Needs ultimate grip wet and dry.
Longevity and cost not important.(Yes I have just had a close one!)

Whatever the shop has

EBC red compound.

Maybe its worth a combination of better pads and a larger set of discs.
And maybe more consistent hoses ie steel braided instead of plastic hoses?

Discs are as big as possible. Hoses good idea but new pads are the first thing to try. Have same brakes on 3 bikes.

Best pads are, apparently, Swissstop

That said, the cure for all braking woe, power especially, is generally called ‘Magura’

🙂

Also perhaps consider user improvement

Definitely agree that well bled brakes are 1000x more important than any pads. Saying that, our race team runs Hopes, and my team mate has done 100s of muddy hours on a single set (Strathpuffer solo, Exposure 24 solo, South Downs Double, Kielder, D2D solo) and there is still about 25% left.

what brakes are they?

Hope OEM

Im very happy with Superstar Reds, although they do wear down a little quicker than sintered.

Shimano lx. I can never work out the difference between organic and sintered etc. Shall bleed them as well.

O.E Sintered (of brake manufacturer) with hope wavey rotors, last me years and work in all conditions, don’t touch the brakes much though.

Whatever the manufacturer recommend. i.e. Shimano.

Brake authority pads are very well made compared to cheap ones.

However we all used to get by just fine with M-system and v-brakes back in the day, so I would suggest there may be an element of user error which could be looked at 😛

just put nukeproof trail compound pads on my blue pig and they worked very well over llandegla last week

nick

I’ve tried Koolstop, Swissstop, Superstar, Formula OEM

The best I’ve found are the Aztec Sintered ones I’m using now. A little more noisy than some but they work in all conditions.

Is anyone else boggling a little at the question? With big rotors pretty much any half-decent brake with half-decent pads should provide more than enough stopping power, and LXs are decent brakes… Even for a massive rider you’ll tend to run out of tyre before you run out of brake, especially in the wet.

(feel/usability is a different thing but the OP is all about grip)

So I’m curious, how big are you? And what are you doing when you feel you need more power?

Hope OEM are the best pads IMO but not an option for you. Personally I’d go with Superstar Kevlar, your pads are probably the same design as I used to use in my Tektros and the SS ones worked very well.

Hope Sintered on Hope – mrs_oab’s were 5 years old when I replaced em this spring….!
EBC sintered and Clarks sintered (noisy) also seem to outlast Shimano and Avid.
Shimano organic = lasted half a ride, Superstar pads = fell off backing and a couple of rides max.

Hope Sintered on Hope – mrs_oab’s were 5 years old when I replaced em this spring….!

Yeah. Hope pads used to last me ages too. Years. Problem is that they are too hard and boiled my brakes in Wales sending me headlong into a ditch.
The second time it happened I got rid of em and replaced with Magura. Their pads last me 6-8 months but will stope time after time after time even at Alpine speeds and durations.
Organic pads will (at least should) always give more power. Like tyres – soft ones give more grip. 🙂

very impressed with swissstop on my formula r1s

I’d say Superstar red (Kevlar), go up a rotor size and also get your brakes bled. Oh and give the brakes a REALLY good bedding in….. 🙂

Superstar Reds, anyone with them falling off the backing plate must have fitted them wrongly.

Rich 🙂

I must of had a bad batch of ss Kevlar, they were absolute gash. Itinial bite was ok, but if you wanted more power there was nothing. Gone back to hope sintered and all is good again.

Another vote for Aztec sintered. Tried O/E formula sintered and organic, Goodridge sintered, Superstar sintered,& EBC gold. 🙁 Aztec just plain work don’t squeel too much and last better than all the above. A riding buddy tried them and loves them in his Hopes.Hope this helps as its expensive trying to find a good combination. 😆

My Magura Louise Carbon BAT brakes are disappointing, not as good as the Louise FR’s that they replaced.

However the Gustavs that are getting on for 10 years old are still the best brake ever. could probably go a bleed and then they’ll be back to as good as new awesome.

Used a set of Disco/Bike Fridge Ceramic Black pads at a Chatel, two days of rain and they worked well but were on the backing plate by the end of it. Changed to Nukeproof trail on the third day at Les Gets, they lasted a whole day! The last day at Chamonix on SS Sintered, noisy but were fine. The Ceramic ones felt the best for power (and low noise).

Superstar sintered for me. Last ages and are cheap.

SS Kevlar here too.

More info needed from the op me thinks. Is he after magic brake pads? What was the near miss