Brake Blocks

richk
richk Posts: 564
edited June 2008 in Workshop
Approx how many miles are people getting out of a pair of (front) brake blocks? I'm currently getting 300-400 miles only! This seems rather low & could be that the rim seems extremely rough (not finished well enough) and is behaving rather like sand-paper.

Backs are no problem (OK, get used less too).

I'm tempted to buy/fit a new front rim & see if that improves the wear rate.

Any suggestions? Thanks.
There is no secret ingredient...

Comments

  • James_London
    James_London Posts: 530
    5,000km or so with DA, SwissStop green or Campag but I use the brakes as little as possible.

    Something is clearly wrong but changing a rim to save brake blocks sounds like perverse logic. I normally change brake blocks to preserve my rims... If your rim's shot, change both
  • Lagavulin
    Lagavulin Posts: 1,688
    2,821.8 miles to date out of my front brakes on my Allez and they're still stopping me effectively. That has been spread over 3 sets of rims/wheels though.
    2010 Cannondale CAAD 9
    2008 Wilier Izoard
  • Gr.uB
    Gr.uB Posts: 145
    300 to 400 !! Your ratio would only last me a fortnight !!
    That is crap mileage.

    I have done a lot of experimenting over the years and I now have Koolstops on the TCR and green Swissstops on the MonstaThorn Brevet.

    The reason being that when you ride all year in all weather your rims take a beating and aside from these two blocks, all others trash your rims because the compounds are rubbish.

    The poorer bocks collect small aluminium flakes and stones and interact with your braking surface like sandpaper. Ultegra blocks are one of the crap ones. So rather than spend more often on rims, I splashed out on the Swissstop blocks.

    What brand are you using?
    TCR
    MonstaThorn
  • richk
    richk Posts: 564
    Brand? I'm at the 'budget' end of the spectrum so they're bog standard Decathlon blocks (effectively unbranded). Whilst I realise that better quality (read more expensive) might last longer, I'm still thinking 400 miles is unreasonably low.
    There is no secret ingredient...
  • bug2k5
    bug2k5 Posts: 24
    I must be doing something wrong, never worn a set of blocks out! many thousands of miles on an old set of sora brakes and still had plenty left.

    Just recently upgraded to ultegra shifters and calipers and now looking for better blocks as those that come with them are useless when descending at pace, no bite at all and no chance of them being able to lock the wheels. Never had that problem with the sora brakes.
  • Gr.uB
    Gr.uB Posts: 145
    Bug,
    Do you ride in wet weather?
    TCR
    MonstaThorn
  • bug2k5
    bug2k5 Posts: 24
    Bug,
    Do you ride in wet weather?

    Of course!

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