A friend of mine has just splashed the cash on a new set of Hope Tech 2 with floating discs. I stupidly asked if floating discs were some sort of buoyancy aide for deep puddles 🙂 but was told “Floating rotors are supposed to ensure that the pad and disc surface are always perfectly aligned, at least that was what the motorbike fraternity used to swear by!”

So my question to the forum is – is it really that critical on a mountain bike or just hype? I mean there isn’t the same power / weight ratio as a motorbike.

They look pretty. They make a brilliant “ting” noise as they cool.That’s why I’ve got em’ on all my bikes! 😀

I suspect if you do an alpine decent every half an hour they make loads of sense, but, for the majority of mortals they’re an utter waste of cash.

They do look pretty though.

Floating rotors are a major advance in mountain bike technology. How else would I fully coordinate with my red levers, resevoir caps, piston caps and hubs.

Slightly lighter than complete SS discs, so a little less rotating mass to deal with.
Mind you the ting thing sounds like a good selling point to me. You can’t beat getting out of the car on a hot summers day listening to the exhaust pinging when it cools, after you’ve given the car a good thrashing.

Mine were heavier than the steel discs I replaced them with. Still the anodising was top quality and I sold them on for almost exactly what I paid for them so it wasn’t all bad.

I’m sure they offer benefit with cooling and stuff on a long decent. My new build is getting some purely for the colour matching!

I’m pretty sure they aren’t properly floating like the motorbike ones, they are fixed.

Hope’s rotors aren’t floating in the way that automotive floating discs are. The braking surface is separate from the carrier, but it is not free to move laterally like an auto floater, so they have absolutely no influence on alignment.

Isn’t that what happens when you lie down in the bath?