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Submitted by
Scott Campbell
a Cross Country Rider
from Bainbridge Island
Date Reviewed: July 15, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | any | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$12.00 | | Purchased At: | REI | | Strengths: | Fits really well with my thinner cyclocross rims. Pretty long lasting considering they don't chew my rims up like Shimano pads. Good stopping power when dry. | | Weaknesses: | Scarey as hell when wet. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, Avid rim wranglers | | Bottom Line: | These pads are descent priced compared to others. They were fairly easy to set up. I usually go through 1 set of fronts and 2 sets of rear pads a year because I commute daily in all weather. These have lasted as well as any others I've used. I race cyclocross in the fall/winter and these pads shed mud great, but when they are wet they SUCK!!!!! I've been in situations riding in the rain down a moderate grade hill in traffic and had to drag my feet a couple of times, lest I be smushed in cross traffic at a red light. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jerry Serra
a Racer
from Michigan
Date Reviewed: May 4, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | they look nice | | Weaknesses: | everything else | | Similar Products Used: | xtr avid | | Bottom Line: | Here is mail I sent to Koolstop twice with no response. UGH
....your new Mountain Pads for threaded stem brake systems. I so much enjoy your brake products....have used many of them..... didn't hesitate to purchase four pairs of your new salmon, black combo pads at considerable expense compared to your other selections for threaded stem brake systems.
I really tried to like these pads. I fussed with them, tweaked them...done everything I know as a pretty decent bike mechanic to get these things to work their magic. I am semi-retired, a part-time wrench at the LBS that sponsors me and an owner of six bikes hand build from the frame by yours truly.
They have some design flaws for sure and are way to finicky to dial in. The nuts have barley enough recess to put a wrench in to turn without stripping the nut.....what's up with that....some engineer decided a cute way to stop idiots from over tightening. You have to put a good wrench on these pads so they will stay toed in. The choices if you don't toe in are squeaky brakes that required about 2/3 of lever pull to start to engage pads ;-( ....because of those flipper thingy's you have to back them off way too far for decent modulation if you don't toe in....even then the whole pad doesn't sit on the rim....pads are long and stiff and skinny and don't lay on the rim even.
Once installed in a Fashion that their is no brake noise. You have to go thru the process again every time you throw another wheel on the frame with a different type of brake surface.....ceramic...so..on....so..forth....never had this problems with your shorter stockier pads or any of your competitors pads.
These pads have to be toed in to get the little flipper you put on the end of pad to not rub....if you don't toe in you have too much room in the levers and can't get any kind of decent modulation and they squeak like Banchis of course I said that in the paragraph before....but I'm so frustrated with these pads that it bears mentioning again & again.
Best case scenario after you spend eternity to dial in....... they are pretty spongy and at least 1/3 of brake surface never sees the rim.....
I have yet to make a decision about what I'm going to do about changing these pads on my two race bikes. Since they do work.....very poorly I might add, I thought I would see what you folks have to say. I can't be the only one who has issues with these, there is just too many things that don't work very well with these pads to justify their existence.....
Rant over,
-Jerry
PS. I feel better now after getting that off my chest after playing with you pads for hours yesterday. ; - ) | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Genital Apparatus
a Weekend Warrior
from Toronto, Canada
Date Reviewed: December 27, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Etobicoke Creek, Urban Trials | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$13.00 | | Purchased At: | Cyclepath | | Strengths: | Provide good modulation, were not difficult at all to set up. | | Weaknesses: | Do not lock up very easily, have an annoying mud plow tip which I had to sand off. | | Similar Products Used: | Stock black pads, Jagwire black pads. | | Bike Setup: | 2002 Specialized Hardrock Pro, Raceface handlebar and stem, Shimano Deore drivetrain. | | Bottom Line: | Not worth the money if you want your brakes to lock up at the touch of a finger. Next up: Plaz. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tim Cook
a Weekend Warrior
from Lyons. OR USA
Date Reviewed: October 16, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | hmmm... not really one in specific | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$12.00 | | Purchased At: | RC PLUS | | Strengths: | well.. i took my precious time adjust my kool stop thinlines (v's) and wheel so they were perfect, and i think their strengh would be their ability to piss you off. | | Weaknesses: | Weaknesses: where do i start... I couldnt figure out which way to install them so I went online to find the correct way. after i rode on them i could only endo if i was standing up. Then they started to squeak like hell and move around and rub on my tire. The second they hit water they were pointless.
