[shootmeinthehead] I reduced mine to smoke and dust last night so need some new ones and I’m skint. Are they any good or is it a case of paying peanuts and getting monkeys?

I’ll be starting a “what tyres?” thread next at this rate. [/shootmeinthehead]

they seem to be ok from my experience [ the only thing they sell i would buy tbh] – Disco pads [sold by ubber bikes] on ebay are slightly cheaper [ for packs of 4 anyway] and Hope ones

they ok have red kevlars on winter bike but initial grab not as good as goodridge blues i have on another. at end of day 4 pairs for 25 quid or whatever they are now can you really go wrong.

they are fine.

although if you search on ebay there are quite a few companies now selling pads at comparative prices. i used uberbike components recently and was impressed with their sintered pads

With a family of four we have tried most of the cheap brands and used them in the UK and the Alps. Uberbike are by far the best

http://www.uberbikecomponents.com/index.aspx

I use superstar on all brakes – 2 lots of XT and some Avid Juicys – and the pads are great. Have used sintered, kevlar and resin – and they all do exactly what they say on the tin.

In all cases, they have been better than the original equipment (Shimano Resin and Avid sintered), either longer lasting, more powerful, or both.

[theresalwaysone]they’ve been a bit of a mixed bag for me on a mixture of Juicys Elixirs, M595s/596s. Some of them fit and work fine, others have been distinctly meh and some have farked the brakes up good and proper. Quality control I guess. [/theresalwaysone]

I have used all their pad compounds on my juicy’s without anu ill effect. The sinteted ones last for ever , but bite is comprimised, using organic at the front , and kevlar at the rear now.

discobrakes.com are significantly cheaper with free postage globally, and offer the same range of compouinds.

(and I haven’t had any of the quality issues that I had with Superstar)

I had some Superstar Sintered pads that did last for ages, tried some Clarks organic, didn’t last very long, just bought some Race-Matrix Compound pads from Uberbike to see what they are like and they were dispatched 30 seconds after I got the order confirmation email, not bad that. Shame they don’t come with Haribos… These had better be good Tracey

I’ve been using über bikes race matrix pads for about a month now on my M4s and I’m happy to say they’ve been great so far

Not as long lasting as the Hope sintered but pretty good ( better than their sintered ones anyway – but it has been pretty dry)

I bet these all come out the same factory.

They’ve been fine when I’ve used them recently(ish). I’m using the Disco Brakes ones ATM which seem OK, so are the ones from XCRacer (alligator?).

I guess I’ve had 3 pairs of superstar sintered pads, on 3 different types of brakes: Hayes Strokers (when I got my first proper mtb about 5 years ago), Formula The One and (now) Tech M4s. They’ve all been fine but I’ve never taken them anywhere like the alps, closet is the trail centers in Scotland.

For where I ride I find…

1. Sintered pads do work in all conditions and last forever but squeel horribly when wet and never seem to have that much bite.
2. Organic pads work brilliantly when dry and worked hard but after a few wet/cold/muddy rides they glaze over and performance is poor from then on (great in the summer if the weather stays like we hope it will).
3. Kevlar work well for me. Not as hard wearing as the Sintered and not as powerfull as the Organics; but they don’t seem to get ruined by the water/mud/cold.

Superstar were out of Formula Kevlar last time I needed so I went for Discobrakes and they are working very well for me… but I’m tempted to try the uberbrake Race Matrix pad next time.

Good and cheap = buy some. Even better, buy a 4-pack…

Had a couple of rides on the organic pads in my Tech M4’s (on day of uplift @ FoD) and very happy with the performance. Only had dry rides bu they are ideal for me – bite well (better than Hope) and cheap

I’ve bought from Disco brakes and they’re were fine. They were out of stock last time I nedeed some so I went for Superstar sintered which I’ve not been happy with, too hard and have no bite.

I’ve had the pads out and sanded them, torched them to remove any residue and still no real improvement. It seems that the harder compound glazes over in use and whils they might last well this doesn’t help me with the brake bite that I’m after.

Pity as I bought 4 pairs but am now on the look out for a suitable alterantive.

I’ve just bought some uber bike race matrix pads for my m785s and fitted them and ridden them about 4 times now. I’m impressed so far they’re easily as powerful as the standard Shimano pads which I was happy about having tried superstar Kevlars on a previous set of brakes and thinking they weren’t very powerful at all. It’s now just down to the padlife and how long they last compared to standards. So far I’d not hesitate to buy another set.

Give me D.I.S.C.O

My stock formula organic certainly seem more powerful, and longer lasting than SS sintered. One pair of sintered seemingly lasted ages, 2 other pairs wore down from brand new to so thin that the metal spring clips were scraping the disc, in a grand total of 220km of PdS lift-assisted XC (not DH/AM by any standards, other than the Morzine switchbacks that finished them off).
Brakes are possibly the most critical component on the bike. I don’t mind paying an extra fiver each end for something that may determine whether my bones remain in 1 piece or not.

Just bought a couple of sets of £6.99 sintered from Uberbike.

Let’s see how they do.

Superstar kevlars for me on everything… Better than Disco, same (I reckon) as Uber, though Uberbike’s matrix pads are interesting. Best all round pad I’ve used and they just happen to be cheap. Fruit can be a dick, obviously, but some of the products are bang on.

Only thing to watch is that kevlar pads are really sensitive to bedding in right- unlike other pads, they make good power almost immediately so it’s easy to think “Right, those are ready”. Then they evaporate, pretty much. You have to bed them in like any other pad even though they feel ready to use in about 1/10th the time.