Campagnolo Athena Brake Pad Recommendations

Nobby Nic

Hi I have some Campag Athena Brakes on my 2013 11sp Canyon Bike and it looks like I will need to replace soon.
Any recommendations ?

Thanks
Nick.

rolf_f

Swissstop black works for me. Soft to be gentle with the rims - but not that long lasting. But I do a lot of miles in all weathers.

Bar Shaker

Athena 11 OE pads are truly awful. Rubbish friction and very abrasive. They are lethal in the wet.

For a massive improvement use Swisstop Blacks or Koolstop dual compound.

You won't believe the difference in braking... and the lack of grinding noise.

thegreatdivide

Bar Shaker wrote:

Athena 11 OE pads are truly awful. Rubbish friction and very abrasive. They are lethal in the wet

Really? I must be dead then...

the_cyclist_of_catan

Koolstop salmons here.

Nobby Nic

Thanks, I`ll get some koolstop pads then, probably go for black as I don`t ride on this bike in the rain much.

I have nothing to compare to but the std campag pads did seem very good so I`ll try and let you know if I notice the difference.

rc856

For Campag, SwissStop do the Race Pro Black, GHP II (green) and BXP (blue).
They have the BXP as they're best ones and are £24.99 for 4.
Don't know how much dearer they are than the others but they're really good

cycleclinic

Aztec Road plus give good braking in the wet.

napoleond

I find Athena pads absolutely fine!

blackpoolkev

NapoleonD wrote:

I find Athena pads absolutely fine!

+1 - I've tried Swissstop Green and Koolstop dual compound on my Athena brakes and noticed no difference to the original Campag pads.

rolf_f

blackpoolkev wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

I find Athena pads absolutely fine!

+1 - I've tried Swissstop Green and Koolstop dual compound on my Athena brakes and noticed no difference to the original Campag pads.

Agreed - in my case I found the original Centaur pads absolutely fine. I changed to the Swissstop purely because they are supposed to be kinder on the rims which, given the number of miles I ride in the wet, is important. I never found them inferior in actual stopping power whether in the wet or dry.

on-yer-bike

If Athena pads are the same as Record pads then they seem to work OK. However, I have noticed that rims can effect the braking. My Archetypes stop better than my Campag alu rims using the same brake blocks. I have Koolstop Salmons on the winter bike and they dont stop any better than Campag in any weather but are probably softer.

gfk_velo

The Campagnolo brake pad material is common across Centaur all the way through to Super Record (The part number is BR-RE700 for alloy, BR-BO500 for Campagnolo carbon rims).

Noise or poor performance can have a lot of causes apart from the pad material but it is important to say that every pad manufacturer who also make wheels will tune their pad material to suit their rim material. Hence Mavic Exalith have a specific pad, Campagnolo recommend their own pads for their wheels, ditto Shimano and so on.

Grinding and gritiness can be poor set up, as can squealing, sponginess and poor braking performance overall. Problems with stirrup anchorage and whether the brake caliper itelf is correctly assembled can also cause brake performance problems.

A materials mis-match of a type that causes noise and markedly poor performance is rare but it can happen. In these cases as noted by several posters above, a third party pad can often be the answer.

Graeme, Velotech Cycling Ltd, Main Campagnolo UK Service Centre, UK