masi61

I was wondering what folks preferences are for mounting brake rotors - 6 bolt or Centerlock?

I’m simultaneously building up 2 disc brake road bikes and I only have one wheelset right now - a Mavic Cosmic centerlock disc with 12mm through axles front and rear. I like the clean look of the centerlock and the simplicity of the design.

For the second bike’s wheelset I was considering other options and skipping the centerlock hubs and building up a wheelset with 12mm through axles front and rear but bolt on rotors instead.

Advantages I’m seeing are : 1) potentially lower cost - I have been seeing some deals out there for Industry 9 and Stan’s hubs at affordable clearance pricing. 2) Ability to use 3rd party rotors that are often much more affordable than Shimano. Sometimes these rotors are offered in the 25-30$ range. I will be running 160mm front, 140mm rear on one bike and 160mm front & rear on the other bike.

Disadvantages of 6 bolt (that I see): 1) an older design that is perhaps being phased out, 2) more fussy installation of having to fool around with the hardware.

I’m using Columbus Futura disc forks on both bikes. I test fitted a White Industries CLD (centerlock disc) hub to the fork and have a clearance issue with the external centerlock lockring hitting the fork. The road lockring that uses a spline tool was also a no-go since the White Industries axle is too fat.

I wasn’t sure if 6 bolt brake rotors have any clearance issues like that.

Am am awaiting your comments. BTW: I’ll most likely still move ahead with a custom wheel build using White Industries CLD 12mm through axle front and rear hubs in a 24 front/28 rear configuration. My LBS wheelbuilder is going to build these up onto Velocity Aileron polished disc tubeless ready rims 24 front, 28 rear in a 2 cross spoke configuration with DT Swiss stainless steel (silver) butted spokes and blue anodized aluminum spoke nipples to match the blue anodized hubset.

Kozeemoto

Bolt on disks haven't phased out in motorcycles since the 60s/70s ... if center lock worked better you'd think they would use it. Bringing a 300kg machine/rider down from 300kph speed you would think they would know better than use a "phased out design".

Marcus_Ti

Centerlock has 5 few fasteners to worry about torquing properly, and you get Shimano's swanky Ice-Tech rotors....given that Campag has licensed Centerlock I suspect ISO isn't long for this world.

mstateglfr 

I now have both and there really isn't a difference once the rotor is mounted.

What I do see as tangible differences...
Centerlock is way easier to mount/remove.
Soft steel bolts on 6bolt are frustrating(vs quality steel).

dabac

If a centerlock rotor works itself loose mid-ride, not many will carry the tool needed to tighten it.
A 6-bolt can be snugged up with a Torx found on most multi-tools.
OTOH, with the right tool, swapping out a centerlock rotor is faster than swapping out a 6-bolt.
You can fit a 6-bolt rotor onto a centerlock hub using an adapter.
No adapter available to fit a centerlock rotor onto a 6-bolt hub.
I guess for 98% of the time, I’ll be equally happy with either system.

faulker479

I don't believe Lefty Hubs can have a centerlock. Just one reason why 6 bolt will not go away soon.

trailangel

Ask tandem riders what they prefer. I believe it will be 6 bolt.... it's stiffer.

mstateglfr 

But if I am not riding a tandem, what does one rotor being stiffer than the other actually matter, when both are stiff enough for a single rider? A tandem is a different style and design of bike.
Along those lines, I also dont care what type of gearing a recumbent rider uses.

trailangel

You don't need brakes in Iowa anyway, or more that one or two gears... so that's that.

ab_antiquo

I have bikes with CL and six bolt rotors. I've never noticed a difference in stiffness between them nor have I ever noticed difference in rotor stiffness among the many disc systems that I've ridden.

WTH is this rotor "stiffness" thing that you are trying to describe anyway?

gus6464

There really is no difference. CL is just easier because you don't have to worry about torquing bolts which is important. My gravel wheels are CL but I use 6 bolt rotors with the adapters. Haven't noticed any difference.

bikeaddiction1

I have used both, but mostly 6 bolt. I have never had a 6 bolt installation come loose, the ones I've seen all have locking tabs on the bolts.

I have had a CL disc on a front Mavic hub come loose on a ride (with lots of steep down hill remaining) and managed to get it tight enough to get home with the needle nose ends of the pliers on a multi tool. It may have not been torqued tight enough the first time, but I re-torqued it and it did come loose again, but just one more time. It never happened on the rear hub or other bikes I have had with CL brakes.

Marcus_Ti

...what torque spec were you using?

Hint...that lockring and your cassette lockring have the same torque spec, and neither should ever come loose. AKA 40Nm. It doesn't just come loose on its own--unless woefully under-torqued.

gus6464

Do the mavic CL nuts come with a sand paper like surface on the hub side? I have seen CL nuts that do and some that don't. For example DT Swiss ones are like that and I feel it really grips the rotors.

bikeaddiction1

The surface was similar to what you see on Shimano nuts.

bikeaddiction1

That could be the case the first time, but not the second. It never happened on the rear, or a third time on the front and that was some time ago.

Reynolds 531 

I really like the disc choices of 6 bolt. I can go 140, change my mind to 160, decide I want 180 floating, all for very small $.

For traveling, it is unbelievable how much easier the centerlock is to deal with. ( I remove the discs for packing)

Wilmingtech

If you have CL hubs, you can run CL or get an adapter and run 6b as well.

If you have 6b you can only run 6b.

RockiesDad

Just wondering if you can add spacers/shims to CL so that you can swap wheel sets without adjusting your brake calipers? I have and use 6 bolt shims to match wheel set spacing of rotors.

gus6464

Most of time no as the spacing is pretty exact to get a tight rotor lock.

Marcus_Ti

123465

https://novemberbicycles.com/product...shim-pack-of-4

Kapusta

I don’t see 6-bolt being phased out. Centerlock has been around for quite a while. If it were going to push out 6-bolt, I think it would have already done so.

SalsaShark

You obviously havent ridden in eastern Iowa. I logged almost 500,000 feet in elevation over 7,000 miles last year. 95% of this was done in Iowa!

Metieval

brakes only slow you down.

trailangel

How did you do this?

Elevation 1,100 ft (340 m)
Highest elevation 1,671 ft (509 m)
Lowest elevation 480 ft (146 m)