REVIEW
Galfer Rotors and Pads
Galfer
Galfer makes rotors, pads and mounting hardware for mountain, road and gravel bikes. On their EU website they list 36 different rotors and on their US website there are 86 different brake pads. The company was founded in Barcelona in 1952 and in 1992 they began business in the U.S. to service North and South America.
Galfer Wave Rotors
The Wave is a design Galfer has been making for motorcycles for 70 years. These come in center lock or 6-bolt, 160 - 223 mm diameter as well as 1.8 mm and 2 mm thickness. I rode a set of 223 mm and 203 mm rotors in 2 mm thickness. The retail price on the 223 mm rotor is 115 CAD/70 USD and the 203 mm is 100 CAD/62 USD, which is similar to most single piece OEM rotors. All of Galfer's rotors are made from a high carbon 420 stainless steel which is then laser cut and double disc-parallel ground, to assure perfect parallel flatness and then heat treated for each application. Galfer claims that laser cutting, rather than stamping their rotors minimizes internal residual stress from manufacturing, which they say makes them less susceptible to warping as the rotors are heated.
The Galfer Wave rotor comes with rotor bolts.
Mounted up, these are good looking rotors.
Galfer Shark Rotors
On to the Sharks then, and the first thing you'll notice is the price. Much like the Wave Rotor, the Shark Rotors are laser cut out of high carbon 420 stainless steel, double disc-parallel ground and heat treated. However these retail for 250 CAD/156 USD for the 223 mm rotor and 235 CAD/147 USD for the 203. This is more than double the Galfer Wave or single piece OEM rotors. That's a steep jump in price, but Galfer has been in the business of brakes for a long time, so they must think there is value in this product. I'm not sure what justifies the price jump, but I suspect the large number of smaller holes takes more time to cut, which increases expensive machine time. Why more small holes? Because this significantly increases surface area to improve the rotor's ability to shed heat.
The Shark Rotors come with some nice mounting hardware.
Mounted up, the Sharks look awesome.
The test mule. A bike that I ride a lot, in a wide range of conditions and regions.
A big 'ol 223 mm Shark Rotor up front, with a 203 mm rear rotor.
Galfer Pro Pads
I mounted a set of Galfer Pro Pads to the Hayes Dominion A4 brakes I'm running on my Norco Range. While I tested the rotors on the Dominions, Hope Tech4 V4s and SRAM Code RSCs, I only had pads for the Dominions. Galfer claims the Pro Compound is one of their most aggressive bicycle brake pads. They recommend this compound for race use because of its power, ability to prevent dirt build up and high resistance to fade. Galfer also states that, due to the aggressive nature of these pads, they may wear out faster than their less aggressive Standard Compound if put under heavy use. The Galfer Pro Pads retail for 50 CAD/36 USD.
The Galfer Pro Pads are green. Green means go, right?
The signs of orange corrosion on the brake pad suggest there is a significant amount of iron in the compound.
Ride Impressions
Interestingly the recommended torque for the two rotors differs: 4 Nm for the Wave and 6 Nm for the Shark. I suspect this is due to the hardware supplied. The bolts look well made, with particularly nice hardware coming with the Shark rotors. After installing with a torque wrench, I then needed to find some 1.5 mm washer spacers to put under my calipers to clear the 3 mm bigger diameter rotors than the 220 and 200 mm rotors they replaced. Given how ubiquitous 220 and 200 mm rotors are, I think supplying the rotors in 220/200 mm, or providing 1.5 mm washer spacers with the 223 / 203 mm rotors would be a nice improvement.
My initial impressions after installing the Wave and Shark rotors were mixed. The rotors look great, but none of the rotors are particularly straight. They all had a slight warp that was within the limits of touching either side of the brake pad on all the brakes except the Hope Tech4. This isn't unusual in my experience, but I was hoping the Galfer rotors would be straighter than standard OEM rotors. This doesn't affect performance, but I can hear the rotor touching the pads when pedaling.
The Pro Pads came with some surface corrosion on them, which hasn't affected their function, but it alludes to a high metal content. The springs that come with the Pro Pads were thin and splayed out at the ends. I wound up using the Hayes Pad Spring instead.
Excellent brake torque combined with excellent modulation.
As mentioned, I tested the Wave rotors through three brake sets: Hayes Dominions, Code RSCs and Hope Tech4 V4s. The Wave rotors performed well on all three brakes with no warping under high heat. Performance was consistent, and but I don't have much to say positively or negatively otherwise. I'd say these are a good OEM rotor replacement that offered similar levels of performance. I wasn't able to ride these in very muddy conditions, but I suspect they'd be good at shedding/clearing mud which could make them an improvement over most OEM rotors in that regard.
The Shark rotors, however, made more of an impression. I don't fully understand how, but the Shark rotors provided significantly more bite than the stock rotors. They aren't grabby, but there is a noticeable increase in brake torque for the same finger force. I also think these rotors look fantastic. The Shark rotors then continued to impress with surprisingly good heat dissipation that resulted in consistent brake performance even on long steep trails where I would routinely suffer brake fade. The Shark Rotors offer a noticeable improvement in brake performance on OEM and Wave rotors.
I like riding steep technical features, and I appreciated the improved power of Galfer's pads / rotors.
I only ran the Galfer Pro Pads in the Hayes Dominions and on the Shark Rotors. This combination was excellent. The Pro Pads are more aggressive than the stock Dominion Metallic Pad (which feel similar in compound to most other OEM metallic pads). The brake torque with the Hayes Dominion A4 is aggressive and linear. There is a ton of power available, but it's easy to use, and the power is consistent. Through hot and cold conditions, the Pro Pads always seemed to deliver consistent brake performance. Getting them wet, there is some initial noise until they build a bit of heat in the rotor, which is normal with aggressive metallic pads offering similar levels of performance. These pads are expensive relative to OEM pads, and to me they feel like race car track pads.* They're going to make some noise when cold initially, but if you're hard on brakes and looking for maximum brake performance, the Pro Pad and Shark Rotor are an excellent combination.
*Tim has some experience driving on the track - Ed.
I also like long top to bottom runs in the bike park that often result in brake fade, blued rotors, and crippling arm pump. The Galfer Shark + Pro Pad combination made a noticeable improvement in all aspects for me.
All told I'm left impressed with Galfer's products. There is the niggle of the rotors not being perfectly straight, the need for different adapters or 1.5 mm Washer Spacers for the 223 / 203 mm rotors, and the thin Pad Springs. The Pro Pads and Shark Rotors are also expensive. The Galfer Wave rotors are good replacements for OEM rotors and in my opinion offer similar levels of performance, and should clear water/mud better the OEM equivalents. Galfer's Shark rotors are a step up in brake torque and heat dissipation that provided more consistent brake performance on long torturous descents. The Pro Pads provided a step up in braking power over the OEM metallic pads in the already excellent Hayes Dominions. The combination of Galfer Shark rotor and Pro Pads is my favourite brake combination and has made a noticeable improvement in my arm pump and brake consistency. Yes there are niggles, and that combo is expensive, but Galfer products get two thumbs up from me.
Age: 42
Height: 183 cm / 6'
Weight: 83 kg / 182 lbs
Ape Index: 1.055 / +10 cm
Inseam: 81 cm / 32"
Preferred Riding: Gravity Mountain Bike
Bar Width: 800 mm
Preferred Reach: 500 - 520 mm (but this is stack and head angle dependent)
Comments
Nukeitfromorbit
2 months ago
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/galfer/2704/m
The cheapest place to buy galfer stuff it just takes about 3 weeks to get. Anyone paying 147$ for a rotor is goddamn crazy
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Cam McRae
2 months ago
How are the shipping charges? Have you had duties applied?
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mrbrett
2 months ago
Shipping is not awful. Last rotor order I’d guess $20 shipping and $20 or maybe $25 duty. Galfer stuff is less than half price there.
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Nukeitfromorbit
2 months ago
If you just buy rotors and pads shipping is under 20$ to the us. Tires are more the most I’ve paid for an order of 4 tires and several rotors/pads was 45$ but that is not bad for premium compound tires that are 50-60$ before shipping. No other fees or duty and no sales tax
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cheapondirt
2 months ago
If I paid $250 for a rotor, I would hope for it to arrive in dead straight condition. That's annoying enough even on lower priced rotors.
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Brian Tuulos
2 months ago
The bigger a simple steel rotor becomes, its tendency to warp is exponential. The best rotor design is a rigid aluminum carrier, with a steel ring attached. IE centerlock stye. Or 6 bolt if you prefer. Have you ever felt just how stiff a centerlock rotor carrier is? Its 6mm thick. Would be perfect for a 220mm application.
