Brake tech rotors

Anyone have direct experience with the brakeTech rotors? Looking at the Rear Cobra Stainless Steel Rotor.

That looks like a rear rotor to me ... ?

I have BrakeTech ductile iron rotors (front only) on the track weapon. With the right pads (race only), lines, and calipers (stiff!) they are impressive. One of the key features that impressed me in making the decision to buy them, is their innovative carrier design and the way the force is transferred from the rotor to the carrier and ultimately the wheel/tyre (NOT through the button). I also appreciate how easy it is to separate the rotor from the carrier, replace any individual part, etc. Very convenient when having to refinish the rotor surfaces when changing pads, compounds (race), etc.

According to Jeff at BrakeTech, the only reason they went to a wave shape on their Stainless "Cobra" rotors, was to save weight. The fact that its also "fashionable", is convenient in a marketing sense. Parallel to my own opinion, their brake dynos tell them that wave rotors are for the most part bullshit as far as the claims other mfgrs. make about them. I also want a conventional rotor feel at the lever = I want to feel what the tyre is doing, NOT so much the brake rotor.

Back to reality: The SuperDuke's Brembo rotors, unless you are racing on a long course with a number of transitions from very high speed to very low, are up to task. Top speed on the SuperDuke isn't that great ... For street use, unless your OEM rotors are toast and in need of replacement or you just want to throw down for the bling, no need to shell out for these (and they ARE spendy). They won't bring anything to the party: At any street speed I typically see on the SuperDuke, I have no problem getting the rear wheel to lift. Traction is more a problem than the brakes.

The BrakeTech folks are good to work with. You can call them up, and discuss at length any questions you might have. My application wasn't for the street, and my OEM rotors weren't cutting it anymore with even the best pads. They made some suggestions for my application, and it's a HUGE improvement for the racetrack. I have to admit that I never would have bothered for a street app on the same bike.

Well spotted. Linked to the wrong rotors. Grendel is looking for front rotors. The current rotors have worn so much they pulse. Grendel likes a strong initial bite with progressive linear braking. Going to try the vesrah rj pads. Grendel is intrigued by the carrier design and how affective it is.

The other option are the galfer rotors. Grendel is not a huge fan of brembo rotors - going back to his Ducati days when a large batch of the brembos were warping and everyone had to fight for replacements.

Like SDnerd, I have the same set up with front rotors in cast iron.

My comments are:-

They are not cheap, (especially here in the UK), but they are the best quality rotors I could find.
I prefer full-floaters rather then semi-floaters. I like the rattly noise they make!
The way the forces are transfered, (not through bobbins), is engineeringly excellent, I've had Beringer brakes start wearing bobbins loose very quickly in the past on supermotos).
They look amazing IMO- "understated state of the art".
They do work better then the already excellent standard SD brakes. On road as well as track.
I like cast iron rotors - I like the feel of them.

Only issue I have to warn about with cast is that in British winter and wet the discs rust overnight so that the next day the pads have seized onto the disc. You have to bounce the bike a bit to break the bond. On single disc Supermotos with lots of suspension travel this is easy but on the SD with two discs and basically eight pad contact areas this can be pretty hard to do. One time it took me ten minutes of bouncing about and I had to use the engine to push the bike forwards with enough force to get unstuck. Then for the first few miles you always have to gently break in the disc surface and wear off any corrosion and uneven surface, until then the braking and feedback is rough and horrible. It's just something you get used to, like being gentle on a cold engine, waiting for your suspension to free up and tyres to get hot.

Go for it Grendel, you won't regret the investment.

A note or three about the GunKote finish BrakeTech puts on the ductile (not cast) iron disks:

- This protective-only finish is NOT applied to the Cobra Stainless rotors or the superbike ductile iron race rotors.

- This finish, if removed by braking, should NOT be done with the final pads to be used.

- The GunKote can be removed easily by bead blasting or using a rotor-hone (medium grit). This is the best approach, as you want a fresh metal surface to ensure deposition of only the new pad material on the rotor surface. Don't bother attempting chemical removal. For best performance, bead blasting or rotor honing is recommended whenever installing new pads or changing compounds - on ANY rotor.