Any recommendations. Priorities are:

a) stopping.

If its much of a muchness I’ll be going with these for £5 🙂

Thanks…

I use Wiggle Lifeline, £5 for 4, so even cheaper than those. Never had any problems.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-performance-carbon-road-brake-inserts-pack-of-4/

Be aware that a lot of rims want to use their own branded pads for warranty reasons.

Swissstop yellow. Be aware the real reason for swapping is to be sure there are no embedded alloy flakes to grind down that carbon. I never saw a huge improvement in braking.

It is also always nice to grab those Dura Ace levers on alloy Mavic CXP33’s to remind me what I’ve been missing when I’m back on the Defy too 😉

SwissStop Black Prince, better than yellow.

My Dura Ace 9000s on FarSports carbon are better than my DA 7800s on Alphas.

I used Swisstop Yellow before trying the Lifeline pads, and while the Lifelines are a bit more grabby they stop just as well and seem to wear better.

I also find the braking better on my race bike with carbon rims and 105 calipers than on my winter bike with alloy rims and Tektro calipers. I think the braking issue is over played by some people.

Swisstop Black Prince user too.

Black prince pads are awesome. Expensive-ish, but awesome.
It’s only stopping so you may as well scrimp on a few quid 🙂

So the SwissStop – Flash Pro or Race Pro?

http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/SwissStop/Flash-Pro-Black-Prince-Brake-Pads-2-Pairs/2GZI ?

Race Pro is £10 more.

Currently using Swiss Stop Black Prince – much more expensive than the Lifelines but I haven’t noticed any difference other than them not leaving blue residue on the rims…

FWIW the Lifelines do appear to be identical to the carbon-specific pads sold by Deda and Reynolds (Cryo Blue) for multiples of what the Lifelines cost, and IIRC the Lifeline stuff is made by Ashima.

Black Prince.Race Pro are campag fitting iirc.

What are the rims?

Chinese 50’s (I think) on Hope RS with CX Ray.

Any special braking surface?

Swisstop Black Prince if using a carbon braking surface. Most manufacturers won’t warranty unless you use the Swisstop pads. Just be wary of that

To build on pbooker1995 comment, the other pad that is commonly warranty specified is the Reynolds Cyro Blue pad (often claimed that the blue Wiggle Lifeline are the same thing and I haven’t noticed a difference in the wet or dry between the two – both are pretty evenly matched).
I suspect that the reason they are specc’d is because they leave a blue trace on the brake track giving an easy visual indicator as to whether you have been using the correct pads.

mrblobby – Member
Any special braking surface?

Carbon 8)

Another vote for the Wiggle Lifeline. Been excellent on all carbon rims I’ve tried them on.

Yup – a chat with my Wheel Builder and he validated the wiggle Lifeline – or the Swissstops.

I’m going to give the lifeline ones a shot as they are 1/12th the price for the bike and its summer, but also becuase they match my Celeste highlights 😀

Just gone to Swissstop black prince (carbon) after Swissstop Flash Pro (yellow). Braking is smoother, not as grabby. Not as squeaky. Pad wear seems to be higher. Not had a chance to try in the wet.
Have some Reynolds blues as well, slower wear and less grab but better modulation.
Hope RS 5.0SP carbon rims. Dura Ace 7900 calipers/levers.