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Cr4w
2 months ago
I wish we had all just decided on Centerlock from the beginning. It seems like a superior system but it's only universal on road bikes so I guess that's that.
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Timer
2 months ago
There is nothing preventing anyone from making 6 bolt rotors with aluminium spiders. Hope, TRP and Magura make some like that.
Its just that those designs are more expensive to make, so most companies avoid the extra cost if they can.
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Graham Driedger
2 months ago
In my experience, truing rotors with alloy carriers is significantly more difficult than plain stainless rotors. Particularly ones which have a larger diameter alloy carrier. I'm fairly amateur at the task, but I appreciate the ability the capability of bending the spokes/spars/whatever leading from the hub toward the braking surface. Trying to bend alloy slightly is damn near impossible.
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Laurent Demoz
2 months ago
I find the standard black pads to be good enough for me, and in summer being a guide in the Alps I go through a lot of pads (sometimes a set of pads every week, per caliper). Cheap AF too, I can get them for less than 10€ each, I usually buy them in bulk.
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fartymarty
2 months ago
We were going through a set of pads every 2 days in Les 2 Alps. It made my £3 Decathlon pads seem like a bargain - and they weren't bad either.
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hongeorge
2 months ago
Galfer do make the standard rotor (in 1.8mm and 2mm thicknesses) in both 203mm and 200mm. 203/223 vs 220/200 is bloody annoying though. I have somehow ended up with a 3 bikes which all have 203 front and 200 rear discs - which avoided having to buy/bin stuff, but it's just dumb.
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Timer
2 months ago
Isn’t 203mm actually based on imperial units? Which makes it even more ridiculous that US based SRAM/Avid only makes 200mm rotors while Japan/EU based companies make 203mm rotors.
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Cooper Quinn
2 months ago
SRAM Centerline rotors come in 203, I'm not sure about HS2 though.
and yes.... I think 203mm are a holdover from 8" days. But how we got to 160 and 180 from 6" and 7" I don't recall... need a historian here.
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Dave Tolnai
2 months ago
Going through my old stack of rotors is depressing. Hayes was also doing a 185mm for a while...and 6" was closer to 150 than 160. What SRAM did (fixed 20mm jumps) makes a lot of sense. Anybody that didn't go along with that should really be shamed into submission.
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uki
2 months ago
Please note that their 200mm Wave rotor (2mm thick), as well as all smaller and all 1,8mm Wave rotors are a bit different design: bigger holes, lighter, less robust. In my experience they tend to wear much quicker along the holes, which in turn leads to uneven pad wear. The only Wave rotors with the new, more robust design are 203 and 223, both 2mm thick.
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fartymarty
2 months ago
I've got a 205mm Hope on the front of one bike - so many sizes, so unnecessary. I wish it would all be standardised to 160, 180, 200 and 220.
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James Heath
2 months ago
Don't hold me to this, but I believe Galfer actually manufacture the Hope OEM pads. I might be misremembering. Either way, love the new Hope Green pads, would be interested to see how Galfer's own-brand stack up.
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dolface
2 months ago
Pretty sure you're correct on Galfer making Hope OEM pads...
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Graham Driedger
2 months ago
100%, Galfer makes Hope pads.
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dano91
2 months ago
I blew through my hope green race pads in such a short period of time that I’ll never run them again. Power was insane but the purple e-bike pads last way longer and also have as much power as I’ll ever need.
I’ve got some MTX golds to try next but the purple pads can be found for $22 out of European sites.
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Paul Lindsay
2 months ago
Galfer make the Hope pads, other than the green ones. Sam the Hope brake designer said so on a podcast. He also said the red pads are the best suited to UK riding conditions, which has been my experience.
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Cr4w
2 months ago
That's an interesting result. I was running TRP 2.3mm 220mm race rotors with my Hayes A4 and while they were fine in the dry they were horrifically loud in the wet. Not just the odd honk or gurgle but a full-on 120db scream that lasted for multiple brakings. I figured it was something to do with how the big Hayes pads mate with those little perforations in the rotors. I switched to stock 220mm Hayes D rotors and it's smooth quiet sailing ever since. But based on your review maybe it's not the holes but something about the material or surface treatment.
That being said if I'm paying double the price I expect something of significantly higher quality than stock, right out of the package. It doesn't sound like these are a good enough improvement on, well, anything compared to the stock pads and rotors to justify those prices.