| | Similar Products Used: | ProMax V brakes | | Bike Setup: | KHS ALITE 500 with some hop ups | | Bottom Line: | THIS IS A MUST READ
I only had these breaks installed on my bike for one day. ONE DAY. It was so embarising having a nice bike and then your all thanks, and hit your front breaks and they squeak like hell. ANYWAY>>> i tried to give them a second chance so i called my local bike place thingy and asked for every way to make them so they wouldnt squeak. in that process i got a little more strengh, and the squeaking stoped for about a minute then it was worse than ever before. So i got pissed, and my friend looked at his OLD Pacific Bike and laughed and said it had V brakes... I took a closer look at those pads, and the seemed to be worthy of a try. so i installed those pads and the squeaking stoped, and the power went WAY up and they are soo much smoother stopping than the thinlines. You can endo SOOO much harder and for less $ than the thinlines.
Bottomline, dont waste your money on Kool Stop Thinline V brake pads when you can get better pads for half the cost. By the way, that pacific bike also had ProMAx v brakes. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PRODUCT
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeff Small
a Cross Country Rider
from Dundas, ONT, Canada
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Fire Pit | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$13.00 | | Purchased At: | Full Cycle(Ottawa) | | Strengths: | They have a wedge at the front to peel mud. They dont leave marks on my rims. | | Weaknesses: | havent ridden enough to find out. We'll see how they do when i play in the mud. I think that if i sand them with fine sandpaper, these pads should be adequate in wet conditions. | | Similar Products Used: | avid | | Bike Setup: | bla bla bla | | Bottom Line: | Looks good so far. I put them on the other day and i get pretty good stopping power. I think the trick is to adjust your brake arms pretty close to the rim. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Bethlehem, PA, USA
Date Reviewed: April 18, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | American Standard, Jim Thorpe | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | NONE | | Weaknesses: | Everything about these pads is pathetic. They perform crappy in wet, muddy, and even dry conditions. | | Similar Products Used: | Aztec 2, whatever stock pads came with the bike | | Bike Setup: | Trek Fuel 90 | | Bottom Line: | I wouldn't recommend these pads to a rails to trails rider, much less a mountain biker. I considered replacing my whole brake system to disc brakes because of these pads. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jason Dreimanis
a Weekend Warrior
from Adelaide, SA, Australia
Date Reviewed: March 22, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Narrow Neck - Blue Mountains | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$10.00 | | Purchased At: | Bicycle Express | | Strengths: | - Excellent stopping power
- Stop well in mud
- Don't gouge my rims like the stock Shimanos | | Weaknesses: | - Damn hard to set up
- The allen bolt on all four pads had to be replaced | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano stock pads | | Bike Setup: | Deore LX brakes, XT levers, Shimano cable. | | Bottom Line: | I've got the dual compound ones (salmon/black), and they are so much better than the stock Shimanos. The only real problem was adjusting them properly. They actually managed to remove all the gouges and metal shards on my rims left by the Shimano pads. I can't really comment on wet performance as I haven't had experience in the wet yet, but they don't make any noise and the feel is nice and progressive. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nick
a
from Tempe, AZ
Date Reviewed: October 27, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | urban trials | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | This is a review of the Salmon thinline pads.
