So I used to ride my racer quite a lot – mostly commuting but some longer rides on sunny weekends. After a shoulder op I put it on a turbo trainer just to spin my legs before I could put weight on the shoulder and it’s been there ever since. Got it out yesterday and pumped up the tyres / cleaned it all up a bit and span round the block on it.

Christ the brakes are cr*p! Been using on a day to day basis either Sram Guide R’s on 200mm rotors, or Shimano Deores on 160mm rotors. The Guides are way better than the Deore – but they’re miles better than racer brakes. It’s a 2010 Boardman Team carbon so discs aren’t an option – has anyone found any brake pads for racer calipers that actually work in the wet?

Swisstop

Swissstop green on alu rims made a big difference for me in the wet. I weigh around 80kg and after an oh sh*t moment at a roundabout after a downhill on standard shimano pads I had a fair bit of faith restored.

I’ve got a 2010 Boardman Team Carbon as well as the standard brakes and pads aren’t great, however any decent brake pads (I think mine has Clarks on it now) will make a big difference for just a few quid. Also changing to better calipers (Shimano 105’s are good and pretty cheap) will help however not as much as decent pads.

The Clarks pads I’m using are good but I’ve read that Swissstop are the best – not tried those yet though. The standard Shimano pads that come with the 105’s and above are also good.

swisstop are OK (yellow or the black prince ones) – nowhere near discs when you’re using carbon rims in the wet though. They cost a bomb though and will eat your rims if it’s wet & gritty

If it’s going to be ridden a lot in the wet I’d think about a cheapish disc fork TBH, so at least your front end is dependable

Check the cables and also calipers for corrosion

THanks for the replies so far.

Just checked and it has tektro calliper so – not rival like the rest of the group set. It’s not on standard pads – but I’ll have a look at swisstop as it’s definitely. Owing like that in there.

Cables are fine and calipers aren’t corroded. Rims are aluminium Mavic aksiums that I replaced the rubbish standard Ritchey wheels with as the rims were cracking.

Is it worth changing the calipers for better ones as well as doing pads or not with it? I assume the pull ratio on racer brakes are all the same from brand to brand?

I have Sram Rival double tap brake lever/shifters.

Don’t think I have the appetite at the moment to GX she forks o try and get a disc brake on there.

Rim brakes should be banned, throw that bike away before it kills you and buy something with discs.

Change to 105 Callipers. Shit brakes with expensive pads will still be shit.

Ok – so assume 105 brakes will work with Sram Rival levers?

How long since you last rode it? There may be corrosion in the outers that you can’t see.

Are they adjusted correctly?
= too far away from the rim? Long throw on the lever before the pads make contact?
= pads angled correctly
= pads contacting the rim at the same time on both sides?

5800 105 and equivalent SLR-EV calipers meant to use different cable ratio, see if you can find 5700 or sram rival/force. Will make big difference. Not disc difference but loads less scary

Tektro Quartz suck.

New calipers!

If those tektro’s don’t lock the wheel there’s something wrong with them.

Before throwing new parts at it… Especially if it has been in storage / used inside.

1) clean rims with degreaser. Take some toothpaste (whitening type works best) and turn bike over and spin the wheel whilst rubbing a bit on a cloth (old school tip) – this basically removes any fine corrosion and old pad material.
2) take out pads and rub the faces on some medium coarse sandpaper to remove the outer face – they could be contaminated or aged.
3) check all adjustments as above

Give that a go and if that doesn’t work…. Time for a new bike.

joebristol – Member
…Cables are fine and calipers aren’t corroded…

Flex is the enemy of cable brakes and most of it is found in the cable outers which are usually spiral wound and compress under pressure – using up braking force.

So what looks like a good cable can be crap under the pretty covering, especially OEM. I suggest replacing the outers with a top quality compressionless set. This is the biggest improvement you can make in a cable brake IMO.

Another place for flex is where your brake pads touch the rim. If it is the outer edge and the rim is worn, you can get a wee bit of flex there too, so it’s best to set the brakes closer to the inner part where the box section of the rim is. It would be better to change the rim though in that case. (Most people never get their rims worn enough for this to be a problem)

An eyeball on your brake system while squeezing the brake as hard as you can will show up any obvious problems – if you can see it flex, that’s a problem to be sorted.

Thus if the callipers are moving freely and not observably flexing under pressure, they’re probably ok. If they flex, get stiffer brakes.

All this is assuming your rims and pads are clean and oil free of course.

What are the tyres and what state are they in?

Ok, so the rims aren’t that worn, the Ritcheys had got visibly concave as well as cracking, but the bike has probably only done a few about 500 miles on the new wheels.

Seeing as outers are cheap there wouldn’t be any harm in changing them i suppose. I’ve got some new handlebar tape to go on anyway – although I made a mess of winding handlebar tape on last time I tried to do it.

I don’t think the pads or rims are in bad shape but will try a bit of cleaning. In the wet these brakes have always been a shocker. In the dry you can just about lock up the rear wheel if you get hard on both brakes.

Forget what the tyres are, but grip isn’t a problem I’ve had and they aren’t that old. It doesn’t look like I’ve used them enough to square them off on the turbo.

Always nice to buy new parts (and no excuse to buy any on the mtb as it’s brand new) so I might keep a look out for some apex / rival brakes for the racer. Now discs are out on new racers maybe the cost of normal brakes will slump?

The Tektro’s that are standard on the 2010 Boardman Team Carbon are shite. 105’s will be a massive upgrade and the standard pads that come with 105’s are fine.

Get some SRAM Rival brakes on there, they come (or used to at least) with Swissstop pads as standard.

Tektro brakes are poor. Although it sounds like a set up issue as they’re certainly not “scary bad”

But will 105’s work with Sram Rival brake levers? From what I’ve read online it would suggest the newer 105’s have a different pull ratio to Sram brakes.

I’m 85 kgs and my ultegras are more than adequate. I’m thinking the set up must be off or th pads are goosed.

My Ultegra brakes are outstanding. Anyone who says that rim brakes are rubbish has the wrong brakes.

But will 105’s work with Sram Rival brake levers? From what I’ve read online it would suggest the newer 105’s have a different pull ratio to Sram brakes.

Suspect they will – I use the 5800 brakes with 5700 levers and they’re fine.

But will 105’s work with Sram Rival brake levers? From what I’ve read online it would suggest the newer 105’s have a different pull ratio to Sram brakes.

Yes they will work, you’ll just have to set the pads a bit closer to the rim. Or get SRAM brakes, or older Shimano brakes.

I certainly wouldn’t advocate changing bikes for discs alone, but the benefits of even my BB7 Race discs was crystal clear this morning as I followed an otherwise fast rider go very nervously down a long hill in the rain.

Road rim brakes are scary in the wet!

Agree in my experience they are scary in the wet. My last racer (a Cannondale Caad 9 in liquigas that I wish I’d never got rid of) had 105 brakes and they were definitely better than what I have now.

Thinking I may get either Sram apex or Rival to replace the tektros. Rival come with Swiss stop as standard so might make sense to go for those as Apex are only £13 cheaper comparing the cheapest I can find of either brakeset.