When biking, the twitch of a finger can make the difference between feeling good or being taken to the emergency room. Hardly any other component is as important for safety as the brake. But what few people realise: Everyone can decide for themselves whether their brakes bite reliably or whether their performance fluctuates. Because, just between you and me: do you brake your pads properly? Or do a few more or less hesitant pulls on the brake lever suffice for the first few kilometres?
However, meticulous bed-in is a decisive factor in the overall performance of the braking system. Some brake pads behave like the proverbial princess and the pea - not an acceptable state for a safety-relevant component. In the best-case scenario, incorrectly braked pads lead to unpleasant noise development or extreme wear; in the worst-case scenario, to a sudden loss of braking effect and the usually painful descent into botany. Most cases of mysterious brake failure in the past can be traced back to this phenomenon known as "initial fading". However, because the problem does not usually occur again so quickly, it is often forgotten. Some manufacturers are obviously aware of this safety problem and offer foolproof and virtually fail-safe pads. But not all of them are.
We wanted to find out for sure and pitted the brake pads from the "big four" - Avid, Formula, Magura and Shimano - against aftermarket pads from Alligator, BBB, Kool-Stop, Miles Racing, SwissStop and Trickstuff. Also included: a non-name product from China with a minimal price and organic pad compound, which was also sent into the performance test and - this much can be revealed - failed with flying colours. That makes a total of 30 models in what is probably the most comprehensive brake pad test of all time.
How to brake pads correctly and the detailed test results of these brake pads can be found in the PDF download below:
- Alligator HK-COOL55
- Alligator HK-VK055
- Alligator HK-BP055
- Alligator HK-CSP55
- Avid Elixir (steel organic)
- Avid Elixir (aluminium)
- Avid Elixir (sintered steel)
- BBB BBS-56 (BIKE tip price/performance)
- BBB BBS-56S
- Formula semi-metallic
- Formula organic
- Formula sintered
- Kool-stop D-635 K
- Kool-stop D-635 (BIKE-Tip test winner)
- Kool-stop D-635A
- Kool-stop D-635S
- Magura 7.1 Performance
- Magura 7.4 Performance
- Magura 7.2 Endurance
- Miles Racing MI-MET-26
- Miles Racing MI-SIN-26
- Shimano F01A
- Shimano G01A
- Shimano G03Ti
- SwissStop Disc 28
- SwissStop Disc 28 E (BIKE tip wear)
- SwissStop Disc 28 S
- Trickstuff NG 250
- Trickstuff INOX
- Noname "1"
Downloads:
Sebastian Brust
Editor
