as stated in the title, i need to bulk buy 50 pairs of pads for a trip away next year. Where do you think the best place to get them from is? we're on a budget but still want something good quality with good customer service if there is any probs. cheers
if it's 50 for the same brake, I'd be tempted to try the manufacturer or importer of whatever pads you fancy. Even at trade price, that's going to be a chunk of cash.
Pours a cup of hot blended octopus and pulls up chair 😀
I'd just see what your LBS will do for you.
You thought about how you're going to store them to stop them getting screwed?
50 pairs! What pads have you been using because different makes do last longer. If you are using 'mainstream' e.g. hope or avid or hayes, as opposed to e.g. superstar you may well find that aftermarket pads might not be as longlasting. Organic pads tend to wear faster too- so go for sintered.
So- ask at LBS/ internet supplier for a discount. Tell them that you are looking to buy a lot of kit- see what they offer.
Where are you going BTW
Id try discobrakes.
products are good, and Im sure theyd do a good deal for you.
Clarks brake pads are now only £7.99 for the organic pads and fishers to back you up. An LBS would probably do about 10% discount on them and they are very good quality.
four of us are going to the alps for 2months.
Store them to stop them getting screwed?
i think we tried discobrake pads when we went for a week when ours had worn out and we found their performance quite poor, no power and wore down extremely quickly.
If you were going for an extended tour and they got wet and were stored wet you would probably fund a pile of mush when you really needed some brake pads.
How about just buying the pads as and when you need them when you're over there.
I'd speak to Merlin, I'm sure they would square you away?
ahh no thats okay, we're staying in an apartment for the whole time and driving their so they'll be quite safe. Pads over there arent cheap by any stretch of the imagination.
So long's you keep them dry they should be fine. Clarks pads come in a little plastic case (like a mini CD case almost) that's pretty water tight compared to cardboard shrink wrap packaging. Chances are they've been in a shop for more than 2 months anyway!
What about using EBC pads? I've found them to be absolutely superb pads, don't fade anywhere near as quickly as anything else i've tried - and while I ride in the peaks, dropping down somewhere like jacobs ladder, or doctors gate, i'd be happy to say they're shorter versions of alps stuff, and with me being a bit draggy on the brakes (yes yes i know, got to sort that out)
anyway .. try EBC pads, i think they're great and perhaps a "i'm going to the alps for two months, i want to buy 50 pairs of brake pads in X Y and Z format, do me a deal" direct to EBC themselves?
jt
I assume you don't fancy superstar? 😉
Not that I've ever bought in bulk from htem but try Discobrakes. They're only about a fiver each when you buy 4 pairs so work from there.
I'd recommend them, they've been great for me.
thanks for suggestions so far, have contacted hope and ebc themselves to ask if a possible bulk buy price.
I've bought lots of pad brands over the years. I find the blue A2Z pads sold by woollyhatshop are the best. Work really well in the alps but can handle mud and wet use. I think you are possibly buying too many but if you can use the excess when home, that's fair enough. I've done months of riding in the alps and find you need one pair of pads (front or rear, not both) per fortnight. You'll soon reduce your braking alot and hardly wear them out. Same for tyres, you'll wear the first set out fast and by the end they'll last ages as you improve. I'd worry more about stocking up on hard to source spares like bearings, mechs, spare frame/forks/wheels etc.
EDIT - Forgot the most important point, WHS do bulk buy discounts.
Hi four of use bike using Hayes 9s and usually take 30 sets each year to the alps and have never found any of the dealers interested in a deal. After market pads that have been good are IXS and disco
we've guestimated a full set for a week n half, but as you say we can always bring home the spares n get rid of some or use them. We've already got one spare shimano mech and a spare sram mech. We're going to take 2 sets of tyres each also and each of us have a spare frame hangers ready.
I thought you meant you were going somewhere properly remote!!
Can't you just order on an ad hoc basis from wherever and get a friend in the UK to post them out to you by Airmail? 300g to Europe is only £2.44.
Maybe contact one of the mags and see if they might be interested in a long term group test. If you think you're going to be going through pads at that rate, perhaps you could answer once and for all, which is the best pad!
Another vote for EBC, I've been racing on a set of red compounds all year, still on my first set. And that's supposedly the compound which wears the fastest...
