Pad Reviews

[TomR]

Pads: ZOO!

Time used:1 Month

Rim used:DMR DeeVee, regularly cleaned with degreaser

Grind: No grind, no tar

Ceraminc: No

Brake used: Magura HS33 with standard booster

What is your opinion of a working brake:Locks up when pulled hard but still has good moderation

How do they compare to previous pads you have used: Much grippier, all round less modulation but thats a compromise for the grabbiness

Review:Decent pads if you dont venture into the wet very often, as they barely slow you dont in the wet, let alone lock the wheels. I found manuals hard at first due to the grabbiness of them over my last (standard maggie) pads. My frame still flexes so it does slip on occasion, but i put this mainly down to the fact i cant do much with any boosters due to poor clearance (TA26).

Seem to be lasting quite well with my lack of grind on the rim too.

[Burton]

Pads: Heatsink Snowy Pads

Rim: Koxx Mod

Grind: Yes, sharp

Brake: Magura, rear, Heatsink Booster

Time Used: 4 months of well used riding, or 200hrs ish.

Best pads used so far: Coustsinks

Opinion of a perfect brake:

Loud and aggressive, with oodles of hold, no matter what. Something that can bed in quickly, without too much deteriating life. Solid feeling.

Review: (Btw, work amazing in the dry for a front brake, miles better than Zoo! pads)

Well made molded pads as usual, in Power Pad backings. 8mm of material i think. They beeded in on a fresh grind fairly quick as well, with minimal effort. They look about 10mins to get some sound out of them. Hold was really good by then as well. Took about 1hr to get the full sound of them, loud and deep barking sound.

After 4 months, they still have 5mm of material left, so these could easily last another 2 month. As all Power Pad backings go, they started to flex a lot more over time. The material didnt distort after being dragged, in fact they was a lot better once warm!

Only minor thing about these pads are they lose sound once your rim is soaked, and bite, and don't hold to their 100% best. In minor rain, they're fine, just don't go through puddles that cover your rim!

£14 at www.heatsinkbikes.com E-mail him if you need the refills for your CnC'd backings, due to it not being on the site.

[Burton]

Pads: Ali C Blue Pads

Rim: Koxx Mod

Grind: Yes, sharp

Brake: Magura, rear, Heatsink Booster, Heatsink CnC'd Backings

Time Used: 20hrs

Best pads used so far: Coustsinks

Opinion of a perfect brake:

Loud and aggressive, with oodles of hold, no matter what. Something that can bed in quickly, without too much deteriating life. Solid feeling.

Review:

These pads are very well made, considering he's just using a kinfe and cutting, rather than getting injection molded. I just got the material off Ali, and they fit well into the CnC'd Backings. About 7mm of material?

Took less than 15mins to get loads of noise and hold out of them, which is shockingly good! They had oodles of bite due to the CnC'd Backings stopping the pad from rocking lots (Well solid as well!).

After 1hr or so, they became louder and deeper, a bit louder than my Snowys.

The hold was top quality as well, didnt budge at all. No noticeable wear at all, but i suspect they have worn to the weird shape of a Koxx rim.

I have yet to try these pads out in the wet, so i will edit once i've found out what they're like!

Coustsinks and Snowys are the only other pad that I've had full confidence in.

Pads are available via PM'ing Ali C. Free p+p, quick delivery as well

[Token]

Pads: Ali C Yellow Joys

Time used:2/3 weeks

Rim used:echo 06

Grind: medium

Ceraminc: No

Brake used:Water bleed Magura HS33 with RB booster

What is your opinion of a working brake: uber bite and unbudgeable hold!!

How do they compare to previous pads you have used: really really good!

Review:

what a geezer, Ali C really has done a wicked job with these. pm'd him, sent him money and pads came through. for just a tenner! best value out of any pads imo. got to specify how much pad life i wanted aswell! fantastic.

as for the pads themselves, they rubbed a little, because of buckled wheel which was quite possible the most annoying thing as the pads are fekin LOUD! constant honking. they've worn down now so theres no rubbing and the bite of them is absolutely on the dot, couldnt get any more bitey. only thing I will say is that even though the hold is good, it is possible to move the wheel when the brakes fully locked which can be abit annoying when you've only just made it up a wall and the brake doesnt quite hold. wet weather riding aswell is bareable but nothing special. cant complain at all though for a tenner they really are worth every penny.

thank ali

[Ali C]

thanks for the reviews guys, though I just aut to add that the production of the yellows has finnished due to the blues having more hold and longer lifespan. Scopse, if you are unhappy with the wear rate of your yellows just give me a pm and some blues will be sent out asap free of charge.

[Mat Smith!]

thanks for the reviews guys, though I just aut to add that the production of the yellows has finnished due to the blues having more hold and longer lifespan. Scopse, if you are unhappy with the wear rate of your yellows just give me a pm and some blues will be sent out asap free of charge.

Chat to me on MSN Ali, when you wanting that new compound testing? the CRM look-a-like stuffs brill btw.

Mat

[Ali C]

not sure how long it will be untill the next batch needs testing, I am getting some moulds made and then I'll see about getting some difference compounds, it will just be a lot easier to teast if I dont have to cut up the proto stuff.

[Matthew_Gibson]

Whats a decent pad for running on a light grind, and for wet weather too? got Zoo pads atm, but there crap in the wet. whats the Koxx blues like?

cheers!

[Fishy]

Heatsink reds?

