Brakes....

Sewinman

Sorry, another question...

I have a feeling that the no-name brakes are a bit cr*p on my Trek 1.2. I want to upgrade them. Does this just involve buying new pads and fitting them, or does one upgrade the components too? I would prefer the former to the latter!

Thanks in advance..

_Brun_

Can't imagine changing callipers would make much difference, mechanically they're all of a muchness. I've seen it suggested here that if you open the brakes slightly wider than the normal 1-2mm from the rim, you may be able to get more leverage at the expense of responsiveness. Careful not to slacken them too much though, you don't want the levers hitting the bars.

ansbaradigeidfran

New pads can be more grippy, once they've been worn in. Some people here evangelise about 'Salmon' varieties (in name and colour). Just make sure any pads you buy match your brake type.

I recently improved my rear brake significantly with no spending: having trued the rear wheel (factory assembler must have used a ruler made of jelly) I can tighten the brake lead more, so the brake is more responsive (starts gripping earlier in the throw of the brake lever).

ansbaradigeidfran

Hm. My advice seems to be exactly opposite to the previous post. :?

The only way I could imagine looser brake cables working better is if your grip is significantly stronger when the lever almost reaches the handlebars. This would have to outweigh the disadvantage of the delay in applying the brakes, too. I'm not sold on the idea.

ride_whenever

It depends how well you can grip the brake levers.

I find from the hoods i like more travel before contacting for more brake control, but closer from the drops for less travel. It's all a bit swings and roundabouts.

Sewinman

But are some pads better than others? I am assuming they are....

always_tyred

Sewinman wrote:

But are some pads better than others? I am assuming they are....

Yes, clean ones are better than dirty ones.

Brake pads inspire a great deal of "roadie nonsense talk". Bit like "these inner tubes take 8 minutes off my 10k time...." or "I can feel the reduced friction of these ceramic bearings" sort of roadie nonsense talk.

In my experience, they are all decidedly similar. If you wish, however, you can spend 3 times as much on green or red ones. That way you can more clearly see the dirt that is causing your green or red brake pads to be less effective than when you replaced the ineffective dirty and worn out black ones.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Sewinman wrote:

But are some pads better than others? I am assuming they are....

They are, but some calipers are better than others. Zero Gravity ($$$, ultra-light) are notoriously poor calipers. Campag do some which are differential: the front is a a much beefier design than the rear. These make a noticeable difference over a standard front caliper. Dura Ace calipers gets good reviews too.

Most of the differences with pads depends on which make of carbon rim you're using them on, and whether you're in the wet or dry. For aluminium braking surfaces you should be ok with standard campag or shimano pads.

biondino

My Ultegra pads on the Trek are excellent.

Bassjunkieuk

I replaced my factory fitted pads with some Koolstop Salmons. They where the "wet" brake pads but from the reviews of them I'd seen they worked just as well in the dry and the "dry" Koolstop pads.

They worked fab, really good stopping power in the wet or dry plus they had a wedge shaped section at the rear of each pad that cleaned the cr4p off the rim as you where braking. I think Wiggle where doing them for about the same price as the LBS did my Shimano pads for (fitted during the service), about £7 a set if I remember correctly :-)

Since going back to the Shimano blocks I have noticed that braking power in the wet is slightly reduced!

chriskempton

Just fitted Koolstop Salmons, and they do work better in the wet.

Gussio

+1 for Koolstop Salmons (on my road bike)

+ 1 for Shimano Ultegra (on my commuter)

ride_whenever

I really rate the ashima triple compound pads, I thought they were really grippy indeed.

Nigel Bennett

Don't forget the cables! I bought some Dura-Ace calipers for my best bike, and was appalled at how spongy they were. The I changed the brake cables (inner was the main culprit) - and what a difference in the morning! I actually threw three brand new cables in the bin after finding how pooh they were. Dura Ace/Record or some decent high-end cables are what you need!

symo

I've got disc's and as I own a beautiful triumph speed triple it's just like being at home. Stop fast too rain or shine.