New brake pads advice please

[NorthernDave]

My rear brake pads are about done, so I need to buy some new ones.
I've got a Boardman Road Comp with Tektro R315 brakes and Mavic CXP22 wheels - any suggestions?
There seems to be a lot of praise for Swiss Stop brake pads online, would these fit (they seem to be listed as Shimano / SRAM compatible) and would any specific type be best for general cycling?

Thanks.

 

[HLaB]

If you have cartridge holders they'll (the inserts) will fit. If not you'll need to buy some too to make them compatible. IIRC Clarks make reasonably priced holders.

Edit: From a quick google, they dont have cartridge holders as default and you'll need to buy them.

 

[Jamieyorky]

+1 for Swiss Stop's

 

[Globalti]

+2 for Swisstop green pads. Expensive but worth the money.

By the way, if your rear pads are worn and not your front ones, you are using the brakes wrongly. Braking should be 80% front and 20% rear in the dry and 50/50 in the wet. In fact in really wet weather on dirty country roads in a controlled, anticipated stop I brake gently 100% on the front because the rear rim is usually covered in grit and the front rim clean.

 

[Levo-Lon]

https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/category/353/Road-Bike-Brake-Pads

i like the 3 colour pads..great reviews..

 

[jay clock]

I have used these for a few years. Nice combo of soft and effective with excellent braking and they pick up very little metal swarf http://www.discobrakes.com/?s=0&t=2&c=52&p=283&tb=001

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Salmon Koolstops £8.09 @ Wiggle at the moment, saved my life on occasion.

 

[Jenkins]

+2 for Swisstop green pads. Expensive but worth the money.

They are not as expensive as they seem - they're sold in packs of 4 so the current price on Wiggle of £17.50 is only £8.75 per pair when compared to the £8.09 for Koolstops.

Alternatively if Halfords have a 3 for 2 offer on them, they work out at £ 6.40ish per pair and you have complete sets for 3 bikes.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Braking should be 80% front and 20% rear in the dry and 50/50 in the wet.

Sounds sound advice. The extreme condition of braking is when the dynamic friction between the tyre rubber and the surface is poorer than average, for reasons too numerous to articulate here; the dynamic friction between the rims/blocks or discs/pads is lower than average (environmental conditions often mean these circumstances coincide); and the weight of the cycle/rider is high (second condition only affected). The quality of manual control and the quality of the braking system (gain, modulation, but not including the rims/blocks or discs/pads interface) will also have an effect in practical terms. Effective normal reactions at the front and rear wheels shift during braking, but by what percentage (this will have an effect on limiting condition one, and underpins your advice, I think).

@Globalti Your point about the back rim collecting more crud in the wet/on dirty roads and therefore back brake use to be minimised is a useful one. Would need self discipline in practice, but this can be (self) trained.

But when I looked for more on this, to validate your advice i.e. any science that might support this I found nothing useful. Can you point us to your preferred reference for this, or is this just 'I knows it'?

PS Caught in a hailstorm (SW Somerset) yesterday. Solution: shelter till over, mercifully on main road, wait for sufficient cars to drive a furrow (well two furrows but I only needed one) and follow it tentatively and with care, absolute minimum brake use, till it all melted away (20 minutes).

 

[Globalti]

Ha ha no, I just know that in wet gritty conditions the front brake doesn't make the same awful grinding noise that I get from the rear brake and after 21 years of mountain biking I know that the rear brake always wears out before the front so I do everything I can to help even out the wear.

 

[Ajax Bay]

So your philosophy of braking @Globalti is driven by a wish to even out the wear on your front and rear brake blocks. I hope you don't mind me saying that doesn't seem to focus on the primary function: efficient, safe braking.

I guess there are other factors in play with ATB (as opposed to on 'road' bikes) with respect to the front/rear use/force balance, which I am both less familiar and (even) less competent to discuss.

 

[Globalti]

Well, I haven't fallen off my bike for a few years and never in my life by causing the front wheel to wash out through over-braking so it seems safe enough to me. As for efficient, weight transfer under braking means that even in wet conditions the front wheel needs to do most of the work.

Interestingly I used to own a Land Rover 90, which is such a short vehicle that rear brake lockup was a big concern; it had a pressure limiter on the rear brakes but under hard braking it wasn't difficult to provoke a screech from the rear tyres as weight transfer was so marked. It being a short vehicle made it very manouverable but also quite unstable in a straight line. Similar considerations apply to bicycles, which have a high centre of gravity that also tends to move around.