Megavalanche: Testing Brake Pads in the Craziest Race Part 1

by support Tue Jul 29, 2025

DiscoBrakes Takes on the Megavalanche: Testing Our Brake Compounds on the World’s Craziest Downhill – Part 1

Posted by DiscoBrakes on July 29, 2025

The 30th Anniversary of the iconic Megavalanche

We're fresh off the adrenaline-soaked slopes of Alpe d’Huez, where we put our brake pad compounds through the ultimate test at the legendary Megavalanche. If you’ve ever wondered how our semi-metallic, sintered, ceramic pro, kevlar and copper-free pads hold up on one of the most grueling downhill races on the planet, buckle up—this is the tale of brake pads versus 2,600 meters of vertical chaos! We’ll dive into the prep, the tracks, and the first half of our testing experience in this post, with Part 2 coming soon to wrap up the adventure. Let’s roll!

The mass start at Pic Blanc, 3,330m up, where brakes are your best friend!

The Megavalanche: A Beast of a Race

For those who haven’t heard of the Megavalanche, picture this: a mass start of hundreds of riders charging down from the glaciated summit of Pic Blanc at 3,330 meters, plummeting 2,600 vertical meters over 30 kilometers to Allemond. It’s a marathon downhill that’s equal parts exhilarating and terrifying, with snow, scree, alpine meadows, and tight, rooty singletracks testing every ounce of skill and equipment.

The Alpe d’Huez Bike Park, where this madness unfolds, is a mecca for downhill and enduro riders, boasting 36 signposted trails, including 16 downhill tracks (35 km total), 15 enduro routes (112 km), and 8 cross-country or e-bike paths (118 km). There’s even a flow trail and four pump tracks for those looking to mix it up. The Megavalanche course itself is the crown jewel, a 22-30 km beast (depending on the year’s route) that demands precision braking from start to finish.

The Alpe d’Huez Bike Park map, showing the vast network of trails we explored.

Our mission? To see how our range of brake pad compounds—semi-metallic, sintered, ceramic pro, kevlar and copper-free—handle the diverse conditions of this iconic race. Our ambassador, José Hermida, wasn’t able to join us for the event (he’s busy shredding trails elsewhere!), but his insights from years of testing our pads helped shape our approach. We equipped a team of riders with bikes fitted with our pads, paired with various rotors (including our lightweight floating rotors), and sent them into the fray to gather real-world data on performance, durability, and feel.

Ready to shred

Setting the Stage: Pre-Race Prep at Alpe d’Huez

The Alpe d’Huez Bike Park is a playground that caters to every type of rider. Before the main event, we spent days exploring its trails to fine-tune our setups and just have fun making the most of the park. Trails like the Run DMC (used in the No Chain Race) offered fast, flowy descents with berms and jumps, perfect for testing initial bite and modulation. The Signal Loop, a 17 km circuit with 500 meters of climbing, challenged our pads with technical hairpins and stream crossings. For those seeking pure adrenaline, the park’s black diamond downhill tracks, like the ones starting from Dôme des Rousses, pushed our brakes to their limits with steep, rocky sections. The pump tracks in Bourg d’Oisans and Vaujany were a fun diversion, letting us play with low-speed control, while the flow trail in Alpe d’Huez was a welcome relief from the agressive braking on all the steeper sections.

Crazy Mustang - Brake BEFORE the wall ride (especially in the wet)!

Our testing rigs were a mix of enduro bikes, fitted with brakes from Shimano, SRAM (aka Avid for you old-schoolers), Magura, and Hope. Each rider ran a different compound: semi-metallic and kevlar for all-around performance, sintered for durability in wet and gritty conditions, ceramic pro for heat dissipation on long descents, and copper-free for eco-conscious riders who want longevity without sacrificing power. We paired these with our floating rotors (180mm and up, in vibrant colors like purple and red) to keep things light and stylish. The goal was to simulate the Megavalanche’s punishing conditions—snow at the top, dust and rocks in the midsection, and muddy, rooty trails near Allemond.

Practice Day: Brakes Meet Glacier

Practice day at the Megavalanche is a free-for-all, with lifts open and riders encouraged to memorize the course. We started at the Pic Blanc cable car, ascending to 3,330 meters where the glacier greets you with a mix of snow and ice. The initial descent is a wild ride—riders slip and slide, and brakes are critical to avoid overshooting turns or piling into the pack. Our ceramic pads shone here, bedding in quickly and offering predictable bite even on the cold, slick surface. One rider noted their “forgiving feel,” perfect for the chaotic mass start where you’re dodging elbows and ice patches.

The Megavalanche course map, from glacier to valley, a true test of brakes.

As we dropped into the rocky scree below the glacier, the sintered pads started to flex their muscles. These pads, built from compressed metal particles, laughed off the abrasive dust and sharp rocks that can chew through lesser compounds. One tester, ripping down a technical section near Dôme des Rousses, praised their “consistent power, even when things got gritty.” The ceramic pro pads, meanwhile, were the go-to for our riders tackling the longest, steepest descents. Their heat dissipation kept brakes cool during extended braking zones, though we noticed they required more frequent checks due to faster wear in the abrasive alpine terrain.

Qualifier Heats: Pushing the Limits

The Megavalanche qualifiers, held the day before the main race, split riders into heats of about 350, with times determining your starting line (A for the fastest, down to the amateur waves). We used these heats to push each compound to its limits. The course to the Expo Village was a microcosm of the full race: fast, open sections transitioning to tight, technical singletrack. Our copper-free pads surprised us here. Designed for longevity and eco-friendliness, they delivered smooth, powerful braking without the harshness we sometimes felt when switching to metallic compounds. One rider, who ran copper-free pads on Magura MT8 brakes, raved about their “buttery modulation” on the rooty sections.

The Megavalanche Program

The Alpe d’Huez Bike Park’s other trails also played a role in our testing. During breaks from the Megavalanche course, we hit enduro routes like the 15 km L’Alpe d’Huez Enduro, which mixes climbing and descending for a true all-around test. Here, the semi-metallic pads continued to impress with their versatility, while the sintered pads held up against the mud and slop we encountered after a brief rain. The ceramic pro pads, while stellar on the descents, showed their wear limitations in these mixed conditions, reminding us they’re best for pure downhill punishment.

The Megavalanche is 30 years old this year

What’s Next?

We’ve only scratched the surface of our Megavalanche adventure! In Part 2, we’ll dive into the main race day, where our pads faced the full 30 km gauntlet, from the glacier’s chaos to the valley’s technical singletracks. We’ll also share how our compounds performed in the No Chain Race and the Dual Slalom, plus insights from the Alpe d’Huez Bike Park’s other trails. Stay tuned for a round up of how all the pads performed and our conclusions for the best brake pads to use for this epic race, as well as some surprising findings.