Brake Pads! Swiss Stop, Kool Stop.

As anyone who has a bike that they ride all winter has discovered, at least anyone for whom winter means rain and snow, grit does a number on the bike: Drivetrain, brakepads, and most expensively, rims. Now, this leads many of us hardy folk to tout the benefits of disc brakes in inclement weather; you get better and more reliable stopping power, and only need replace the pads a couple of times a year, and a rotor every few. BUT, where does that leave those who commute on a cross bike, road bike, or old MTB without disc tabs. Well I'll tell you. It leaves us wearing down our rims and rebuilding wheels every 4 or 5 years. Less if, like me, you ride a fairly light rim (Open Pro) and rarely (never) clean the thing like it deserves.

So, after wearing down the latest set of rims in less than 3 years, I thought it was time to make some forays into higher priced brake pads. The idea here was to find something that retained braking power even in the wet and grit, and was easier on the rim than the standard koolstop/shimano/generic v-brake cartridge. I had used an assortment of KoolStop pads, including the salmons, on previous mountain bikes, and decided to give those a try. My other option was the Swiss Stop yellow kings for v-brakes. I have the road version on a couple of other bikes, and have been impressed with their modulation and rim preserving qualities on alloy and carbon. I was interested to see if they would translate to a cantilever brake and bring sufficient power despite being so easy on the rims. They did.

First off, the cool stops have been great. They stop well, don't tend to shudder despite being a little softer and more grabby than a standard pad, and are practically free compared to the Swiss Stops (10-15 bucks, generally). I'm on my second pair in less than 2000 km, though I have already admitted to neglect when it comes to cleaning the rims and pads every once in a while. The Swiss Stops on the other hand are more like 60 bucks for 4, so about three times the price. But I love them. The power is there, they are even easier on the rims than the KoolStops, and they don't pick up grit and metal shavings any near as much as the Kools, which are already pretty good. I haven't had them long enough to determine whether they will last three times as long, which would justify the price (where that the only measure), but if they are anything like the pads I've used in a caliper brake, they are going to last a long, long time.

There may be some who can't stomach the price, but if you race, commute, or ride in the crap, I think the Yellow Kings are a pretty good investment, particularly if you ride rims you'd rather not replace as often. For the rest, KoolStop is the way to go, I'm going to say 70% of the performance at 30% of the price. That's value.