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TRP Slate hydraulic disc brakes bring lighter option to trail bikes, plus Centerlock rotor details

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TRP Slate 2- and 4-cylinder hydraulic disc brakes for mountain bikes

TRP teased us with their new center lock disc brake rotor just before NAHBS, promising all the details once we arrived. To our surprise, they had another, bigger new product waiting along side it!

The new Slate hydraulic disc brakes are designed as a much lighter brake than the Quadiem while offering equal braking power. The weight savings comes from making the lever a lot smaller and removing material here and there, and these may end up just replacing the Quadiem line altogether. TRP’s marketing manager Lance Larabee told us the Quadiems were a bit overbuilt and overkill for most riders, and the new Slate work just as well, only lighter.

Stop in below for closeups on the rotors and more…

TRP Slate 2- and 4-cylinder hydraulic disc brakes for mountain bikes

The Slate T4 is the model you’ll be seeing on the aftermarket. It’s a 4-piston trail brake with a banjo hose fitting so you can set it up with smooth hose angles no matter which way your frame’s sending it.

TRP Slate 2- and 4-cylinder hydraulic disc brakes for mountain bikes

 

It’s housing two 11mm and two 14mm pistons. The bleed port is on the inside top front corner, which should provide easy access regardless of mounting position. Pads are top loading with plenty of room around them, so they’ll fit aftermarket finned pads. There’ll be an X2 2-piston model for OEM customers only.

TRP Slate 2- and 4-cylinder hydraulic disc brakes for mountain bikes

To start, there’s only an alloy lever option, but the Quadiems have an SL version with carbon lever, so it could be coming here in the future. They run mineral oil and have a tooled reach adjust. Claimed weight is 279g for front, which is a whopping 67g less than the Quadiem and 35g less than the Quadium SL.

Pricing is $119 per wheel, and that’s just for the brake (lever and caliper). Rotors will now be sold separately, letting you choose size and type and any adapters on your own. The benefit is a lower per wheel cost if you already have rotors, and for dealers, it makes it easier to stock them since they won’t get stuck with a boxed set holding rotor sizes no one wants.

TRP-one-piece-centerlock-rotor-mtb02

As center lock hubs become more prevalent, especially on road and cyclocross wheels, they needed something of their own to offer along with their brakes. The new TRP Centerlock-25 rotor is the solution, and the design has an interesting groove feature.

TRP-one-piece-centerlock-rotor-mtb05

Five curved, slanted indents around the brake provide a release for gas buildup and help clear any debris from the brake pad. The edges are rounded so they won’t slice away your pads – TRP’s rep said there’s no appreciable difference in pad wear between these and normal rotors.

TRP-one-piece-centerlock-rotor-mtb04

They also said they have a really nice bite, and that the grooves do not introduce any sort of pulsing feel to the braking.

TRP-one-piece-centerlock-rotor-mtb06

Retail is $49.99 (140mm / 160mm), $54.99 (180mm) and $59.99 (203mm). Weight for the 160mm is 134g. Available soon.

TRPbrakes.com

 

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Clifford_Architect
Clifford_Architect
9 years ago

Nice brakes! Wondering what grips are those, though! Nice as well!

Mark
Mark
9 years ago

Looks sweet

CornerCanyonRider
CornerCanyonRider
9 years ago

What grips are those?

ah
ah
9 years ago

“gas build up”?!?!

Smokestack
Smokestack
9 years ago

Yep, gas build up. Air and moisture in the pads and which gets caught between pad and rotor heats up considerably. At high temps, it forms a microscopic air pocket between pad and rotor, reducing friction and hence braking power. If you look at high performance auto and motorcycle brakes the rotors are channeled or cross drilled to allow that gas pressure an escape path. Maybe a bit much for most of us mtb’ers, but for road and DH/FR/Enduro applications there is definitely a need to vent that gas.
But yes, a slick looking brake. Rode the Quadiems at Ray’s and was surprised at the pucker power and modulation.

Chris
Chris
9 years ago

@ smokestack. Good explanation. Thanks.

THAT GUY
THAT GUY
9 years ago

Cross drilling or slotting are 99% marketing/design nonsense.

Cross drilling and slotting the same rotor is 100% for marketing to ricers.

If your pads are gassing to the point they make any sort of impact on performance (they aren’t), the problem is your pads.

JasonK
JasonK
9 years ago

That Guy is on target here. FWIW, I’m a mechanical engineer.

Cross drilling/slotting provides marginal cooling improvements at the cost of decreased thermal capacity in the brake rotor. The reason it’s there is to have something to point to once you’ve spent $2000 on a big brake kit for your car. Outgassing has nothing to do with it.

“Vented” rotors (with slots in-plane with the braking surface, dividing the rotor faces into two parallel rotors, effectively) really do work, but that’s because they increase brake rotor surface area for cooling without affecting pad application area. They also allow a larger rotor diameter with no increase in (unsprung) mass.

It’s true that friction is independent of surface area, but drilling holes in the braking surface creates more problems than it solves, at least for cars.

Bicycle brake rotors are too narrow to have truly vented rotors–though Shimano’s aluminum-cored rotors try to achieve the same effect. At any rate, this “outgassing” stuff is just silly. Outgassing happens, but the idea that the outgassed volume is so large that the pad/rotor system will act as a fluid bearing is just laughable. I’m not saying Smokestack is acting in bad faith; he/she is probably just repeating received wisdom.

Source:

JasonK
JasonK
9 years ago

“Source:” used to say “I’m a mechanical engineer” but I bumped that part of the post to the top and added “FWIW” to make my post seem less like an appeal to (my own) authority. But yeah, I left the “source” text in there.

D’oh.

Bobke
Bobke
9 years ago
Cheese
Cheese
9 years ago

“. . . and help clear any debris from the brake pad.”. During a muddy race I’d be glad to try these slots regardless of what your SWAG CFD tells you. And FWIW I’m also an engineer.

Marcassin
Marcassin
9 years ago

Hmmm the weight of the centerlock rotors is not competitive. About the same as the Shimano. Since TRP brakes on the road side are s*** I’ll pass. Shimano cl rotors -xt or ultegra or xtr- are heaps better.

Mike McAuley
Mike McAuley
9 years ago

TRP road Brakes, mechanical or hydro work so well, it makes a difference when I am looking at the spec on a bike.

Brigand
Brigand
9 years ago

the grips look like a T-One 😉

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