I have another direction of thought now in why I am not happy with my disc brakes: I have only ever owned two pairs, the first was Hope Mini’s and then about three years ago I switched to Formula Oro Biancos. My complaint about both is pad wear, I get through Pads Soooooooooo quickly. I live in a VERY hilly area, a small ride will have minimum 500 metres descent and of course, where possible, I make as much of this single trail which I believe is heavier on the pads.

Another factor to pad wear is that I am a fairly heavy rider (85 – 90kgs, depending on what I have eaten / drunk the previous couple of weeks).

Instead of thinking like a weight weinnie (exc spelling!), should I be thinking more on the lines of a brake setup somewhere between downhill and light weight? If so, which brakes fall into this category, my Oro pads are pretty small, I guess I need a setup with more meat on the pad??

I have of course tried everything to improve the wear on my current setup, bedding pads in, new rotors, different compounds etc etc.

on’t brake as much?

Are you using hope original sintered pads? They give great life IME – thousands of miles.

Are you using big discs? if so you might never get the pads hot enough to cure properly

Sounds like the pads aren’t getting bedded in properly. I dont think disc size is a relevant factor, I run big discs and have no issues getting them warm. Im about 17st in my riding gear. Perhaps you prefer to drag your brakes?

hope pads in formula brakes TJ – read the post mate

cruzheckler, where does the OP say he’s using Hope pads in OROs? He said he had Hope Minis and then moved to Forumla OROs.
read the post mate. 😉

thats what i was talking about numbnutts, tj assumed hope usage and trotted out his old faithful reply. I understand and i also read the question, unlike mr “selective reader”

Don’t think TJ is trotting out usual spiel. I’ve got sintered pads in mine and had them in for years and covered a hell of a mileage. If you’re doing a lot of braking you want to be using sintered and not organic. I used to use organic on my DH bike for better grip and in winter races a set would last day but on the xc bike they would last a season but my sintered are fit and forget.

I think the way in which you brake has an affect on it. My mate used his brakes a lot more than me and he would go through pads, he used sintered as well. He never feathered the brakes they were either jammed on or off.