Very good grip when dry, and a good price. I switched from Maguras to Avid SD-7's on my trials bike, and threw on these pads. I haven't noticed any loss of power. | | Weaknesses: | Like most any v-brake pad they lose a lot of power when wet. I live in Arizona so I don't really care, though. | | Similar Products Used: | Red pads for Magura HS-33's (similar performance), shimano stock pads, Avid rim wrangler's | | Bike Setup: | Zebdi stock trials | | Bottom Line: | They grab and hold tight. If you want the ultimate in braking performance for trials with v-brakes, go for the Plazmatic CR-V pads. If you want something that will get the job done for a reasonable price, try these. Keep them dry. I'm giving them 5 overall because I don't have to worry about wet weather braking. If I did it would probably be a four. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
nick
a Weekend Warrior
from UK
Date Reviewed: May 4, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$15.00 | | Strengths: | Looks, Awesome in the dry, price(compareed to shimano), good in mud. | | Weaknesses: | Crap when really wet. | | Similar Products Used: | Std Shimano deore | | Bottom Line: | Very good in dry and dryish mud, but useless in rain on wet rims. Better value than shimano and last a long time. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chris
a Weekend Warrior
from Phoenix
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$24.00 | | Strengths: | None (for me) | | Weaknesses: | poor control, worthless when wet | | Similar Products Used: | stock Shimano | | Bottom Line: | When I first put these on, I noticed that I needed to squeeze the brakes much harder than usual, and force at the brake lever wasn't proportional to stopping power (i.e.: sqeezing twice as hard only slowed me down a fraction more.) Then I rode through a puddle. The downhill that followed could have killed me. Feathering the brakes did nothing. Cranking them hard did nothing. Cranking them REALLY hard locked them up and catapulted me 6 feet. I immediately put my stock pads back on, with a greater appreciation for them. Also, like many of you, I have stock rims that I true on the bike w/ a spoke wrench and patience. I do a pretty good job, but not perfect. The Kool Stop pads deposit pad material on any imperfections on your rim surface, leaving 'sticky' spots on your rims. Very annoying on the road, very dangerous off. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Shaun Jerny
a Weekend Warrior
from Lowestoft
Date Reviewed: October 29, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Norwich streets! | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$15.00 | | Purchased At: | Life Cycles | | Strengths: | Lasts ages, good modulation and overal stopping power
and that pointed front thing to clear mud. | | Weaknesses: | Wet | | Similar Products Used: | Avid, Fibrax, cheap nameless | | Bike Setup: | DDG Black jack, RST Mozo 3.5
DH Chain Device, 44t black spire ring Hope Sport C2(soon) | | Bottom Line: | These pads are the best v-pads i've ever had,ecept in the wet. They've lasted me nearly a year of street riding and there still goning strong, these are a must. I probably won't see them run out 'cos i'm going to disks if a few weeks! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Cook
a Cross Country Rider
from London,ON,Canada
Date Reviewed: October 7, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Meadowlilly in London | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$13.00 | | Strengths: | Worked well enough in the dry. | | Weaknesses: | They don't like water. | | Similar Products Used: | only what has come stock on my past bikes...so usually Shimano | | Bike Setup: | 2000 Schwinn Moab, Mavic D521 rear, 221 front. | | Bottom Line: | I have used these pads for a week and they are definately broken-in with about 20 miles of twisty-single track and about the same distance in road commuting on them. Even in the dry they are very soft and do nothing to instill confidence.....even with the pads a millimeter off the rim, I am still squeezing my levers about 2/3rds to achieve lock-up and I have tried several set-ups, toe-in etc....
20 minutes ago I came back from my first road ride in the rain with these pads. 10 minutes ago I was rooting through eggshells and banana peels in my garbage can to digout the 90% worn Shimano's that I took off in order to install these life-risking-in-the rain pads with!
Don't buy them unless you live in the dessert! (ie: no rain) | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
David
a Cross Country Rider
from Brunei
Date Reviewed: September 26, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | anything new | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$12.00 | | Strengths: | Stop brilliantly
Clear the rim of mud and grunge and dont end up all clogged up. Wear well | | Weaknesses: | None so far | | Similar Products Used: | Power tools then Shimano xt cartridge pads which were absolute crap and were gone after only a few muddy session (thats the xt's) | | Bike Setup: | KHS with an LX/STX-RC mix of components | | Bottom Line: | These pads are the best i have tried and I will probably stick with them. Have had them about a month and ride every day. Great stopping power and choice of colours. I particularly like the fact that they dont wear fast and that they actually still work in muddy conditions (unlike shimano). The wedge design seems to work clearing the rims and unlike shimano they dont seem to clog up. They dont wear anywhere near as fast as shimanos and seem to have more meat on the pads to start with. They squeeled a bit a few times but a few minor adjustments and they are great.
