Everything You Need To Know About Disc Brake Pads For Road Bikes
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Disc brakes are increasingly popular but they are tricker to maintain than rim brakes. Choosing brake pads is also a little more complicated when using disc brakes, but, once you learn a little bit about the types of pad compound available and their properties, you can easily chose the right ones for your bike! Join Alex as he explains.
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Are there any more disc brake maintenance videos you'd like us to make? Let us know 👇
When do you know when to replace your disc pads?
What is the best mechanical disc brakes for road bikes?
How to clean/maintain disc brakes, focus on when you have sticky pistons?
How to convert your disc brake bike to rim brake bike.
@@hmudesign They already have a video about rims wearing down. czcams.com/video/3svA3N1lDBk/video.html
Doing a video on disc brake pads and showing Alex riding on his F12 with rim brakes... Hidden message?
Shimano 105 12 speed with cooling fins.
I’m a heavier rider (93 kg) and love climbing and long descents near where I live. I’ve noticed that I don’t get any brake fade with metallic pads, whereas it was scary how little bite the resin pads would give after about 10 minutes of a windy steep descent. If you’re bigger and like steep descents where braking is a must, I’d recommend trying out metallic pads.
Thanks for the advice.
I came down the mountain and was shocked how poor the braking was . I didn't know about resin and metal pads . Old bike had rim brakes lol
Definitely swapping to metal pads .cheers
I am about to change rotors(13k km) , and I am also changing pads alongside them. Local bike shop installed some cheapish resin pads last time I went for a separate issue(cable change) on their own initiative. They worked well for a couple thousand km, but now u can feel them wearing down too much. The rotors still have life left, but I bought new wheels and I am buying a new cassette and rotors to go with.(and a new chain. Has life left too, so I am buying a quick link and keep it as a spare). Just fresh components in general.
I usually go through two or three sets of pads in a year. I average 7.5-8k km in a year, in a moderately hilly/mountain area in West Japan. The only pads I have found for my TRP brakes are either resin or semi-metallic. I usually chose the later, but I found decent priced organic ones that I am going to try...
At 2:53, showing Manon on a long alpine descent, she has rim brakes!
Sorry, couldn't help it. 😉
Very informative & helpful
Thank you 👍
Thank you this is useful, I am about to buy my first disc beaked bicycle.
Richard Maguire: What's a disc "beaked" bicycle? Or did you mean disc "breaked" bicycle? But even that would be wrong as it should be "braked".
Just ordered new pads like 2 weeks ago, man I wish this video would have been out sooner 😂 Had to do the research myself hahaha. Well good to have this for others tho!
haha, i literally just came back form the shop buying pads an hour ago when i saw the video
Any idea how to unscrew stubborn retaining screw on the caliper? I don’t want to attempt further as I’ve stripped a bit of the screw. Any help would be much appreciated.
Due to the fact that we have a 25 mile/40 km descent here, I'm upping to semi-metallic. Resin is great if you have short descents or you are riding on "flats" or low elevation change areas.
What do you mean by "upgrading" to disc brakes?
I love how quiet resin pads are but here in Wales where its often wet and grimey with a lot of steep descents, I go through one set a month in winter! I find using semi metallic ones much more suited to these conditions.
James DH: So, in winter, if you go through one set a month from your resin pads, how long has it taken for you, in winter, to go through your semi metallic pads?
@@lazurm Well I only figured this out the last winter, but I've been on the same semi metallic pads for the past 7 months and 2000 odd miles with about 200,000ft of decending and they still have life left in them. By comparison I was getting around 300 miles from a resin set.
@@aGhost0o I ride mostly on asphalt, an average of 1800 feet ascension per 40 miles and, with my resin pads, get around 4000 miles from them.
I should be amazed at my mileage but, because I'm a relative newbie when it comes to disc brakes, I was amazed when I learned what the low mileage expectancy is with resin brake pads.
@@lazurm I'd like to know the brand and rotor size please!
It probably depends on lots of factors and you have to use what works best for you. I have regular long 7 mile descents with up to 20% gradients down single country lanes covered in farm slop, where I'm hard on the brakes consistently for up to 30 mins, slowing from speeds up to 40mph and shimano resin pads can't cut it. At 90kg for bike and rider I ain't no weight weenie either hahha.
I suspect I could make the same pads last much longer with different parameters.
@@aGhost0o I've used the Shimano K03S resin (organic) pads on two bicycles, mine and my wife's, both of which has 160mm rotors. I've had to replace mine at 4,500 (rear) and 6,000 (front) while my wife has around 3,500 miles and, as of today when I took them off to inspect, still has a way to go.
