Brake block recommendations

[Steve vRS]

The front blocks on my road bike are done for. What are the current reasonably priced replacements?

Ta

Steve

[anonymous-user]

I use swiss-stop pads and they are reliable and predictable in all conditions, they last a fair while too. £15 for four from bike discount

[Steve vRS]

Cheers.

Steve

[Rolls]

I just use standard Shimano jobbies (they're packaged as Ultegra / duraace items) - work well enough for me!

[Barbarossa]

Swissstop green. More friction than Shimano pads and last longer too :-) They have a new blue compound which is supposed to be higher friction, but higher wear than the green, I will probably try those when I need some new pads.

[nammynake]

Another vote for Swisstop Green. Work well in both the wet and dry, wear very slowly and have great stopping power.

[Raven Flyer]

We have Swissstop and Koolstop pads in our road bikes. Both better than the Shimano Ultegra OE and way, way better than Campag OE pads they came with.

[untakenname]

I've tried lots of pads on my roadbike over the past couple of years and the best ones by far that I've used are Clarks cps240, modulation has increased and the stopping power is unreal. Good in the wet as well.


I Feel a lot safer on the roads as I know I can stop a lot quicker now. They come with a pair of brake shoes and four brake pads, cost under a tenner as well. Probably the best (and cheapest) upgrade I've done to my bike.

[RealSquirrels]

can't you just drag your foot along the ground?

[TheInternet]

Are the Swisstops really worth three times the price of the others? Do they perform better and last longer than three sets of KoolStop salmons, for example?

[yellowjack]

TheInternet said:

Are the Swisstops really worth three times the price of the others? Do they perform better and last longer than three sets of KoolStop salmons, for example?

Dunno.

First 'upgrade' I bought for my bike was a set of Swisstop Green pads, within days of buying it. In fact I suspect I may have ordered them before I collected the bike, having listened to advice from forum groups, and fellow cyclists. Over 2 years and 5,500 miles later, the OE Shimano Ultegra blocks are still in place, doing a great job, and the Swisstop pads are still in the spares box in the garage awaiting their turn. When I collected the bike I decided to see how things went with the Ultegra pads and they were pretty good, so I didn't swap them out as planned. T'was a different story with the tyres, though. Those supplied with the bike were woeful, and were replaced quickly in order to preserve my life. I opted for Schwalbe Ultremos in summer, and Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons for the other 11 months of an average British year, but ironically I've kept the Contis on all this summer, despite it being the best one we've had since I bought the bike

[Steve vRS]

I've bought the Swissstop Greens. They should be here this week.

The rims they'll be used on are quite grooved. Trust the pads will wear to suit the wheels?

Steve