I can probably get you 50 sets of pads
Mail in profile - let me know exactly what you need and i'll start sorting a price out for you
become an EBC brake pad dealer, with your trial being held in the alps ... and your first order would be 50 pairs, and you of course, want a first order discount of an additional 10% on the normal trade price.
then if your brake pad business doesnt work after your return, well, that's just life and the 'current economic crisis'.
hope you get it sorted at the right price! you never know, you could continue your sale of ebc brake pads with a little ad on this 'ere forum, i for one would buy 'em 😉
jt
jt- Brilliant idea!
4 people, 2 months, 50 pairs of brake pads??
Our guides lap Whistler daily both guiding and riding for themselves (sometimes slow, usually fast) and they are each on their 3rd set (6 pairs) of pads since bike park opening....
They're running Magura Gustavs.. so I'd suggest that rather than spend a silly amount on pads.. consider getting some pimp Magura brakes 😉 Gustavs will keep arm pump at bay too!
Anywho, back to your question, I'd look to distributors if you can for bulk buys, or sweet talk your LBS into cutting you a sweet deal.
Just for my curiosity, I just pulled one of our guide Jamies pass usage.. 62 days, 395 scans = a minimum of 177,750m (probably more like 280,000m when you factor in his time riding the garbanzo chair).
So, Jamies getting 20 days per set of pads on his Maguras or possible around 90,000m of descending per full set.
That seems an unnecessary large amount of pads. However, if you need that many I'd drop Toronto cycles a line. They sell ashima semi metallic pads at $6.50 a set, that's less than four quid a go and at that volume I'm sure he'd do you a deal.
50 sets of pads 😯 🙄
The idea of riding a bike is you pedal more than using the brakes, hth helps
What are you going to do some under the coat disk pad selling?
How on earth do you do that... Mates of mine that ride an awfull lot and that ride very fast usually get at least a month out of the pads... Unless you are riding every single day in the snow you don't need that much (many) pads.
I'll get one (ok maybe two if you are paranoid) set per rider it will be plenty enough.
But you did not reply, all the same brand (or make I can never figure which one to use)same model???
@ Juan,
use 'many' for things that are countable, e.g. there are many cars/tables/people/disc pads
'much', things that are uncountable, e.g. there isn't much air/water/money (yes technically countable but we talk of money as a thing "the banks haven't got [u]much[/u] money").
brand or make. either or. neither are wrong.
12.5 pads each for two months is excessive in my experience. in a whole year of biking in the alps i went through 2 1/2 sets and that included sonwy and wet rides....
Alpin cheers 😀
I am pretty sure we will come back with spares, guarantee it in fact. However, im basing my judgement on the fact we went through one set in a week, yes it was my first trip there, yes i've only been riding now just over a year, yes my other friend has never been there either, yes its completely different riding we find over there to here so cannot base our judgement upon riding, if you're also basing the sets on guides in an area of course there gonna use less, their guides and ride there everyday I would expect nothing less! It's like saying 'well my mates a pro rider and barely ever crashes, why are you crashing so much?!' I'm basing my estimation (a rough estimation based on a covering every base situation) on myself and my group of friends who are all planning this trip, seeing as that is based on personal opinion and knowledge of the riders in question and was never mentioned as question or asked for advice i shall move on...
thanks for suggestions so far ill try out some names, perhaps go for variety of a few different types.
I don't see anyone mentioning it but bedding in pads properly when they're dry and clean does help prolong life, in my experience. I will predict that if you take 12 sets of pads each you're all certain to break your shoulders on the first ride and have to take them all home again 😉 Whereas if you take far too few pads you're less likely to have an accident, and more likely to have to stop riding because you can't find compatible pads.
I'd take a couple of sets and order them in as required. If it's dry you won't use many but if it's wet you'll munch them.
DO NOT use the newer shimano pads with Aluminium backing plate, I wore out my resin pads in the wet, just wanted to get off the mounatin so continued but they actually wore through backing plate then was braking on the piston for 800m vertical.
Whoops- [url] http://del69.fotopic.net/p60664993.html [/url]
If you go through that many pairs of pads...What about the Discs ?
How long do they last ??
Bush.
Discs on Hayes usually only last about 4-5 sets of pads in the wet. Hopes last longer. Never really see worn out Shimango rotors though.
I reckon it would be useful to take some spares just in case you bend them anyway.