Sintered and Organic – the real difference.

Since learning to ride MTB in Lakes and Peak, now living in Scotland, I have just always used sintered pads. They last, and last well. They sometimes have ‘gobbled’ as Magura rotors do.

Last week, at the bottom of the Pleney descent at Morzine, I swapped my squealing, burnt looking and lacking bite, sintered pads out for the spare organic set I had when I bought the brakes.

No. More. Squealing.
More bite. More power. Lots more power again.

They lasted only two days of this though (in totally dry and dusty conditions), and are now so worn I need new.

Does anyone know if anyone makes Kevlar pads for Magura’s?

What model Magura’s Matt? SuperStar do Kevlar for MT Series plus Martas etc I think….

Organic need bedding in, once you’ve done that, they should last well.

Sintered pads seem to rely in exchanging movement energy for sound energy which in my experience isn’t a great plan for slowing down…

stick with organic, unless conditions are truly shocking

Organics will last longer when you are not riding in the Alps.

They shouldn’t go that quick anyway, though I’ve had it happen too.

You shouldn’t use sintered with Magura brakes, they don’t recommend it and afaik they don’t make them.
I’ve always used proper Magura pads in my Louises as they seem to last longest and work best. In a weeks Alps riding I didn’t put any really noticeable wear on my pads either.
So if I were you I’d cough up for the proper OEM pads. 🙂

They’re MT2’s – I bought them with pile of spare pads, the sintered are clearly aftermarket.

I was just surprised *how* much difference it made to the brakes.

organic have a half life of a Mars bar

organic have a half life of a Mars bar

I think this is one of those “It depends” things really doesn’t it?

In the Alps it’s the heat that wears out brake pads and renders a squealing mess. Different organic pads will cope with different temperatures though, and they won’t transmit as much heat into the calipers.
What size rotors and what pads are you running?

I have the opposite experience.

Sintered suit my style of riding and never give off noise or fade.

It’s not hugely surprising that the OP found that after killing a set of sintered the organic ones felt better…

Matt, give Clarks organics a go, cheap as chips, very good, quiet and last not too badly either.

Fiver

Organic need bedding in, once you’ve done that, they should last well.

In any conditions, pads last longer if you brake hard then let them go, obviously on bigger mountain holidays most people probably fail to heed that even if they know they shouldn’t be dragging their brakes. Bigger rotors help in that case.

In the wet I actually find running much smaller rotors helps, they run much hotter which keeps the pads bedded in despite the longer braking times/distances.

Other than that, yup, organic pads are far and away the more powerful option in the dry. In the wet either sintered and big rotors for DH or organic and small rotors for day to day XC/trail riding on the SS.

Morzine is a nightmare for brake pads
Hot and sunny day, organic all the way, starts raining though (as it often does there) and you’re through a set in a few hours.

Rainy day and sintered are your mates, they’ll laugh off the mud and grime and keep going, oh but it’s dried up, they’ll get too hot and if you’re a dragger (and it’s bloody steep there) and they’ll glaze diamond hard and produce more heat and noise than actual stopping power.

Unless you’re a shit hot rider who’s just dabbing the brakes lightly once or twice on a descent you sort of need to change your pads with the weather, but I guess I’ve seen enough guys head down at the first downpour to switch to mud tyres that it’s not out of the question for some.

Superstar Kevlar, they’re not perfect, but they’re a good compromise for both days and work well year around in the UK too.

In the Alps it’s the heat that wears out brake pads and renders a squealing mess.

It was most definitely this. I am 14st, on a steel HT so a need for *lots* of braking.
All the rest of the OAB family are sub 10st on FS or around 7st on a HT with big tyres…

Cheers – will give the cheapo clarks a go.

Matt, give Clarks organics a go, cheap as chips, very good, quiet and last not too badly either.

Aye, its what we use on our demo fleet – cheap and reliable.

Kevlar work very well, I reckon they are a good in-between Sintered and Organic.

One of each is what i run (no, really, a metal pad in one side, and either a kevlar or organic in the other side depending on the weather)

You shouldn’t get too hung up on Kevlar brake pads IMHO, as Kevlar is at a basic level just organic with brand name fibre added.