Brake blocks and bar tape
secretsam
Posts: 5,039
Just back from an early morning ride in the damp on the old steelie.
Surprised at how rough the ride is so want some padded bar tape - any recommendations?
Also need some new brake blocks (rim) as the current ones are shoot! Use Swisstop Greens on the road bike, are they good for winter as well or is there a better alternative?
Surprised at how rough the ride is so want some padded bar tape - any recommendations?
Also need some new brake blocks (rim) as the current ones are shoot! Use Swisstop Greens on the road bike, are they good for winter as well or is there a better alternative?
It's just a hill. Get over it.
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As for brake blocks, I use Swissstop greens all year round. They're not amazing in the wet but they're pretty good, and they won't get shredded by all the censored on the roads.
The earlier poster is quite right when it comes to bar tape - naturally I'll tell you that Lizard Skins is the only bar tape worth having. It's particularly good in wet weather when it provides grip that I don't get with other tapes. Not particularly padded, but then I tend to address the padding with the type of mitts I use. I found the rapha ones superbly padded and also like the padding on some specialized.
Peter
For blocks in the winter - I read blocks in the wet and Koolstop Salmons are my choice.
+1 these perform better than greens, particularly in the wet, chainreaction or wiggle have them, the Evo version is not an evolution, it's thinner though, so if you don't need them to be thinner (for wide rims/brake adjustment limitations) don't bother with the Evo ones. Koolstop Salmons are about as good, softer and quicker wearing though in my experience.
Roubaix tape is great, it is a cloth base so in the wet it can hold the water a bit, doesn't bother me. If you can afford it the Specialized HD Tape is rubbery and with more padded feel, as I say, it costs a lot but it's great stuff that lasts.
I use the black original in winter. They wear quick probably get about 2k out of them but they don't wear the rims at all and have a good all round stopping power. To be fair though you can't go wrong with any Swisstop the best out there imo.