Pads For My BB5's

Darkstalker420

Hi got a set of BB5's front and rear with AVID's sintered (red) pads. These seem to stop me ok and seem to be wearing well to. However at some point of course i will need to buy some more. I ride in MAINLY dry dusty conditions (my bike lives upstairs in the spare room so carting a filthy mud dropping bike up the stairs is a no no!). Yes i could of course wash the bugger BUT it's easier if i just stick to the dry days to be honest :roll: :oops:.

I was thinking of trying Kevlar pads (Superstar have them cheap for a 4 pack) and was wondering if i would notice any increase in braking power/pad life over the sintered i have now? I have read the reviews on Superstar and they go from "best thing since sliced bread lasted for months" to "rubbish wore down in a few runs" so to be honest it's a bit hard to decide from that. Are they better than sintered in the dry? or is it just a load of baloney and i should stick to sintered?? I'm prepared to sacrifice a LITTLE pad life IF the increase in power is noticeable. But not if they wear down in a week or two.

Thanks.

cooldad

They work better than sintered IMO, closer to organic, but don't last as long as sintered.
For dryish conditions I'd recommend them, for horrible conditions sintered.

Greer_

I got a 4 pack of kevlar pads as sintered were out of stock. I've done a good 2 months riding so far with them and there's no noticeable wear. Conditions haven't exactly been dry either. I'm well pleased!

Darkstalker420

Cheers for the advice guys will give them a blast when these sintered ones bite the dust.

Thanks.

The Rookie

Although BB5's are the second best cable brakes (behind BB7's LOL) I would still go with Kevlar in most conditions over sintered for the extra 'bite' as you don't get quite the mechanical advantage you get with Hydro''s.

Darkstalker420

I quite like the BB5's to be honest. One was donated to me by someone on here (jimxbox) a while ago because the fork i bought second hand had no v brake bosses and he gave me one he had spare. I was impressed and when i built my new ride i added a second on (and speed dial 7's). I can still sitting endo my 90kg with a strong one finger pull on the levers . I imagine that Hydro disks would be a lot more powerful but to be honest i like the simplicity of cable pulls.

Thanks.

The Rookie

Biggest benefit of hydro's is that they are a lot lighter, in fact one complete end is lighter than just one of your callipers, but they are a bit more powerful (well the better ones, the cheaper ones no more so).

Darkstalker420

Wow! never thought the weight difference would be that much tbh. If these AVID's did fail i would probably give Hydros a go but i always have this fear (maybe stupidly :roll:) of getting a hose caught on something and ripping it out thus leaving me with no brakes and fluid squirting out all over the place! :shock:. Is this likely or is it just another urban mtb legend LMAO!

Thanks.

Greer_

Its very unlikely IMO, unless you make a habit of trying to ride through bushes!

Darkstalker420

LMAO! it has been known once or twice :oops:..... Not intentionally mind.

Thanks.