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Tim Coleman
2 months ago
Weird! A friend of mine was having loud brake issues on his Spire, and I think it was with TRP rotors as well. I think it was both with Code RSC and Dominion A4.
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Cr4w
2 months ago
Previously I had XT on one bike and Code RSC on another and I swapped between Ice-tech and HS2 rotors between the two systems and it made no difference. But my Hayes brakes seem much happier with Hayes rotors.
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shapethings
2 months ago
I'm a big fan of the Wave rotors in 2mm thickness (MTX pads). Any Shimano rotor I had would warp if I looked at it wrong. If the Galfer rotors do come out of true, I find they are much easier to get back in line and tend to stay there.
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jason
2 months ago
i was looking for more braking power for my ebike (and 90KG body weight). I run a mixed bag of saint levers paired with xt calipers, and putoline oil. I stuck with Sram HS2 rotors and stock shimano metallic pads on the rear. But on the front have gone to 223 Shark rotors with green (pro) pads (yes the same as Hope). The increase in power is substantial. so much so that going down pipeline I had to actively think to not pull on the brakes too much. but on steep lines, or squamish, the extra power was very much appreciated as it led to less hand fatigue. I go through a set of pads every couple months which hits a little hard on the pocket book but a price I am willing to pay for the better overall riding experience. Same as with super soft tires. they wear fast but the added grip is what I want.
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Larrabee
2 months ago
I’d like to read a review on this bad boy: Galfer Wave 246 mm x 2.3 mm
C$215. Ouch!
https://fortnine.ca/en/galfer-wave-246-mm-x-2-3-mm-brake-rotor-6-bolt-dbp19005
Damn! Things are expensive these days.
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Mic
2 months ago
Thanks for that article, I came across Galfer in Italy and always wondered about how they perform, thanks a lot, Tim.
Now...my question is: How do the Sharks compare to Hope's floating discs? I am looking at getting a set of Hope V4 brakes but do not want to get the discbrakes (well, they look good but I do not want to shell out that much money for a set of discs).
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hongeorge
2 months ago
I can't compare to the larger vented Hope discs, but the Sharks work brilliantly with V4s
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Mic
2 months ago
Thanks! They def do not break the bank and are at a similar price point than standard Hope discs - and look really good.
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DanL
2 months ago
you don't need to get the vented rotors to run T4V4s, you can use any rotor (Hope standard floating rotors for example) but with the V4s you have this option as well. You're still going to get a lot of braking force with non-vented.
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Mic
2 months ago
Thank you, that made me and my bank account quite happy.
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Brad Nyenhuis
2 months ago
Another less $$$ option for the V4 brakes would be the standard Hope Floating Rotors. Same Hope floating design as the V4 Vented models but at a normal $75 price range.
I'm also a little leery of the 3 pc design of the Hope Vented Rotors. I've used the similarly designed Shimano Freeza rotors and, while they work great, they are very susceptible to bending. That 3pc sandwich design relies on an aluminum core that seems to be much easier to bend than a solid stainless rotor.
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Mic
2 months ago
Thanks for the input, Brad.
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Tim Coleman
2 months ago
Yeah interesting question, and this is harder to answer. I put the V4s on my downhill bike, almost solely because I wanted to try the 3.3 mm vented Hope rotors. For the most part the vented rotors are excellent, but I did suffer some brake fade with all the V4 pads on the vented rotor, and turned the rotors blue (the Hope metallic pad performed best in my experience). To be fair this was in practice / racing the Canadian Open this year, and that course is steep and tough on brakes. I feel like the Shark rotors might have actually performed better regarding brake fade, but this is so hard to give a fair comparison when riding as the conditions are so different. The vented rotors are beautifully made, almost bike jewelry and I feel like if you're putting the V4s on the bike, the vented rotor is the intended rotor. Then again the Shark rotors look sick too, and have impressed so far. You can't go wrong either way.
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Mic
2 months ago
Thank you, Tim.
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Andeh
2 months ago
Thanks for the comparison. I've been running Sharks on both bikes for about a year and really like them (purchased from EU for less than half the US price, even including shipping). I've also got a pair of Waves sourced from EU that I was going to try to fine tune the power on my Mavens. While they don't come perfectly straight, they were straighter than a lot of Magura or SRAM rotors I've gotten, and they stay straighter longer. Usually I only need to tweak them after I've hit something. >.<
One thing about Galfer's bike catalog is they don't offer all their products in the US. I.E. purple "ebike" pads for the Dominion are EU only. 200mm x 2.0 x 6 bolt Waves also EU only. Which is a shame because the sizing headaches you mentioned, and the purples are nearly as good as the greens but last much longer. I was running green front / purple rear when I had Dominions.
