The hydraulic disc brake set from Shimano consists of completely newly developed shift/brake levers and road bike brake callipers at Ultegra level, a new 140 mm brake disc with Ice-Tech cooling fins and special disc brake-compatible centre-lock hubs and wheels.
Shimano promises three advantages for its hydraulic disc brakes:
- Consistently high braking power even on long descents
- Consistent braking performance in all weather conditions
- Adaptation of braking performance to a wide range of conditions, terrain types, rider weights and riding technique levels
The hydraulic road bike disc brakes are equipped with Ice-Tech technology, which was introduced in mountain bike groupsets such as XTR and XT. The brake disc is a three-layer sandwich construction of stainless steel flanks with an aluminium core and therefore offers improved heat dissipation. With two options for the Freeza SM-RT99 brake discs, the braking power can be individually adapted to requirements. Rotors with 140 mm are used as standard, while the 160 mm brake disc can be fitted as an option for special braking performance requirements.
In contrast to the previous Ice-Tech brake rotors known from the mountain bike sector, the new Freeza rotors offer aluminium cooling fins which, according to Shimano, can reduce the system temperature by a further 50 °C thanks to their increased surface area. There is no weight limit for the hydraulic disc brakes.
Together with the hydraulic disc brakes, Shimano is presenting a compatible wheelset at Ultegra level. The WH-RX31 is a centre-lock compatible 11-speed wheelset that is equally suitable for use on road bikes and cyclo-cross bikes.
Weight of the Shimano BR-R785 disc brake
Shift/brake lever (set): 515 g
Brake caliper: 263 g
Brake hose (SM-BH59): 61.5 g
Mineral oil: 21.5 g
Brake disc (SM-RT99-S, 140 mm): 205 g
Wheelset (WH-RX31): 1,795 g
Kristian Bauer
Editor
