are the oringinals worth it?

rim or disc? – put XTR rim pads on commuting bike, deffinatly more ‘bite’ than previous (lx and equivalent price) – not sure about wear yet – but probably will pay the extra couple of pounds next time.

disc pads. i’ve used some others for a while but the power is a bit poor? just wondered if the origanal parts are better?

i’m going to the alps this year and i’m wondering if i should go for the new saints?

Some of the XTR disc pads have a titanium backing, which shoots the price up.
Don’t think the compound is different enough (if at all?) to quantify the price difference from other models.

If you fancy them for the weight saving then Kool-Stop do aluminium backed pads which are much cheaper.

Shimano claim 50% longer wearing for the M975 Ti backed pads (I don’t think the Ti backing is anything to do with it, just a better compound).