Off to les arcs for a week of uplifts and trail riding and I want to take spare pads with me but not sure how many to buy. Question is how many sets am I likely to get through in a week? Was thinking 1 spare set of sintered pads for both front and back??

I guess it depends on how much braking you are planning on doing – and whether it rains 😉

one more than you take 😉

1 spare set is unlikely to be enough.

if it rains and is gritty muddy then mulching a set (F AND R) every other day is quite possible.

so a proper rainy week and continued… i reckon you could do 6 or 7 sets…

pretty mental eh? but quite possible! chances are it wont be that rainy, or you wont ride out in it if it is. but one spare set is probably not enough.

I got through 2 sets of pads each end in 2.5 months of riding in Whistler, surely one set on the bike and one spare set is enough for a week in the alps?

fit sintered – be suprised if you use one set

I take three pairs for each end.

bed them in before you go. If you put spares in mid ride in bad conditions, chances are they’ll not survive the ride.

2 sets in 2.5 months? are you fricking kidding? i must be doing something wrong…

First time I went, a set was barely lasting a day. Now, I’ll easily do a week without a change. Just don’t drag your brakes – brake for the corners.

in a season of guiding in the alps (8-12 tours) i’ll prob get through two set of pads, but then i’m not riding down all day long.
last week the third day in the park (after a week elsewhere riding up and down) saw an end to both my front and rear pads. the front ones went in about 8 motnhs ago.

two sets should be enough, imo. if not then you’re braking alot or your pads are made of cheese…

2 sets in 2.5 months? are you fricking kidding? i must be doing something wrong…

It’s because tom is awsome 🙂

Sintered lasted me a week in the Alps even with dragging the brakes for the first few days (they do need warming up though to get them to bite) but I did boil the rear brake fluid and cook the rotor.

3 sets bedded in makes sense to me.

So what if you bring a set or 2 back unused…you do ride the bike here too?

PaulD

to caveat slightly – last year in 2 weeks I used 0 pads. no changes at all…

but weather was good.

on those mental thunderstormy ride-the-river days, you go through pads at quite a rate. it’s not a ‘dragging your brakes’ issue, more of a ‘covered in grit in the alps and riding anyway’ issue.

Sintered lasted me a week in the Alps even with dragging the brakes for the first few days (they do need warming up though to get them to bite) but I did boil the rear brake fluid and cook the rotor.

how were the pads?

Three times I’ve been to the alps and twice to Canada and once ever had to change pads a couple of times on all trips.

Last year I didn’t use any of my spare brake pads, after a week in the alps with 2 days of rain. I will still be taking 2 spare this year.

Best bet is don’t drag your brake all the way down the mountain. Ride fast, have fun 🙂

3 sets bedded in makes sense to me.

So what if you bring a set or 2 back unused…you do ride the bike here too?

PaulD

The man speaketh sense. Hi Paul 😛

I run different callipers front and back so have even more to take.

how were the pads?

They seemed fine, I was still running them six months later, but had to bleed the brakes and change the piston seals 🙂
As mentioned the sintered required warming up to get them to bite, scared myself a couple of times on runs where I didn’t need to touch them until the first hard braking sections and you pull the lever expecting quick deceleration and it doesn’t happen.

Changed to V2’s for the following year which were bullet proof and performed perfectly in all conditions, ran with the standard pads wich also lasted the whole week. Big rotors ftw.

I would always take a spare set of pads for each end though just for peace of mind.

i used my v2’s for 3 years on one set of pads! canada/alps too

got xt brakes now and did front in 2 weeks!

one rear set easily lasts me a fortnight in the alps and fronts last me 3 or 4 times longer

GW has it.

2 sets in 2.5 months? are you fricking kidding? i must be doing something wrong…

I’ve stopped dragging my brakes all the time and just brake harder before corners. Helps a lot!

I use Avid Juicy 5s, pad life seems pretty good but they seem to go spongy quite quickly after bleeding.

have a new set in front and rear before you go and take 1 or 2 spare sets just in case.

I’ve always taken spare sets of pads but have never had to replace a set yet. 4 Alp visits, a week long each, one of them in the P155ing rain.

Perhaps I brake steadily rather than stomping on them or maybe I just corner real quick. Not sure really but my pals have never gone through any sets either.

The set in my Enduro will be on their third Alps visit this year!

In two weeks I used 2 sets on the front and 3 on the rear , going up a size on rotors would help I had 185mm rotors with Avid Code 5’s on my Heckler, I found Super tacky compound up front helped as well on Maxxis Minions 2.35’s most people were running 2.5’s dual ply, but I’m not that awesome.

I didnt get through one set last year and it rained 3 of the 6 days.. I’m not heavy on my brakes though (slows you down ;)) the other lads went through 2 sets and we were going for it!! I was running hope and the other two were on avids and shimano.

last time my brand new pads were; fronts done & rears halfway at end of the week but it was pretty dry. time before was change both mid week.

as they say YMMV

Have gone through a couple of sets in a week when the weather wasn’t great. Have had one set last pretty much a whole fortnight when the weather was superb the whole time.

Not dragging your brakes constantly is key… Oh, and the gravitationally challenged generally suffer more too. Last time I was in the Alps I was sub 11 stone, one of our group was 18+ stone. He was replacing brake pads at an alarming rate, like every day and a half of riding he’d have to put new pads in.

Sintered might last longer, but you’ll boil your brakes much more quickly, and they don’t bite that well initially. My fave pad is the A2Z blue compound, which has strong initial bite and they seem to last OK too, if not as long as sintered.

I like A2Z blue too. Great pads.

I would say take 2-3 spare sets. 1 might not be enough, and I can’t imagine you’d need more than 2, but you never know!