Wet weather braking

[Holdsworth]

I thought I had my braking needs sussed when I ordered a pair of Kool Stop dual compound brake pads for my front brake to see how they went.

Obviously braking in the dry is fine, much better than before, but when it rains (which has been doing a lot recently) performance is still quite poor and worse than I expected for these pads.

I know that braking is always affected by damp but surely it should be a bit more positive. Maybe I was expecting too much from these pads in wet conditions but stopping is very gradual and sometimes "grabby". I clean my rims every so often with dry toilet roll to get the worst of the black stuff off but it usually builds up again after only a few miles.

The pads are as close to the rims as possible with he cantis set up to give as much mechanical advantage as they can (i.e. straddle wire short and low).

Should I be getting good performance out of these pads or should I get used to less positive braking in the wet?

 

[mcshroom]

The pads need to clear the water from the rims before the braking really starts, so they tend to grab after one revolution of the wheels IME.

 

[HLaB]

I've only ever used Koolstop Salmons on the rear of the road bike but you are probably expecting too much but you might be able to improve the performance slightly by anticipating the stops earlier and feathering the brakes to clean the rims a bit.

 

[PJ79LIZARD]

In the wet during the winter months I don't think braking is very good, I've tried different pads and brake calipers. Even changed wheels to see if the braking surface on another rim would make any difference. I've found a little improvement in braking performance during very wet conditions. But I can do a great emergency stop in the dry! I find my mtb stops better in very wet conditions using hydraulic disc brakes, but then again I'm never travelling as fast as when I'm on the road bikes.

But I don't think you'll ever get fantastic braking in the wet using canti, dual pivot calipers, side pull or vee brakes. You just need to slow more gradual without using the brakes so much. But I know that's no use if your doing an emergency stop. You just need to ride with more caution in the wet and hope for the best, or get a bike with disc brakes.