a long time.

Mindless
Mindless
12 years ago

“Anybody have a % on how many pros (including downhillers) that run 3 bolts? ”

Nobody should care what a pro, who makes a run and thoroughly checks and rebuilds his bike does. This is the most idiotic way to save, what several grams for titanium bolts?

The proper way to do that is to incorporate the carrier into the hub – like Hope does on some of their wheelsets.

And it is not the disk that may fail – it is the hub. It is not designed for that.

Nick
Nick
12 years ago

What about just using 3 of their aluminium rotor bolts, that’s even scarier…

They’re the same weight as KCNC steel rotors (which come with 6 bolt holes!), don’t get it myself.

dicky
12 years ago

ShopMechanic, Glad to see I’m someone’s hero.

craigsj, So AC hubs suck regardless of the number of bolts used. Good to know.

Mindless, Checking bolt tightness isn’t gonna stop a hub from failing.

I don’t care what the pros do either. I run six bolts because there are six holes, and that’s about it. I’ve never had issues with my bolts coming loose once they’ve been torqued properly. Is this really happening to folks USING BOLTS WITH FACTORY THREADLOCK already applied? I know guys who ride in the Pisgah National Forest with regularity on three bolts that don’t get “checked and rebuilt after every run.”

I’ll still run six and stay away from AC hubs…

Willis24
Willis24
12 years ago

Echo… 6 bolts please!

timmbers
timmbers
11 years ago

wait wait wait.. so you skip 3 of the 6 holes on your hub?? i remember the industy fighting to get away from 3 and 4 bolt hubs/rotors some time back, hopefully we are not looking at a new “standard”

DeeEight
DeeEight
11 years ago

Bunch of children here… look people, 15 to 20 years ago… THREE and FOUR bolt disc rotors were the norm, and things like six bolts were seen as excessive overkill to be reserved for DH riders bombing the kamikaze on bikes using the formula double-rotor marzocchi bombers and such, and even that was rare.
My Amp D1/Rockshox disc brakes are all three bolt rotors, and they work just fine and I’ve never sheared a bolt or lost a rotor.

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