Centerlock or 6 bolt disc brake mount
 

I have experience with 6 bolt on a couple of family MTBs. No experience with Centerlock.

Anyone used both and actually have a preference? Best I can tell, Centerlock is easier to set up and 6 bolt is easier to service while riding. There has to be more than that, right?

CL has 5 fewer fasteners, and has the ginchy Shimano rotors available for it...that is about it

Centerlock is also adaptable to 6 bolt. 6 bolt rotors seem to be cheaper in my experience. You will a shimano BB tool and a special lockring if your axle is 15mm or bigger. But centerlock is more elegant to me and no need to hassle with a torque wrench, torx bolts, and tightening the bolts in a star pattern

Six of one. A half dozen of the other.

My center-locks have more extensive cooling fins, which is a real game-changer. Not.

I think you are less likely to damage the hub taking them off and putting them on. One one of my six-bolt hubs, one of the bolts does not thread in easily.

Where manufacturers offer a hub in either CentreLock or 6 Bolt, it seems the CentreLock version is 20 grams or so lighter.

What kind of service would you do on a rotor while out riding?

I'm going to assume the 6 bolt is a stiffer rotor. Tandem riders seem to prefer 6 bolt.

CL has a 40NM requirement.(same as cassette). Any bike fastener has some sort of torque rating, no way around it.

Good point. I currently have a wheel out of service waiting for me to deal with a six-bolt hub with one of the bolts having a completely boogered up torx head. Damned cheap soft metal bolts!

The issue isn't just hardness of metal....

There are lots of cheap junk fasteners and cheap junk drivers out there..."cheap" not just meaning metallurgy, but accurate and precise machining of the fastener head. Torx and Hex in particular are prone to having ill-fitting drivers/fasteners on cheaper parts or tools--and when things don't fit perfectly they booger one or the other or both up. Quick. Particularly where torque is needed.

Funny side story...I recently had a piece of hardware cross my desk--where the supplier warned in no uncertain terms to only use the supplied hex-key or an identical English hex wrench for a set screw ("DO NOT USE METRIC SIZE WRENCHES, you will strip the screw.")....noticed right away lots of slop in the interface of wrench and hex head. Pulled out my electronics tools that I knew were sized right and were labeled, and tried fitting bits. Sure enough. The set screw was an M2.0 hex head--fit perfectly.

Same question answered in last few days .. you can find it..



Adapters... are made.. to buy 6 bolt discs and fit them on CL Hubs

I have a bike set up like that. works fine..







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FWIW, Magura discs, are thicker than Avid

Touring.., you put bike in a box to get there or have it shipped back.. rotor packed separately ,, so it wont get bent..

Once installed, except for a slight weight advantage for CL (that you'll never feel), there's no difference. They both work fine.

It's kind of like the passionate Shimano "wired" Di2 vs. SRAM "wireless" eTap debates. Once installed, wired and wireless don't make any difference. (Well, except for 4 batteries vs. 1 battery. And "handcuff" SRAM front shifting vs. Shimano one-handed shifting. But you get my point.) Nobody can tell, in operation, if your shifters have wires connecting them or not, unless a battery goes out.

The same is true of 6-bolt vs. CL. Well . . . except that you can't even tell when a battery goes out.

I can see the need for that, makes sense - but it's not something you need to do while out riding. If you're putting a bike together that's been shipped, it would be easy enough to have the right tools to install either types of rotors.

End of the Summer, Touring bikes are left here to be shipped home to the east, that's how I can compare them .. I deal with Both..

My Own bike has Center lock + an adapter...

later, Spring Fed Ex Leaves them , labeled 'assemble' (or Do not) Riders fly and takes the Bus, here..







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True, and most can be totally ignored when it comes to steel and aluminum.

You can get a preset torque key , and put the Torx bit in it.. it's a fast way to put discs on in the bike shop...

something as simple as the rotor isnt as tight as thought after service. A lot of multitools have torx for rotors.

Unpacking a touring bike and having to adjust the rotor during setup.

not saying its a common issue.