[selfsequestered]

Hey all,

I'm working on a build, and I've hit an employment snag. I'm still looking to finish the build but the wheelset has taken a pretty brutal budget hit.
Anyways, my question is this; Can I use 203mm Saint rotors (the old style) with 2011 Formula The One brakes?
I've looked it up, and gotten a lot of mixed answers.

 

[Nick]

As long as the rotors bolt up to your wheels (6-bolt vs centerlock) and you have the correct 203mm adapters, you should be all set.

The One brakes are killer.

 

[William42]

yeah, sounds like you've had to take a pretty brutal budget hit, you only get to use "the one" brakes with saint rotors. Psh, what a n00b, all the cool kids use "the one" brakes with the correct formula rotors, only a poor ass kid would be cheap enough to cut corners like that.

But seriously, like nick said, should be just fine, I'm sure you'll be happy with it. The only concern I would have is that formula brakes are a little bit touchy in lever throw, and I think saint rotors are slightly thinner. You might find yourself running the lever pretty close to the bar, whether you want to or not.

 

[Udi]

2011 "The One" brakes actually have a short lever throw, they engage a bit far out if anything. I modded mine slightly so that the initial position of the lever is closer to the bar, and coupled with the short throw it makes for a confidence inspiring brake compared to the ones (and saints) of old where they engaged alarmingly close to the bar, especially after some pad wear.

As for the Saint 203 rotors, they'll be fine as said above, as long as you have 203mm adapters too.

 

[selfsequestered]

Haha, I knew the adapters would be needed, I just wasn't sure if thickness etc affected the way the brakes would perform, and if the Saint rotors were in fact a different thickness than the Formula's.

The budget hit comes from having to build the wheels with older Saint hubs/derailleur and SRAM Attack shifters as apposed to a Hope Pro II or Hadley/X.9 build.

Thanks guys, solved my probably simple problem!

 

[Julio]

I modded mine slightly so that the initial position of the lever is closer to the bar

Could you share what you did here?
I use mine with the reach adjustment all in but still feel the initial position of the lever far from the bars.

 

[Udi]

Could you share what you did here?
I use mine with the reach adjustment all in but still feel the initial position of the lever far from the bars.

Definitely.
I removed the brake cams (the cylinders that the threaded adjuster rod slides into) and carefully drilled out about 2 threads from them. Obviously you need a bit that matches or is slightly larger than the adjuster rod at its thickest point. It may help to put a limiter on the drill bit to stop you from drilling too far, ~1-2mm depth should be sufficient

What this does is effectively gives you more adjustment range, as the rod can now screw further into the cam, thus bringing the lever closer to the bar. An even neater solution would be to find a die that matched the threads of the adjuster rod, and extend the threaded area - however I wasn't able to find a match easily enough and my method worked fine.

Hope that helps.

 

[Julio]

Definitely.
I removed the brake cams (the cylinders that the threaded adjuster rod slides into) and carefully drilled out about 2 threads from them. Obviously you need a bit that matches or is slightly larger than the adjuster rod at its thickest point. It may help to put a limiter on the drill bit to stop you from drilling too far, ~1-2mm depth should be sufficient

What this does is effectively gives you more adjustment range, as the rod can now screw further into the cam, thus bringing the lever closer to the bar. An even neater solution would be to find a die that matched the threads of the adjuster rod, and extend the threaded area - however I wasn't able to find a match easily enough and my method worked fine.

Hope that helps.

I'll try. Thanks!

 

[buildyourown]

This might work, but all manufactures don't have the same size rotors. They might list them as 203mm or 8", but the actual dimension is slightly different. I used Magura rotors on my XTR brakes since the 6 bolt rotors were out of stock for months. I had to do a little machining on the adapter to make the braking surfaces line up. Rotor thickness are all the same except for the vented Hopes.

 

[Udi]

Rotor thicknesses aren't all the same, I recall my 200mm Formula rotors were slightly thicker than Shimano ones, I'd presume my 203mm Formula ones are the same story though I haven't measured them. It can affect lever engagement point.

Not a big deal though unless your levers are already engaging right up against the bar.

 

[William42]

I think rotor adapters are pretty consistent with the exception of shimano, which has for a long time used slightly thinner rotors. I'm not certain about their new icetech though, no idea how those fit into the grand scheme of things.