Swissstop Green + blocks

markiegrim

I know lots of people on this forum recommend these pads as replacement for stock cheapos in cartridge blocks, but my Trek 1.5 did not come with cartridges in the calipers so going to have to replace with whole blocks

Any advice for or against this? Assume they will sit nice and tight in the callipers? Better idea than replacement brake callipers (i.e upgrades)?

Thanks

Example:
http://www.merlincycles.com/swissstop-f ... 64938.html

wongataa

I recently bought these as my brakes did not have cartridges (Tiagra callipers). They work well for me and better than the stock pads I replaced.

flasher

They will work fine, but don't forget you need 2 pairs, it can get pricey.

markhewitt1978

You sure they don't have cartridges? In any case a cartridge + holder is pretty much identical to a full block so they will fit no problem.

You'll have to adjust your brake distance more than likely - I do that on about every ride anyway. And getting the alignment right can be tricky with only one pair of hands.

southdownswolf

When I upgraded my Sora pads, I bought some cheap Aztec cartridge/pads from Halfords, then replaced the pads with Swissstop Green. This cost me the same as buying the Swissstop with cartridges, plus the bonus of having spare pads in an emergency.

DeVlaeminck

Swisstop Blue are the new daddies

Miles253

I have campy brakes, shall I just replace the whole cartridge or just buy the inserts? I can't seem to find any of the high performance campy blocks. (Sorry for hijack:p)

pinarellokid

I wouldn't bother with Swiss stop green,,, they tore my rims up, upon cleaning I kept finding metal filings stuck in them, swapped back to normal Campag pads and the metal filings stopped,, I won't be using them again

crankycrank

Miles253 wrote:

I have campy brakes, shall I just replace the whole cartridge or just buy the inserts? I can't seem to find any of the high performance campy blocks. (Sorry for hijack:p)

Just get the inserts. No need for new cartridges. Koolstop Salmons are another good option and are easy on rims. http://www.koolstop.com/english/campi2000.html or http://www.koolstop.com/english/campi2011.html

Miles253

Great thanks, are Kool stop as good as Swissstop? Theyre certainly cheaper

crankycrank

Miles253 wrote:

Great thanks, are Kool stop as good as Swissstop? Theyre certainly cheaper

In my experience Swisstop are slightly better in wet and dry, but only slightly. Others may have different experiences but it may just have to do with the type of alu used in the rim and your local road sh*te. Both work great. Take note that the Swisstops come in packages of 4 and Koolstop are 2 but KS's still usually work out a little less expensive when buying 4 pads.

Miles253

Well noted, thanks.

kajjal

In my experience weighing about 100KG, swisstop greens are better in the wet and actually stop the bike where as 105's are very poor. In the dry the 105's were better for me but the swisstops are OK.

Bozman

Miles253 wrote:

Great thanks, are Kool stop as good as Swissstop? Theyre certainly cheaper

I found Kool Stop salmon the worst pads I've ever used, I bought some after folk recommending them on here, but after my first trip out in the wet using them I swapped them out for an old set of BBBs and ordered the usual Swissstop.

MrJoe23

Bozman wrote:

I found Kool Stop salmon the worst pads I've ever used, I bought some after folk recommending them on here, but after my first trip out in the wet using them I swapped them out for an old set of BBBs and ordered the usual Swissstop.

I had the same experience, used Swissstop Green, when they needed replacing tried Kool Stop Salmons, in the wet they simply didn't slow me down, let alone stop me, now using Swissstop Blue pads which are the new go to pads

markiegrim

pinarellokid wrote:

I wouldn't bother with Swiss stop green,,, they tore my rims up, upon cleaning I kept finding metal filings stuck in them, swapped back to normal Campag pads and the metal filings stopped,, I won't be using them again

But this is one of the reasons I am wanting to replace the cheapo pads that came on my bike...they seem to pick up bits of Al filings, dirt, flint etc and cause scraping to the rims (can't afford new rims/wheels any time soon!)

i.e. I'm hoping the Greens are an improvement on that front..in fact thats more of a concern to me than any improvement in braking performance per se..so hoping your experience with greens/rims is not the norm

mr_evil

markiegrim wrote:

But this is one of the reasons I am wanting to replace the cheapo pads that came on my bike...they seem to pick up bits of Al filings, dirt, flint etc and cause scraping to the rims (can't afford new rims/wheels any time soon!)

i.e. I'm hoping the Greens are an improvement on that front..in fact thats more of a concern to me than any improvement in braking performance per se..so hoping your experience with greens/rims is not the norm

I have some Swissstop greens on my bike, and just took them off for thorough cleaning after the winter. They had accumulated a total of one fragment of metal between all four of them, which is far better than any other pad I've tried, including the popular Koolstop salmons. I do scrub the rims clean every week, which reduces wear quite a lot.

markiegrim

Tx mr evil. Reassuring