Brake pads question (yes, another noob)

Hello all,

Am looking to get spare pads for my tektro draco 180 brakes only to find myself faced with the sintered/semi-metallic/organic choice. Am buying off ebay.
Me being a total noob I was hoping one of you experienced types could point me in the direction of which type and why?

In case it matters I ride mainly red routes with a lot of sand, gravel and mud and will be riding throughout the winter also.

Why has everything in life got so many choices? – it’s like trying to order a quick coffee in Starbucks if you’ve never been in before 😀

Thanks in advance.

Sintered probably as they wear better in crappy conditions. That’s all I usually use as I’ve never found I don’t have enough stopping power.

Organic will give slightly better performance but grit will have them worn away in no time.

Kevlar are a sort of half-way house, alleged to offer some of the durability of sintered but improved performance. At a higher price. I have some but haven’t tried them yet, but many have… search for the thread on Superstar kevlar pads for plenty of opinions!

it kind of depends on how you get through brake pads. Organic bed in quicker, squeal less and have more power. if you find that (like me) your weight, riding style, riding conditions etc mean that you shred a set over about 3 rides you might have to admit that you cant use organic and need either semi or fully sintered

Oh yes, sorry, should’ve said – check out how to bed them in… basically requires braking enough to get the pads really hot once installed whilst they’re still clean and dry. They start to grip better and won’t wear down as fast.

Cheers – appreciate the help – sintered it is then..probably 😀

Or Superstar kevlar

the kevlar ones dont seem to get very good reviews for some reason (not that I have ever tried them)

The kevlar ones are pretty sensitive to initial bedding in… They’re weird in that they make pretty good power almost immediately, so if you’re used to just bedding in til the pads work, that doesn’t really work. Leads to flaky performance and fast wear. I reckon that’s where a lot of the bad reviews come from.