Our roads are clean over 99% of the time and we try to avoid riding in the rain (twice in the last year).
The combined weight of bike and body is 235 lbs. for me and 155 lbs. for my wife.
I switched out my stock TRP brake pads on my TRP Spyre SLC as they were organic ones which worked but not quite happy with the performance. In came the Nukeproof organic pads and the bite was pretty consistent and assuring, even under hard braking.
My area is pretty flat with little climbs so there is no real need for sintered or semi-metallic pads.
You didn’t mention that some rotors require resin pads only.
Yes was wondering can metal pads work on these disc or best stick to resin to not wear disc out
@@nateo745 The rotor should specify if you can use metal pads, some of mine specify ‘resin pads only’
@@mauriciorosales1259 yes my rotor says the same. I guess metal on these would wear the rotor out quickly
I still like rim brake especially after the video that Chris Froome explain the problems with disc brakes. Anyone agree?
I recently upgraded my rim brakes and now they work so much better: I cleaned the rims and the pads.
The only way that I would switch back to rim brakes is if I switched back to alloy rims. That would be like switching back to four wheel drum brakes.
That given, the Pros HATE moving to new technology. They absolutely loath it. It took the Pro Peloton a couple of years to adopt Hyperglide type "cassettes.
Really depends on the riding you do. I use my bicycle mostly for commuting within a large city, and (mineral-oil) hydraulic disc brakes are a godsend. Significantly lower maintenance (the pads self-adjust for wear! 🤯) and the most frequent maintenance items (pads and rotors) are easier to do. Bleeding/changing fluid is a big faff, esp. because you need specialist proprietary tools (bleed kits vary significantly between manufacturers, although there are "universal kits"), but it's not that frequent with mineral oil.
@@jamesmckenzie3532 .. and it took a long time for a lot of pros to adapt to STI levers.
I have both, metallic and resin ones. Now they have sold out - it'll be difficult to replace worn out brake pads. Get whatever you can!
@askgcntech can you #ForScience test the difference the brake pad material changes on the stopping distance?
Nice 👌
How do you choose which brake material? Well, at the moment there is a shortage of Shimano pads in the US, so you have to take what ever you are lucky enough to find online. LBS's are all out and say it could take a month or two to get more.
First step: Check what your rotor will take (some rotors say resin only, some say metallic only). If your rotor takes more than one type (or if you're replacing rotors):
- Resin pads are cheaper, less noisy, and kinder to your rotors, but as Alex said don't take kindly to long, hard use (descents, DH), are faster wearing, and have worse performance than the other kinds on wet conditions
- Metallic pads are longer lasting, better on wet conditions, and can take more prolonged abuse, but wear out rotors faster, are noisier, and cost more.
- Semi-metallic pads are between resin and metallic pads in all advantages and disadvantages, usually very close to metallic pads in both categories.
What would you recommend for solving disc brakes that feel “mushy” without much stopping power? I’ve recently replaced both pads and discs after about 15k km on the stock ones, and the replacements now have ~30% the braking force and completely useless in the rain. I’ve tried re-aligning, cleaning and sanding, changing pads, cables, and tearing my hair out. My next bike is going to be rim brakes.
Mark Sutherland: It sounds like you have hydraulic disc brakes that need to be bled.
Have you done a vid covering the dangers of getting oil on your pads/rotors when you clean and lubricate your bike? I know from bitter experience how dangerous that can be, which is one of the reasons I went back to rim brakes.
The cooling fins are not needed for peeps like me living by rather flat roads
im 6'3". what size frame do i need?
I have new pads Swiss top installed in my Lbs and they squeal very loud from the beginning (not first after a long downhill, but literally as I started the first ride). Why is it so and what can I do against it?
Did you bed them in ?
@@fukawitribe no, not yet, I just went for one ride till now. I will try it though!
@@sercheese Great, it's simple and only takes a couple of minutes but it's well worth it - if you're not used to the quick initial bedding in, their are some good videos around on here - easy once you do.
No mention of ceramic pads. Did you call them by another name or am I using out dated pads 😱. I used to put copper grease on the back of the pads but tbh the benefits are small when you consider the risk of pad/disc contamination is relatively high when compared to motorcycle pad.
Are you running dura ace rotors with ultegra?
Many people do because the DA rotors look better, the MTB XTR rotors are also common for a lot of riders because they look better than DA
I had a 1992 Giant Cadex w/rim calipers. Sold the bike in 2012 and the original brake pads from the factory were still installed and had LOTS of life left. Please tell me what the advantage of disc brakes are. I now have a 2015 Cannondale SuperSix w/Ultegra rim brakes. Works every time for me even in the rain. There is zero maintenance to Rim brakes. Aside from looks, where is the advantage. I'm glad computers have advanced better than this otherwise we'd all still be using a 486 processor!
