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Review: Galfer’s moto experience shows in their floating brake rotor and pads for MTB

Galfer floating wave rotor and pads on bike
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Unless you’re a new-school BMX rider (brakeless), having good brakes is probably a high priority! Though I joke about being a small guy with little heft to halt, I still like my brakes to bite hard. I was stoked to set up my DH bike with some parts from Galfer USA, which is an off shoot of the original Spanish brand best known for their motocross components.

Last summer, I installed their 203mm Floating Wave rotor and brake pads and hit the Whistler Bike Park to see how they handled the speeds, the steeps, and the slabs. In short, Galfer’s components did what good brakes do – they provided a lot of braking power without sacrificing modulation.

I’ll definitely be keeping their components on my DH bike, since the subtle buzz of the rotor doesn’t bother me…

Galfer floating wave rotor, on scale

Galfer’s 203mm Floating Wave rotor weighs in at 166g (180mm versions are also available). If you’re not familiar, pinning the outer ring to the inner spider is what makes this a ‘floating’ design. The company claims their floating rotor reduces drag, provides better feel and resists warping. They also say they have the best stainless steel braking surface out there, and that their design keeps temperatures down by allowing air to flow over the entire brake pad surface.

Galfer floating wave rotor, close up

Before I installed the rotor a moto-riding friend of mine warned me that the pins could loosen up and create a vibration under braking. Sure enough, after a few weeks I found the floating rotor was creating an audible buzz and a subtle but detectable loose feel under braking. This might annoy some people, but I found it easy to tolerate the quiet buzz and slight vibration in exchange for the rotor’s great stopping performance.

Throughout my all-downhill testing I never managed to heat the rotor up to the point of weakness, let alone failure of the brakes. I don’t recall smashing it on any rocks, but the rotor is still running dead straight so it hasn’t warped under hard braking or by overheating.

Galfer standard MTB brake pads, used

I installed Galfer’s standard type brake pads first. These pads took the better part of a day (and a good number of runs in the bike park) to bed in on the brand new rotor, but by the time I went home they were grabbing with promise. After testing for a while, I wound up impressed with the stopping power these pads provided.

At the same time, Galfer’s standard pads still offered good modulation. On slippery rock slabs or dusty chutes it was easy to find the sweet spot and keep things under control. When you need to stop on a dime however, a good squeeze of the levers will reel you in quickly. After about 15 days of mostly bike park use the standard pads are just getting broken in, with hardly any wear to show.

Galfer brake parts test, riding shot

Recently I installed the Pro pads and noticed one big difference – as Galfer intends, they stopped surprisingly well right out of the package and took very little time to bed in. After slapping them in, they immediately felt like they were halfway broken in already. In the bike park, it only took two runs for the Pro pads to start grabbing with full authority.

After a few days I found the Pro pads were giving me gobs of power yet great modulation too. Galfer claims they are stronger and have better fade resistance than the standard type, but will wear out a bit faster. I didn’t notice a huge difference in power over the standard type, but that’s OK since the standard pads are pretty impressive themselves.

Galfer floating wave rotor, full shot

All in all, Galfer’s components have performed very well, offering a hard bite when the need arises, but steady feathering when a light touch will do. Furthermore, between both sets of pads ridden in all kinds of weather I never had any issues with annoying honking or squealing.

I’ve had no problems with excess wear and tear on the pads or rotor, so these parts have become a welcome upgrade to my DH rig. Galfer’s pads are definitely an upgrade to consider for anyone – as for the rotor, if you can get used to feeling and hearing a slight buzz the braking performance is great.

galferusa.com

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12 Comments
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Mark
Mark
6 years ago

My guess is the pro pads bedded in quicker mainly because the rotors already had pad material deposited on them. A true test would be new rotors + new pads.

HD
HD
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

This exactly. Rotor was already bedded in. Pro pads may work even better after sanding and cleaning rotors and re-bedding them in with the pro-pad material.

Galfer has made really good standard rotors for years and the non-floating rotors don’t have the other issues. They stay straight and work really well.

Floating rotors work great on motorcycles because you don’t hear or feel the drag of the rotor on the pads, but its there. Bicycles are much quieter and have a lot fewer HP.

mick
mick
6 years ago

Check me if I’m wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the Galfers, they’re gonna lock me up and throw away the key.

ChknBreast
ChknBreast
6 years ago
Reply to  mick

Classic Bill Murray. Classic movie. Great quote!

Dave
Dave
6 years ago
Reply to  mick

Well played

Bmx
Bmx
6 years ago

Needlessly overly engineered. Floating discs on motorcycles heat to a point that the gap is gone and they dont rattle

Padrote
Padrote
6 years ago
Reply to  Bmx

Please describe what you think “overly engineered” means.

Bmx
Bmx
6 years ago
Reply to  Padrote

Its a common term used to describe something that is needlessly complicated. They sell books with the discription of words in the contents. May be worth investing in one

TGIF
TGIF
6 years ago

So, why would I buy a rotor that “rattles” ? Huh ???

Tom in MN
Tom in MN
6 years ago

Was there any mention in the rotor instructions about compatibility with BB7 type pads that have the pad ears pointing inward where they might hit the pins? This is an issue with rotors with cooling fins like Shimano’s Icetech and Jagwire’s Elite.

Tim Moss
Tim Moss
6 years ago

Original development of GALFER Engineers to get a Floating Wave rotor and it will be quickly copied as the Wave Disks.

Colin wilson
Colin wilson
6 years ago

Fitted the 203 on the front and the 180 on the rear, after a few rides the pins in the 180 became loose, thought that this was a fault and sent it back hopefully the replacement will be better

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