Kool Stop Thinline V-Brake Pads

Advantages: Excellent performance in wet/muddy conditions, rim friendly, good wear rates
Disadvantages: Pricier than the competition

..., and while there is a drop off in performance, it is nowhere near as much as with other brands that I have tried. In mud these pads really do come into their own. They are the only v-brake pad that I have tried that provide any braking at all when covered in mud. Mud is extremely abrasive, and every time you apply the brakes you are applying a grinding paste to your delicate aluminium rims. Before I changed over to the Kool Stops, my Avid Rim Wranglers lasted as little as 2 months, and also managed to wear my rear rim past the wear markers in under 9 months. With the Kool Stops, not only is the braking vastly improved, but my rims show significantly less wear. The other small advantage you get is the cartridge pads are a bit easier than the blocks to replace - pull out circlip, press out old pad, push in new pad, replace circlip, and then adjust... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: quality and value
Disadvantages: none really!

...Obviously with the high amounts of pressure and heat which travel through brake pads and the almost implicit faith which you have to place in them when cycling you need to trust your brake pads and know that if you need to stop they’re going to have the performance there to help you slow down as quickly as you need. I've used the Kool Stop's for many years and have never been disappointed once by the value or quality and would even admit to sometimes being surprised that they ‘still’ don’t need replacing even when I cannot remember the last time I did. I use disk brakes on most of my bikes these days but the ones which do continue to use rim brakes will always use Kool Stop pads… Really impressed and would most definitely be my highest recommended rim brake pad...... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good breaking power
Disadvantages: nothing

...I recently bought a set of replacement pads for my AVID Juicy 3 brakes. These came in at £15 for a pair for the front. They seem to vary in price by a few pounds, thi was from a well known online MTB shop in the lakes. Being a disc brake novice I didn't have a clue how to fit them so rather than break them or waste time finding out I got a mate to do it for me. Other than the actual fitting the one thing I did do was to lightly rub down the pads before fitting them. I was told this is a good idea as it reduces the chances of the pads glazing over and gives you better breaking power earlier on, guess this is like I used to do with my standard V-Brake pads. I think that is roughly 1000 miles of use on my old pads. I tend to change them early as I did with V-brakes, not sure that is necessary with discs though (not at this price... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful