Growtac Equal post mount brakes
I have been using the flat mount Growtac equal brakes on my gravel bike since 2023 and I have no complaints. There were a marked improvement over my SRAM Force hydros which were always rubbing and dragging. If I hear anything like that with the Growtacs I am out with the allen key and give one of the pads a whisker of a turn.
When my friend was in Japan again a while back I got him to pick me up a pair of the post mount versions for my hardtail/bikepacking bike. We had already fitted a nice gold pair on his Singular Gryphon, when we bought my flat mount ones.
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| Matt's post mount brakes circa 2023 |
I fitted my new front one with a 180mm rotor in case I found them underpowered on a loaded bike. I paired them with some entry level shimano short-pull flat bar levers. They are not Pauls, but they do work very well, and I am always going to side on function over form - and price of course! With the crappy NZ dollar, I would not being buying these shiny things if I could not get them at the domestic Japanese market price.
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| Post mount Growtac Equals |
Anyway. The Big Finish Line Party bikepacking event was coming up and I figured it would be a pretty good test of the Growtacs. 4 days of primo NZ singletrack, on a loaded bike should tell me of any short-comings. I was running the standard pads that they come with which they call "sintered organic", so I was expecting that if the trails were wet I would be experiencing some wear. I do not usually use organic pads if I think it's going to be super wet. My spares were the normal shimano sintered metal pads that I use on my shimano equipped hydraulic braked bike. The Growtac ones are the same shape as the shimano's and are made by Vesrah.
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| Set up on my Cannondale Flash bikepacking hardtail |
The trails were a little wet, but not overly so. At the end of day one, the Old Ghost road, 93 kms and 2,200 metres climbing, and probably a lot more descending, I gave the pads a little tweak. If you had hydraulic brakes, they would do this themselves. Personally, I don't find it a problem. Knowing how much your brakes have worn is a feature in my view and unless you are riding in wet conditions on organic pads, there's going to be nothing to tweak anyway.
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| The Old Ghost road |
Day 2 we tootled down the coast and took in the new Kawatiri trail. Really nice and family friendly, but not a test for the brakes.
Day 3 we climbed the Paparoa Trail and down into Ikamatua via the Pike 29 track. A real blast. The twisty decent through the beautiful beech forest was a really good test for the Growtacs and I had zero issues keeping up with my buddy on his hydraulic system.
Day 4 through Waiuta and Big River was another beauty, but nothing too hard. Just a bit of riding through stream/river beds, and we missed the rain.
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| Big River on the West Coast |
So pretty much nothing to report really. The brakes were rock solid. Nothing to bleed. No contaminated pads. My next event is the Taupo Gravel Grind which I will be doing on my OPEN UP, with the flat mount brakes. Did I mention I really like these brakes!
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| Entry level shimano short-pull levers. |