#GCN #GCN Tech
i hope you know about Silicon Lubricant
i bought it for my Treadmill
and it goes like this , i forgot where i left my Ceramic Chain Lube
so thought of using available lubricant in the house
then i used this Silicon Spray lube Just to try Out
and surprisingly it performed a lot better than any lube i ever Used
can u test it on by Yourself and Give us the Stats
its also cheaper than any bike and completely Stain free almost like Wax
Have a lot of mountains here so kind of wish I had discs so I didn't have to swap my carbon rims to alloy ones. Until they come up with a solution to the squealing I'm on rim brakes though. I can't imagine a 30 minute descent with ear piercing screaching.
Probably not so bad in the UK where it's hills rather than hairpin bend ridden mountains.
No worries about disc brakes my friend. Hilly around my place, lots of descents, discs mostly keep quiet. (Currently running a Campagnolo rig and a Shimano 105 rig on my disc bikes. Campa quietest..) Clean rotors every 3 weeks or so with acetone & happy camper. Have a good ride!
Here's the dilemma I have with disc brakes.
Clearly disc brakes are popular in the industry, because these brakes create a huge new market for spares, repairs, adjustment and, in many cases, entire bike replacement. But it's wrong to assume that disc brakes are universally popular, especially when common engineering problems associated with bike discs have yet to be ironed out. If you bought a car with noisy or rubbing disc brakes then that car manufacturer would have to recall those cars, yet the bike industry seem to churn out (arguably) faulty disc brakes with impunity, and seem more concerned with profit than any enthusiasm to resolve engineering problems that have a very real consequential environmental impact. As motorists, having to regularly change discs and pads, or put up with noisy brakes, would be completely unacceptable. But, as gullible cyclists, we seem happy to do this, while manufacturers just enjoy the disc brake "gift that keeps on giving".
1:04 lol, hopefully, yeah... thanks Alex
Shimano L03A's went from £15 to £40 on eBay and just plain out of stock everywhere else pretty much.. my LBS said they have no chance of getting them in again before December. -.-
Organic (resin) are what I prefer. Sintered and Semi Metallic are way too noisy especially in wet conditions. And are more expensive, sometimes more than twice the price.
When you say noisy are you talking squealing? I'm on resins and they're fine but hard to get replacements at the moment, I wondered about trying sintered? But not sure what people mean when they say sintered are noisy.
@@dh7314 I have a couple of bikes with sintered on them right now. Great stopping power when dry but in the rain they howled constantly. YMMV.
I've regressed to rim brakes on my latest bike. Discs are awesome, well worth it but there is something wonderful about being able to replace the blocks and tune rim brakes in less than 10 minutes.
Adjusting pad toe-in, caliper centering, pad distancing, pad alignment, and rim trueness takes a lot more than 10 minutes.
@@shannontrainer5857 trueing discs, sorting sticking pistons, alignment of discs hydraulic callipers facing brake mounts can take a lifetime with shops and even worse direct sale bikes. I do all of this regularly to the poorly manufactured expensive bikes. You don’t need to invest £400 to be able to sort out rim brake problems. So don’t be upset if you get charged £50 to 100 to face your frame and forks to solve a problem.
I can tune my disc brakes in less than 5 minutes.
@@awakenedbahamut2574 then your lucky, it takes about an hour to face a frame and you have to pay for the use of £400 tool if it’s steel or titanium then you can double the price as the harder material places more stress on the facing cutters. If your lucky the manufacturer might have done it or might pay.
@@tobycolin6271 Replacing rims worn out by braking takes hours. And you'll need a truing stand, nipple wrenches, a dishing tool, and a spoke tension meter. Not to mention multiple hour-long CZcams wheel-building tutorials.
Sure
The biggest problem on this moment with disk brakes is, brake pads are out of stock everywhere. Expected deliver time September 2021!! I have to rend a rimbrake bike for my holiday to France. Thanks shimano.
There are other manufactures out there, you know?
@@hmudesign Yes i know, but also sold out. But when you have a good suggestion. Replacement for Shimano K04S. (Shimano G)
Make your pads last in the UK. Try getting hold of ANY pads, everyone is out of stock. L03A Shimano, SwissStop alternative. Someone was selling GRX calipers complete with pads (new) for £120, I wish I'd got them now.
Upgraded 🙈 it's hardly an upgrade Alex 😂
As per your last video how to win the tour de france...
