What pads are people using and why?

Thanks,

M

Hope and a proper effort bedding them in.

Used to like some of the aftermarket Kevlar ones but they seemed to wear a concave track on the rotors.

The Hope ones are really good – pad life justifies the cost. If you’re in sandy/gritty conditions most of the time then go sintered but otherwise the organics are great. That’s been my experience on M4, E4 and V4.

Galfer greens if you want maximum performance

Not sure about wear rate yet, but initial bite & power is best I’ve tried

Galfer make the normal hope pads too

Hopes own. They just work and life is good.

Uberbike race matrix pads are awesome, great power and plenty of life.

Cheap too.

Trickstuff performance pads give a very noticeable increase in bite on E4s. Pad life is relatively short so i wouldn’t run them in the rear. I’m also tempted to try a 220mm rotor as well.

My personal experience of Uberbike has been pretty average. Nothing wrong with them but no better than oe stuff and noisier in wet conditions.

Kimbers – where did you get the Galfer green from? Be good to compare with the Trickstuff which I like in the front.

Because only the outside part moves if you have the inner pad set too far off the disk then as you operate the brake you can see an alarming (relatively) amount of disk bending which isn’t good for noise, vibration or wear. So I just set up the inner fixed pad so it just kissed the disk which doesn’t produce any rubbing noise if your disk is straight, and doesn’t drag, and means you minimise the amount of disk bend when you operate the brakes. It’s the best compromise I’ve found.

But either way it’s not a great design or a great solution and you might get it dialled in, but in a few months you’ll be having to repeat the process. Best to just bite the bullet and make the investment in a hydraulic brake solution.

A work colleague of mine ditched his cable disk brakes and put on the Giant cable operated hydraulic set up and he thinks it is a massive improvement and wasn’t as expensive as replacing the whole brake and shifter setup.

Hope and a proper effort bedding them in.

Used to like some of the aftermarket Kevlar ones but they seemed to wear a concave track on the rotors.

I found this too. Hope even replaced the steel braking surface bits on the floating rotors as a gesture of good will when I queried the wear pattern.

Since then I’ve used only Hope genuine pads and not had any issues. They last well, are quiet and offer a good consistent level of braking

Thanks everyone – gone for some genuine organic pads.

racematrix here. happy with them over hope.

Have tried all the Uber pads and find them inferior to Hope’s own. I can’t remember who makes Hope’s pads for them (pretty sure they were branded last time I bought them). anyone?

Hope here too, I recommended Aztec sintered on here a while back, as previously they’d been good, but my recent sets have worn out in 1/3 of the lifespan I normally get from them (i’d be well pee’d off if they hadn’t been massively discounted at Madison when I bought them).

“I can’t remember who makes Hope’s pads for them (pretty sure they were branded last time I bought them). anyone?”

I’m not sure but it did say on my last pair. However, just because someone makes them for Hope, that doesn’t mean you can actually buy the same pads from that manufacturer. It’s like with my business – one of the world’s biggest speaker manufacturers makes speakers for us but they’re completely unique, nothing like any of their production models and arguably much superior – and our OEM agreement means they won’t make them for anyone else.

However, just because someone makes them for Hope, that doesn’t mean you can actually buy the same pads from that manufacturer.

That is true but I think it’s much less likely with brake pads than with speakers.

Hope pads are rebranded Galfer pads apparently.