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finbarr
2 months ago
I'm curious how these compare to SRAM's HS2 rotors, which were previously my goto big rotors (for <200mm I'm less picky about rotors and will run whatever comes on the bike).
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Tim Coleman
2 months ago
The OEM rotors I reference in the article are SRAM HS2 rotors. I was running HS2s on both my bikes until trying these Galfer rotors. In my experience the Wave rotors offered similar or slightly better performance, where as the Shark rotors were a step up in performance over the HS2.
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finbarr
2 months ago
Ah thank you! That is good to know. I wonder if that explains why you didn't see a big difference between the OEM rotors and the Waves, as the HS2 are already pretty good.
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Tim Coleman
2 months ago
Yeah good point, the HS2 is already an excellent rotor, and to be fair that's the only rotor I'd been using across my bikes before testing these Galfer rotors.
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Timer
2 months ago
This is quite interesting because the HS2 and Galfer Wave are very different conceptually. The HS2 has high mass with few and small holes, while the Wave has low mass and lots of large holes.
So in theory, the Wave should be more grabby, reach working temps faster but overheat easier.
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LewisQC
2 months ago
I have Wave rotors on my hardtail with Galfer pro pads (Shimano XT). Really good combo. On my Ripmo I run sharks rotors with Truckerco pads (XT brakes) and also really like this combo... On my fat bike it's wave rotors, Codes brakes with MTX race pads... I just realized I'm all over the place with my brake parts!
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XXX_er
2 months ago
I agree, I was just looking at pads cuz I've used up my stock of the half priced nukeproof from CRC, someone in user comments said Nukeproof were ok and they were fine, Galfer seem kind of pricey for something so simple and I'm not hearing the on-line love
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JVP
2 months ago
I tried the Galfer Greens on my Dominions. Wickedly good pads... while they lasted. I burned through a set in about 1/4 the time that I usually go through stock metallics. Definitely track pads, I'd run them if I raced.
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Yoondaman
2 months ago
100%. I went back to the standard black Galfer pads because they last a little longer. I like the Galfer pads because they don't rattle nearly as much as the finned Shimano XT 4-piston pads.
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Yoondaman
2 months ago
I bought two of the 203 Galfer 2.0mm rotors and did not get bolts. I had to re-use the bolts from my old Shimano RT86 rotors. (FYI, this was two years ago.)
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Andy Krull
2 months ago
I've used the wave rotors (2.0mm). I find they wear unevenly when used extensively (Whistler). The thin sections wear quicker and it makes for a stuttered brake feel. They need to be replaced more frequently due to this issue. HS2 or Hayes look like a more consistent design that would wear more evenly, thereby lasting longer.
The shark rotors look great, but out of my price range!
I've had good luck with their brake pads. I tried MTX gold, and the Galfer purple seem to be similar.
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Tim Coleman
2 months ago
Interesting feedback. I haven't worn the Wave rotors enough to see that. I might take a caliper and measure to see if I can find early signs of this.
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Perry Schebel
2 months ago
i've run a couple sets of the waves, and while nice & grippy, they've also wore out noticeably more quickly than other products i've run (standard shimano & sram stuff). perhaps a side effect of the large cutouts (ie, less surface area)?
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Jeth
2 months ago
Glad I’m not the only one. They sent me a set of blue (road I think) saying they didn’t have standard in stock and were an upgrade. The wave rotors wore through before the pads!
Galfer just said, get new rotors.
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Heinous
2 months ago
The Galfer rotors and pads seem consistently very good. The Wave rotors can have a fine kind of buzz with shimano calipers, but work great. I'm using some on Hope T4E4 too, and they've been similarly good.
I prefer the Wave and Shark because they're easier to straighten than floating rotors.
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Sethimus
2 months ago
sharks with original shimano sintered resulted in strange noises i never had with rt64 discs (on 4 pot xt). in the rear it even started to vibrate into the frame. switched to green front/purple rear galfer pads and everything went quiet. green ones last only 3-5 full days though
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HollyBoni
2 months ago
I run the purple pads in my Maguras (on an analog bike). They make some noise, but have good power and seem to last forever.
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