Less Aero
Weigh more
Is that an upgrade 🤔🤔🙈🙈
Brakes better in the wet, doesn't compromise your rim over time. I would call that an upgrade, more safety is always good :)
@@shaku7652 I've got a disc and rim tcr.
I'd say the braking comes down to wheels and pads used. Obviously if your running carbon rims in the wet braking won't be great.
But if I'm running my shamals alloy wheels with BXP pads against my ultegra disc brakes the difference is tiny... Traction is the main issue in the wet especially if your running 25 / 28mm tyres. Not the power of your brakes.
@@danc1829 Well to be fair, i am a very heavy rider at about 100kg riding a touring drop bar bike with luggage coming to a total weight of round about 130kgs, all that with 2,4" semi-slicks... I wouldn't want to change my 203/180mm brake rotor setup for rim brakes.
On the other hand, I don't race and weight does matter very little to me, as I carry alot anyways. For racing, I have no experience.
Also there are numerous tests on youtube that suggest reduced distance when braking on discs in the wet.
It probably all comes down to preference and focus of riding. For Touring and heavy loads i would never go back to rimbrakes. Especially in bad weather and mud.
@@shaku7652 yeah as a tourer I see your point and I'd be on discs aswel.
I ride mostly fast club riders and sportives. I guess it's horses for courses 👍
@@danc1829 as a tourer surely wide cantis or v brakes on aluminium rims give as good as performance. In all the videos that prove disc has better performance is disc versus carbon rim. We all know that aluminium has better braking surface than carbon and cantilevers or v brakes out perform road brakes for power and modulation.
Those cooling fins must be an aero penalty. I wonder how many micro watts they cost your aero performance.
what is worse, especially the Shimano Ice Tec pads with the cooling fins tend to rattle quite badly. More pre-tension on the leaf spring clips helps a bit, but is not a 100% cure.
How to know when to replace?
You need to measure thickness (both pad material and rotor width) with a vernier caliper and compare against manufacturer specifications. You can eyeball the pads (check the lower side -- opposite the mounting 'paddle' -- as in my experience that's the part that wears first), and if you are of the "better safe than sorry" persuasion, you can eyeball when to replace the rotors if you can feel by touch* or by sight the width difference between the braking surface and the rest of the rotor
*: Don't touch rotors with your bare hands! Always wear clean gloves; preferably non-powdered disposable ones
Do brake pads ever glow red-hot under hard braking? In race cars they do. What about bikes?
apply 2000Watts of power on your bike while holding on your rear brakes for a atleast 2 mins on a decent
then You will see the magic
Thanks for the tip!@@tejashwarrana9834
Talks about switching back to resin, proceeds to show video of a rimbrake bike.
Clever one aint'cya. That’s subliminal suggestion that is. You wasn’t 'sposed to visi it. :tapsnose:
Just skimming over the fin no fin option is pretty poor. The difference in price is significant £30 v £6 so probably a bit more thought required......
What happens if I put road disc brakes on an mtb or vice versa
Not much, they are basically interchangeable. In the case of SRAM, both Red for Road and Elixir for MTB share the same brake pads and the construction is virtually identical. There are some higher end MTB brakes (e.g. a 4 piston XT from Shimano) that would be overkill for a road bike, given the limitations in disc rotor size determined by the flat mount standard.
@@joachimschranzhofer5566 xd imagine a 5 kg bike with dh brakes
@@dave_xc OTB is a guarantee 😂
Trickstuff organic pads on all my brakes
#AskGCNTech how bad is 10kg aero road bike for your first bike
not bad at all. Neither weight nor aerodynamic should be an issue for you if you just starting out.
Not bad mind, but consider looking for lighter options depending on the deal you are getting for the Aero one.
Biggest Aero gain is body position, and at the speeds you are going as a beginner an aero/TT bike is not going to do much for you.
If your starting out you’ll get no benefit from an aero bike and plenty of drawbacks. The benefits they are fast above 20mph and they look amazing. The defects there heavy, set up with aggressive rider position, twitchy race handling, the frame is less compliant. You’ll go faster for longer on an endurance bike like a canondale synapse or others
any magene powermeter review???
Shimano 105 12 speed..... Resin personal preference
How does mechanical disc brake compare to rim brakes, given the mechanical disc brake has a oil reservoir, smth like the trp hy/rd?
If you're referring to cable-actuated hydraulic brakes, they should have the same stopping power and the same pad self-regulation. Can't say anything about feel/modulation, although I'd guess pure hydraulic brakes win here. On the flip side, I've been far luckier with my hydraulic hoses than with cables 😊.
@@docontra4921 hmm thanks. Its jst tht cable actuated discs are more "home mechanic" friendly and cheaper than hydraulics. Its jst tht i dont rlly know abt its modulation and feel.
