Gravel/XC brakes

I bought a gravel bike a few months ago and it has the Force 1 HDR groupset.

I have noticed that I am constantly getting dirt/muck inbetween the rotor and the pad - the rubbing is wearing out the pads at a costly rate.

Is this the only option for me or is there a better brake set up? I’m wondering if there are brakes that keep the pads further from the rotor to avoid rubbing but offer just as good braking power?

Just to add, i usually ride gravel but the local trails can often be muddy. I also do like to go off the beaten track.

You have options here, but none of them are great. The best thing I can suggest is to only ever run sintered pads. They wear much slower. The HRD groups don’t have tremendous pad clearance, but it is definitely sufficient - in really heavy conditions that kill your pads nothing is going to survive. The annoying part is just the noise of grit between the pads and rotor, but again that’ll happen on any road disc system.

That all being said, if you want to put on your mad scientist hat you can run an AXS caliper with a HRD lever and you will gain some pad clearance. However there is a difference of 230% in piston area between those calipers, and so you will have a ton of lever throw and poor modulation. And you’ll probably still get grit stuck between the pads and rotors and the sound will drive you mad.

Mud destroys everything. Just get sintered pads.

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