I've had medium success with Nukeproof pads. Cheap, but slightly less power than Shimano. (both sintered)
Non OE brake pads
I’ll echo Andy’s experience with MTX reds, they’re now my preferred pad over Shimanos.
Posted by: SixZeroSixOne
Just need to ask why not Shimano. Price isn't all that bad? I guess for lift accessed riding would make sense..
I'm specifically interested in people's experiences with non-OE suppliers. And $76+tax isn't exactly cheap though YMMV...
Fair enough. Though as you know non-finned ones drop that price a fair bit and don't rattle besides.
Man, I consciously bought a load of different discount brand pads over a couple of year period to be scientific, but then got them all mixed up and the final results were just confusion 😅
Except Galfer, those were markedly excellent. Not an enormous savings over stock though.
A buddy of mine bought a huge bag of Magura pads off Alibaba, I was buying them off him at $1 a pad/ $4 a brake. I'm sure there's some sketchy Shimano version out there. They actually worked fine. I mostly mixed them in with Galfer (4 pads each in Magura calipers) and the performance decrease was hardly noticeable. If you really want to throw the dice 🎲🎲
Posted by: syncro
I bought a pile of the sintered disco pads for my zee brakes. They don't have quite as much stopping power as the OEM Shimano metallic pads, but they are fine on the back. Apparently disco have a different compound that has more grab, but I haven't tried them.
Posted by: syncro
Seems reasonable but the choices of five different compounds confuses me - I'm not a materials engineer!
They'd be posting from UK or US so you need to plan way in advance and stock up before your pads wear out
Posted by: SixZeroSixOne
Posted by: syncro
Seems reasonable but the choices of five different compounds confuses me - I'm not a materials engineer!
They'd be posting from UK or US so you need to plan way in advance and stock up before your pads wear out
Regardless of where you get them from, stocking up on brake pads before they wear out is always a good idea.
Posted by: [email protected]
Posted by: SixZeroSixOne
Posted by: syncro
Seems reasonable but the choices of five different compounds confuses me - I'm not a materials engineer!
They'd be posting from UK or US so you need to plan way in advance and stock up before your pads wear out
Regardless of where you get them from, stocking up on brake pads before they wear out is always a good idea.
Yeah, tell me about it. Ive got a big stack of unopened, brand new brakes pads for lots of brakes I no longer use. Anyone need any Magura Louise FR pads?? 🤣🤣🤣
The good reviews make me want to try the Loam Goats again. I tried their metallic pads and the stopping power was great but they made horrible noise regardless of conditions or temperature. It was so distracting it affected my riding. I guess my rotors could be slightly contaminated, but I put Shimano pads back in and the noise stopped...
I still have a second new set of Loam Goats that I'd love to be able to use but I don't want to deal with the noise. I definitely like the price.
Last edited by: SlowAnimalsWin on Aug. 27, 2022, 8:06 p.m., edited 1 time in total.
Another vote for Loam Goat from me!
Another MTX red fan. Replaced the mediocre pads that came with my TRP Trail EVO's with the MTX, and I now have far more power.
I've tried of couple of the lower cost non-oem options
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Loam Goats- no bite when cold, faded easily, felt like they got contaminated easily- were SUPER noisy- think Double the sound of OEM metallic
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Basic Bike CO- good cold bite, less prone to fade- were noisy- think equal to OEM metallic
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OEM sram- better than BBC- but I ended up picking up bulk pads @$15 or $20 a pair and just reuse the hardware
Trickstuff Power pads work very well for me. Tested on long descents in the Alps, no complaints whatsoever.
However, I'm quite light and use powerful brakes, so I'm pretty sure most pads would have enough power. Will try the Trickstuff Standard pads next, as they are a bit cheaper and should last longer.
Last edited by: Timer on Aug. 29, 2022, 2:51 p.m., edited 1 time in total.
Anyone here running a combo of metallic and organic pads? I remember back in the day this was a popular setup, and I ran my Blur 4X trail bike's XT brakes with this combo with good results. Hadn't heard about anyone doing this until seeing Nico's e-bike check on PB recently: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/bike-check-nico-vouillozs-lapierre-glp-2-ews-e-race-bike.html
Last edited by: mrkdwrds on Aug. 30, 2022, 7:31 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
Posted by: Timer
Trickstuff Power pads work very well for me. Tested on long descents in the Alps, no complaints whatsoever.
However, I'm quite light and use powerful brakes, so I'm pretty sure most pads would have enough power. Will try the Trickstuff Standard pads next, as they are a bit cheaper and should last longer.
Huh, that's a good point. If you're running 4 piston Shimanos or Magura you could put cucumber slices in there and probably still stop on a dime. No wonder my pad experiment was so lame.
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