Basically - Kool stuff, get them. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ethan
a Cross Country Rider
from honolulu
Date Reviewed: July 5, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | All Oahu | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | brake design. Easy setup. | | Weaknesses: | umm, none | | Similar Products Used: | shimano | | Bike Setup: | trek 8000 | | Bottom Line: | These brakes are the shiznit. Real stopping power. No noise. Really easy to setup. Bottom line...Go get'em. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Shaun
a Weekend Warrior
from CA Bay Area
Date Reviewed: June 10, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Trail? Whats that.. | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Strengths: | That wedge design thingy. Brilliant! | | Weaknesses: | This hurts absolutely nothing, but I had to use my stock lower ball hub thingy to overcome that 3mm spacer deal. Probably not a problem for people who have actual V brakes like the product is designed for. Again, this isn't an actual weakness, but I gotta list it to be fair. | | Similar Products Used: | Proline 271's (Stock on 00 Specialized Hardrock) | | Bike Setup: | 00 Specialized hardrock, linear pull forged mc brakes (stock). | | Bottom Line: | I just installed these a few hours ago but i'm blown away already. When you put the pad side to side with one of the Proline stock pads, I'm forced to wonder what the heck Specialized was thinking! The Koolstop pad is so obiviously superior that I don't get why ANYONE would ever use anything else.
I'm a roadie by nature, so I can't speak for wet performance or any of that, but just for kicks I didn't bother cleaning my rim until after I tested them and they still gripped like glue to the dirt & dust covered rim. After washing off the rim, they gripped even better.
The only complaint I have so far is that it seems to make a HONK noise when I was doing test endo's using the front brake. However, the pads DO have a break-in period and I haven't even begun that yet so in all fairness I assume the HONK will disappear once they're broken in.
If you're considering new pads, by all means buy some koolstops. Even if you're not considering new pads, reconsider. They're $14 for 2 (you need 4 total) so at $30 its not cheap, but the Eagle 2 pads are the same thing more or less for only $9/ea.
Bottom line: Buy some koolstops. That is all. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mike
a Weekend Warrior
from burlington wi
Date Reviewed: April 24, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | they stop WELL | | Weaknesses: | do not work so well under water | | Similar Products Used: | Brand X pads | | Bike Setup: | 2000 treck 4500 with clipless pedals and a fork that needs to be drained of water:-) | | Bottom Line: | these work great I put thin lines on front and eagle 2's on back and there is a big improvement. this week end I was ridding on flooded trails and I found out that the pads work as long as they are not under water, even then they will slow you down these are GREAT! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
James
a
from Melbourne
Date Reviewed: April 5, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | Very nice in the dry | | Weaknesses: | In the wet there is dangerously little grip on the rims. They also have a mushy feal. | | Bike Setup: | Giant ATX 800 with LX parallel push V-brakes | | Bottom Line: | These pads nearly cos me my life | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeeves
a Racer
from Connecticut
Date Reviewed: March 19, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Good wear life, crisp braking feel, stops very well | | Weaknesses: | extreme wet, squeaky when new | | Similar Products Used: | Avid Rim Wrangler, Shimano, Aztec | | Bike Setup: | 99 GT Aggressor Marzocchi z-4 flylight, XTR/XT
Sun CR-18 rims | | Bottom Line: | Good reliable pads, stop well, give good crisp solid braking feel, sweet blue color, except for extremely wet conditions (riding through lakes, snow etc.) Good stuff | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bicky
a Cross-Country Rider
from Montana
Date Reviewed: November 24, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
nunya | | Duration Product Used: |
more than 3 years | | Strengths: |
rim clearance means easy to adjust
long wear life | | Weaknesses: |
extreme wet | | Similar Products Used: |
aztec
shimano
eagle claw
generic | | Bike Setup: |
Dagger FSI
Precision Billet brakes
Altek levers
Mavic 517 rims | | Bottom Line: | I have used several different kinds of pads and I keep coming back to these. They provide decent grab over most conditions. They last longer than most, but it is the tire clearance and simplicity that has me sold on them. One might consider a cartridge brake pad set like the Avid Wrangler for just a few dollars more. | | Overall Rating: |
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