Hi,

I bought a brakeset which came with two 203 floating rotors. is 203 overkill at the back? or can i get away with it if i apply the rear brake gently?

Cheers

You’ll get used to it though it’s probably bigger than really necessary in terms of balancing with available grip. Main issue is usually frame clearance.

Sell ridiculously vast rear rotor. Buy cheaper sensibly sized rear rotor.

Probably bigger than actually necessary but I don’t buy into the whole overbraked thing, fail to see how it makes any sense. I’d just keep it!

It won’t hurt you, and will run cool…

Could be worse I suppose!

Keep it, it’s awesome. I’ve been running large rotors on all my bikes for years and it’s fantastic. You don’t lose any modulation, you just need less effort to obtain the same braking force when pull the lever.

The guy who used it before me must have been a down hiller, so i have 203 rotors and m4 calipers front and back! Will try it out in the weekend, but i suspect that in the surrey mud, i’m going to be all over the place!

Thanks for the info

What size rotors are your stays rated for? – mate of mine snapped his using a 203 rotor and it cost him £350 to replace them.

really? I didnt think of that. Its a pace 305 frame, didnt realise that there is a max rotor size you could use. It fits the frame fine enough.

200mm front and rear here with saint brakes – love it.

Bigger rotors means more leverage and possibly at an angle to the designed brake mounting point due to adaptor extra length

With a 203mm rotor (compared with, say, 165mm) you may find you get less modulation when applying the brake, i.e it’ll feel more grabby…

But other than checking the frame’s designed to cope with the braking forces, then there’s no reason not to stick with the 203mm rotor.

The Pace 305 was a ‘hardcore hardtail’ design so I would be surprised if the rotor size was a risk to the frame integrity.

If your not used to it you will find you just lock up the rear all the time. So sod that, sell it and get a slightly smaller one. Rotors are cheap and you wont gain anything from a big rear unless your a DH god.

Even 185’s with Saints on my Freeride type bike are more than enough. I have to conciously try not to lock up the rear.

If the frame is rated for it there is nothing wrong with running A big rotor, certainly no point in selling it. I only run a smaller rotor tonsave a gnu bit of weight and dOnt need the extra power. Saying that my dh brakes are 203 f&r because the vented rotors don’t come in anything else.

Possible advantages:

You can mince down massive hills (mountains I believe they are called?) dragging your brake the whole way without cooking it.

You can pile on the pounds big time and you’ll still be able to stop.

Possible Definate advantages:

You[b] I[/b] can mince down massive hills (mountains I believe they are called?) dragging my brake the whole way without cooking it.

I can pile on the pounds big time and I’ll still be able to stop.
This sounds like my usual trip to the Alps.

In all honasty though, I’m 103kg and always fit 203s front and rear when in the Alps. Boiled brakes are not funny 🙁

I’m not sure a 203mm rotor is any more grabby than a 180mm rotor – it won’t improve braking until the rotor gets hot – if your brake isn’t too grabby when cold, increasing the rotor size will make no difference

I had problems with my Avid Juicys running 160mmm front and rear (first bike i’ve owned with discs), could not get them to perform well, even compared to my old V brakes.

I decided to upgrade them to 203 mm discs front and rear with sintered pads. Worked really well.

Trouble is after a couple of months I found a crack in my frame on the chainstay close to the rear disc. I don’t weight much and I am a pretty careful rider

Is this a coincidence?

Overkill but it’ll be fine.

OK it will look a bit mad but who cares about that.

I had a 203mm rotor on my rear of my Old Enduro (alps ‘n uplift bike)

it felt fine, looked daft as a bottle of chips but worked just fine and it never broke my frame!

Bought originally to keep the brakes cool on long descents in the Alps, I never had a problem with modulation or grabbiness. OK it will lock up easier than a 160mm rotor but as its you controlling things after all just stroke the lever instead of grabbing a hadfull of it.

Ran mine with old 2007 era Shimano XT brakes then some Magura Louise FR’s.

Had them on my old P7. 203mm + M4.

Because I was once going down a hill here in the Peaks and with my rear brake applied fully I was not slowing down. That focuses the mind somewhat.

So I invested in something that could slow me down.

And they worked. Perfectly.

I’ll trade a bit of extra rotational weight for increased stopping power any day.

203s + Juciy 3s here.

I would happily run 203s front and rear with my saints but not with m4s, they have that all or nothing feel, so its either no power or far too much.

I also run 225/205 with Mono 6Ti front, M4 rear on the DH bike…

Why do people complain of too much power? Just learn to control it…

I ran a hayes 9 and 8″ rotor for a few weeks in the Peaks, nigh on uncontrollable as there was nothing between off and locked up.

Still run big front rotors where the terrain suits them, arround Swinely I ruin 160/140 (and lightweight ones that are more air than rotor at that!) with hope mono mini’s and I’m 97kg!

run 203mm both front and back on my five with V2 hopes, would not have it any different. If you ride hard and fast enough down hill, you come to appreciate the scrub speed off fast with out brake fade that a big rotor can give. I have always liked grabby brakes over progresion braking, i brake last minute into corners and like sum ut that works fast.

I once demoed a five pro with the standard M4’s with standard rotors. bloody awefull, i had to brake half way down the trail to scrub enough speed off at times and felt like they just were not going to stop me. V2’s & 203mm for me all the way. And at 12stone 4pound (6ft tall) i would not put myself in the fat porker group.

whats a few grams extra in weight when you have a brake that just works, and works very very well.

I’ve got 203mm both ends on my Marin Attack Trail, maybe over-doing it but who cares? I have some proper weight-weeenie bikes but not that one, and other than weight no disadvantages.
BTW, they are Hope C2 Pros (around 2002-3 model) and seem less powerful than 160mm Formula R1s, just 7-8 years of technological advancement I guess.