recommend me some brake pads

[wjwren]

want to change the poor stock pads on my racing bike. Anyone recommend a set please.

[TheAllSeeingPie]

Koolstop salmon if you have metal rims or their ceramic compound if you have carbon. They stop quite a lot harder than normal which is definitely a bonus.

[Zigster]

Swissstop are also very good, although they are quite pricey. Swissstop green are good all rounders. Make sure you have the right pads for your brake shoes.

[richardxjr]

Swisstop Green as above, or on a budget Clarks CPS240

[Steve vRS]

Another vote for Swisstop Greens

Steve

[MadDad]

Used to use Koolstop until I discovered Swisstop - green for Alu rims and Black Prince for carbon (although I stick with Zipp cork pads on my carbons)....

[TheAllSeeingPie]

Sounds like I need to check out these Swissstops then. Are they significantly better? Do they last as long as Koolstops as presumeably they need to be softer to stop better?

[Matt_N]

For £8.99 I may give those Koolstops a go in my Campag Skeletons, they have some rather wooden feeling Clarks pads in at present.

[yellowjack]

I bought a set of Swissstop pads for my old road bike but have still not used them. Intention was to swap them in when the Ultegra pads wore out. Four years and at least 4,000 miles later, the bike was involved in a crash, and the brakes found a new home on a 1990s steel road bike. They're barely worn in.

Seriously, unless your 'stock' pads are really terrible, I wouldn't bother with an upgrade. My new bike has current generation 11-speed Ultegra pads on it, and they are, to be frank, brilliant. So the Swissstop pads are still in the original packaging, sat in a cupboard in the garage. I'm hoping this new bike will live long enough to need a brake pad swap. I go through chains most frequently, then cassettes, then tyres. I can't remember the last time I swapped a set of brake pads on a road bike due to wear.

[Steve vRS]

I went through a set of Ultegra pads in a day!

Admittedly, it was a 100 mile sportive through a hurricane with wet, gritty, hilly roads so lots of nice abrasive braking!!

Steve

[Equilibrium25]

The one thing that i am not too happy with on my new bike are the brakes - Tektro r539 long drop. Would I benefit from a pad swap? Or is the long drop design also likely to give less confidence in the braking, due to more flex?

[SixtySpeedTwin]

I replaced just the tektro calipers on my Giant defy with ultegra.
The difference is night and day, more power for less effort and soooo much more feel.
Do it

[MonkeyHanger]

I was looking at changing the Promax long drops on my Synapse but I decided to try some Swisstop Flash Pro pads first.

The difference is amazing. The bike no longer sounds like the pads are made from concrete and it doesn't try to kill me at every junction.

[wjwren]

i bought swisstop in the end. Will fit over the weekend when I get chance, although I might just get a bit more use out the stock pads as ive only had the bike few weeks.

[Matt_N]

I ended up with some Swiss stop blues, fitted at the same time as new wheels, first ride on them today.

[Jimbo.]

Give the braking surfaces a going over with an abrasive rubber cleaning block too. That always helps.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

As above Swisstop in their various guises. Also try baby wipes for rim cleaning on the cheap (any most other bits of your bike for that matter).
).

[E65Ross]

yellowjack said:

I bought a set of Swissstop pads for my old road bike but have still not used them. Intention was to swap them in when the Ultegra pads wore out. Four years and at least 4,000 miles later, the bike was involved in a crash, and the brakes found a new home on a 1990s steel road bike. They're barely worn in.

Seriously, unless your 'stock' pads are really terrible, I wouldn't bother with an upgrade. My new bike has current generation 11-speed Ultegra pads on it, and they are, to be frank, brilliant. So the Swissstop pads are still in the original packaging, sat in a cupboard in the garage. I'm hoping this new bike will live long enough to need a brake pad swap. I go through chains most frequently, then cassettes, then tyres. I can't remember the last time I swapped a set of brake pads on a road bike due to wear.

I just replaced my old brake pads as they were almost on the wear bars. Original shimano 105 pads on there. I went for the Swiss-stop green pads and they are leagues better. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them at all.

Before you ask I clean the bike once a fortnight or so, maybe more if it's been wet, and always clean the rim and pad surfaces.

I wouldn't have said my 105 pads were terrible, so based on your comments I wouldn't have changed. Glad I did change them though.