Galfer Floatech brake disc system
One of the new product highlights at EICMA in November 2021 was to be found at the Galfer booth.
The internationally respected Spanish brake components manufacturer's in-house R&D and Innovation team have an established record of developing solutions for problems that the motorcycle brakes industry didn't even realise it had, and kudos to the Galfer team for their latest innovation.
Floatech is a high-tech system of improvements that looks closely at the interaction between the brake disc track and the carrier and answers several weaknesses that are built-in to most conventional floating disc designs.
Ivo Bristot, Galfer's International Sales and Marketing Director, is a long-time motorcycle brakes industry innovator - his fingerprints are on several design advances that the industry and riders take for granted now, including the classic Disc Wave design.
One of the main features of the Floatech system is improved thermal behaviour. Ivo explained that "at high temperatures (above approx. 200 °C) the brake rotor tends to expand in all directions. The new GALFER Floatech system makes it possible to control this growth and avoid potential problems caused by the rotor surface becoming locked-up in relation to the hub."
He went on to explain that "the system allows the rotor to expand freely and avoids the loss of floatability by incorporating a set of parts that consists of washers and a pre-loaded spring. The spring presses on and fixes the brake rotor so that it maintains the same position at all times and is correctly aligned with the brake pads in any situation.
"This eliminates the free movement that occurs with the majority of racing disc brakes on the market and avoids the problem of the brake pads being applied in an uncontrolled way and causing braking difficulties - even when faced with the strong vibrations or gyroscopic forces that occur at high speeds.
"The new Floatech system ensures perfect self-alignment between the brake discs and pads at all times so that the caliper pistons always maintain the position set by the brake manufacturer and braking is far more stable."
Having studied the braking forces and the possibility of being able to design specific directional discs (left/right), Galfer says it has additionally been able to determine the key points for optimising the design of the disc hubs (the carriers), providing greater rigidity with the minimum weight possible. Galfer has innovated the design of directional brake discs that are specific for each side of the wheel - delivering an optimised left/right structure.
Also improving the heat management of the rotor/carrier system, Galfer has improved the thermal break between the two components by using a new gold-nitrided pin design to join the two parts of the disc brake.
It is made out of titanium and improves the thermal barrier between the two parts due to its low thermal conductivity. Other materials such as aluminium are more conductive and transfer heat more directly.
The new GALFER Floatech system allows the disc brakes to exhibit "improved and more stable behaviour in any position and at any temperature. What is more, they reduce weight, which provides better bike handling and increased rider confidence".
"They all say they experienced the effectiveness of braking with the new Floatech disc - with real, improvements and differences to their braking and cornering feel."
GALFER plans to extend this exclusive technology to all teams by the 2022 season and to make it accessible to the general public on medium to high-capacity motorcycles in the medium term.
INDUSTRIAS GALFER S.A.
www.galfer.eu