I live abroad but want to leave a bike in the shed at my parents for riding when home. Maybe twice/three times a year. Would you go for disc or rim, knowing it will be sat for months inbetween visits home?
#torqueback #askgcntech
This is my personal anecdote so your mileage may vary, but overall I've found discs to be more problems then they're worth. Yes, they offer better braking power and better modulation. However both metallic and resin pads seem to wear down a lot faster than rim brake blocks and costs more, so you end up doing more maintenance work, and spending more money. Also, as an owner of two disc brake road bikes, I always seem to have issues with brake rub especially with QR skewers. No amount of truing the rotors, or realigning the brake mounts eliminates it completely.
Stick with rim brakes, they work just fine and save yourself the hassle.
OEM
Everything functions properly czcams.com/users/postUgkxHL1v1R3NE5x4KiYfyt8dnQmyNYz7qi5L Nothing was damaged in the box aside from a decal on the fork. The decal was missing a piece of a corner but I ended up peeling them off anyways. Assembly is easy BUT make sure you tune up the derailleurs. Both the front and rear need adjusting. I'd advise going to a bike shop but I opted out and put in 10+ hours with the help of CZcams. Ended up fraying a shifter cable but all in all I learned from the experience. The Brakes work well but the front caliper needs adjusting or at least mine did because the rotor was rubbing against the pads. Make sure you swap out the seat, grips, and pedals. For the short run you'll be fine though. I've read that this bike isn't built yet for hard trails but I just need it for the city. PA has some of the worst roads and being in a mountain this was a great choice. Worth the investment!
All this drama on disc brake bikes just buy a rim brake bike 🚴 get on it and have fun #no issues #
As if rim wear and tire blowouts are not issues.
Blowouts and rim failures are a lot like terrorist attacks, in reality they are not that common, but they get all the attention.
@@hmudesign Rim wear is not as uncommon as you think. That's why rim brake wheels come with labels that say "Warning: rims wear with use. Check daily for wear. Replace when worn. Failure to do so will result in catastrophic rim failure and may result in serious injury or death.
@@shannontrainer5857 It'd take you a long time to wear through a rim.
Find a new rim brake bike.
I always go with the resin pads, had metalic pads and with in a week or 2 they were gone. Now it was on the middle of winter with a lots of rain and I don't have to many big decents to deal with. Metalic just not worth the extra cost
Noah and Theo Ceramic pads.
Upgraded to disk from rim? Exactly how is that an upgrade? Heavier, more maintenance, noisy, pads that wear out faster than rim brakes and disks that warp. How is that an "upgrade", Alex?
Resin pads always
Recently switched from resin to sintered...OMG..."..a little bit lounder.." none of my friends will ride with me anymore! Going back to resin..if I can find any for sale..just so that I dont have to ride on my own anymore! #loundasf*ck
Your lover should scream more loudly than your brakes is a good rule of thumb.
Some friends ha :)
Rim!
Rim wear and tire blowouts! czcams.com/video/KLZaITy5w8I/video.html
Also, you listen to Durianrider too much.
Massive opinions on social media around the world: we want rim brakes. GCN: let’s talk disk brakes…
Who wants to wear out our rims every 3-6 months?
@@shannontrainer5857 3-6 months wear out? Take some lessons or have a friend who knows how to ride, teach you about braking or cycling for that matter. You should be getting some years out of your wheels before they wear out, even if you are riding at a high level.
disc brakes are not an upgrade
Still not sold on discs, i'm part of the squeaks & sounds police and will not tolerate any signifcant annoying sounds
First sentence is wrong. You must say: 'downgrading to disc brakes"
liar!!!
03:56
you switch back to rim brake version!!!
Team ineos.......
Alpecin... czcams.com/video/DR__YdMtm-k/video.html
……..and the 22 other teams in the tour. Don’t understand all the hate towards discs. Had them for 12 years on my mtn bike no issues, have them on my new BMC Roadmachine no issues, have rim brakes in my Litespeed Tuscany, no issues. I just like riding each bike for what it is.
@@chapmag6578 Amen to that.
Lets face it the people who dont have rim breaks yet, simply have not tried them.
They are superior in every aspect stopping power is unmatched, mechanical or hydraulic its just a better form of breaking technology.
Don't bother buying the Shimano/SRAM branded pads. Clarks vx organic pads are just as good and way cheaper at £5 a pair.
They are annoying, they are heavy, they Break better.
...when you say they break better? 😉
Not interested- haven’t got disc brakes and don’t intend to get any.
Disc brakes aren’t an upgrade they are a choice please stop with this biased misrepresentation.