Brake advice needed.

[dojo]

Hi

Can I get some advice on brakes/brake pads.... Mine are long overdue a change!!!

My bike has Tektro R359 long calipers on it - They say that they use 'Adjustable Angle Pads' on the website.

I've read that these are not the best brakes but some Kool Stop pads upgrade the performance a lot.

When I go on to Wiggle and select caliper brakes there are very few choices vs V brakes?

Which pads are best for me?

Thanks in advance

[RapidRob]

Something like this might do the job, SJS have a few different options.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brake-blocks/kool-stop...

I'm not familiar with the brakes you mention though, so its only a best guess

Edited by RapidRob on Wednesday 4th November 12:11

[Master Bean]

From my googling your brakes look like normal slide in pads. These are a good upgrade from personal experience.

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/SwissStop/Flash-P...

[Zigster]

Wiggles website doesn’t seem very helpful - I think a lot of the road bike inserts are shown as v-brakes.

These are at chain reaction
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kool-stop-dura...

[yellowjack]

dojo said:

Hi

Can I get some advice on brakes/brake pads.... Mine are long overdue a change!!!

My bike has Tektro R359 long calipers on it - They say that they use 'Adjustable Angle Pads' on the website.

I've read that these are not the best brakes but some Kool Stop pads upgrade the performance a lot.

When I go on to Wiggle and select caliper brakes there are very few choices vs V brakes?

Which pads are best for me?

Thanks in advance

Adjustable angle pads? Almost all are adjustable in angle. Usually by means of "cup" washers either side of the caliper. Someone already mentioned SwissStop pads. I swear by them, especially for stopping in the wet. But you need to check that you have 'Pad Carriers' on first. Are the pads you have solid rubber back to a moulded-in mounting bolt? If they are, you'll need to buy the SwissStop pads WITH metal pad carriers. If you already have the metal pad carriers, you just need the slide-in inserts. Almost all road bike brake pads (inserts) these days are inter-compatible between brands. Just release the keep-screw/bolt on the back of the carrier, slide out the old, slide in the new. And yes, on the Wiggle site some absolute bone-head has been left in charge of filters and key-word searches for brakes. Most come up as 'V' brake pads when they are actually road bike pads. One solution would be to search another on-line retailer to check which pads will fit, then search for that part number on Wiggle, even by scrolling through "all brake pads". And although I've never used Kool Stop pads, I'm sure that they'll also be a performance upgrade over the "stock" pads.

[johnpsanderson]

As far as I know rim brakes like that don’t usually have pads you can adjust the angle on. If it were me I’d either buy a direct replacement (I.e. a Tektro pad)to maintain that adjustability or just buy something like the Clarks 55mm Integral Block listed on Wiggle.

In my experience having everything clean, well maintained and setup properly makes a much bigger difference on how well the brakes work than swapping out for a ‘better’ pad material. Unless you have carbon rims of course...