[Token]

Don't think koxx blues are as good as the greens in the wet, heatsink reds do look pretty good value if you fancy mounting them yourself in some old plastic backings.

[Matthew_Gibson]

What about them pads from Alic? PM sending!

[Christophe']

anyone using heatsink snowys on a smooth rynolite?

what are they like? i have the old reds at the mo

[Fishy]

Pads: Heatsink blues

Time used:2/3 weeks

Rim used:ronnie 24"

Grind: medium

Ceraminc: No

Brake used:Oil bleed Magura HS33 with heatsink booster and echo lever.

What is your opinion of a working brake: good bite, good lock, with a little modulation.

How do they compare to previous pads you have used: They work alright.

Review:

Well, I wacked them on with a new grind about 2 weeks ago, and they have worn down loads, not very impressed with these pads. Set them up correctly, haven't moved them since.

[The Duck]

Pads: RimJam Blues

Time used: 2 Months (or there abouts)

Rim used: Onza Hog

Grind: No grind, no tar

Ceraminc: Nope

Brake used: HS33, RB booster with water + anti-freeze bleed

Review: The backings are TERRIBLE! In the first couple of weeks I managed to snap all the little struts where the backing attatches to the Magura caliper, so I had to use Blu tack to hold them on. I would compare the bite with Kool Stops to be honest, they were pretty bad. For a smooth rim, the wear rate wasn't brilliant either. They slipped about 8 times out of 10. The only reason I didn't change within a week of having them was because I had no money. Disappointing!

Pads: Zoo! pads

Time used: Cup'la months

Rim used: Onza Hog

Grind: No grind, no tar

Ceraminc: Nope

Brake used: HS33, RB booster with water + anti-freeze bleed

Review: I lurve them! They make a nice noise, the bite excellently, the wear rate is a lot better than I was expecting after reading other reviews... They really are the nuts... Wouldn't change them for the world, unless its wet. They work absolutely terrible when they are even mildly moist, they leave this black oiley sorta stuff all over the rim. Which really doesn't work 'cause as we all know 'you rims gotta be clean! But there well worth having! 9/10

[abtrials]

Pads: Onza Citrus

Time used: 2 months so far

Rim used: Onza Hog

Grind: dead grind

Ceraminc: Nope

Brake used: HS33, magura blood.

Review: I lurve them! They make a nice noise, the bite excellently, the wear rate is a lot better than I was expecting after reading other reviews... They really are the nuts... Wouldn't change them for the world, unless its wet. They work ok in the wet, but not to briliant, not as good as koxx browns with a light grind in the wet but i would say 8/10

[Dan6061]

Pads: Koxx Blox Blues.

Rim: Kris Holm.

Grind: Yes, worn. Tad or tar.

Brake: Rear HS33, standard hosing, Echo Team Booster, '04 Lever.

Time Used: 2Months?

Best pads used so far: Plaz CRMS.

Opinion of a perfect brake:

Loud enough squeak. - I like hearing my brake, if not I get worried.

Lock, and modulation. - Modulation for manuels, lock for everything else.

Review:

At first I had a very worn grind, and my mate had my grinder, so I couldn't grind it.

I wasn't too pleased at first, but to be fair, they hadn't worn in.

They had more modulation than lock.

Once I got a nice grind they were mint!

Locked nicely, still had the modulation I wanted.

I swear they've gotten better over time, as the grind worn out.

No sign of mass wearing outas of yet.

Now my grinds worn out, I've used a small amount of tar on the rim, and they have the same lock as before, just seem a lot noisyer.

So yeah, Koxx blues are the shiz.

Seem to work a lot like my CRMs did.

[Martin Grainger]

need advise....

for a brake for comps...

i want a set of pads for the back,

with a grind.....pref not though,

sqweek..pref

MUST

WORK VERY GOOD IN THE WET...

...preff with a sqweek

thanks

[JonCongreve]

I've heard many good reviews about the blue rock pads. Many say that they work better in the wet. So i brought myself some and haven't really bedded them in yet, and after putting water on my rim they worked alot better. Gonna give them a proper test this weekend

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

Jon, to be honest...no pad review you do..could ever be true.

When are you ever gonna come across the conditions when riding street/natural..that would be the same as your shed??

You seriosly need to to clean it out

[will]

need advise....

for a brake for comps...

i want a set of pads for the back,

with a grind.....pref not though,

sqweek..pref

MUST

WORK VERY GOOD IN THE WET...

...preff with a sqweek

thanks

The whole point of this thread is so people dont ask questions such as this. Have a read through and see if you can find something that meets your requirements, there are nearly 250 reviews of various pads.

Edited December 14, 2006 by will

[downhill_rob2@hotmail.com]

Drunk arghhhh!!!!!

Yeah, erm... Rock pads blues, f**king rock men!! obviously

Still testing them out though lads, but they seaming to be amazing... defo best pads to buy on the market, work amazing in dry n wet... better observasion type thingy soon... aye.

[max-t]

Pads used: Fatmike 'phat pads' (blues)

Brake: rear magura hs33 2005, oil bled.

Grind: Yes, light on a DX32 rim

Tar: haha,no!

Time used: 3 months.

Opinion of a good brake: loud and locky! with loads of hold too.

Review: After 2 months of Mike persuading me to buy a pair i finally got some. They came fitted in the cnc heatsink backings and with about 8 milimetre of compound.

I put a fresh grind on my rim ,set the pads up and went riding. At first the pads were silent and didnt hold very well and i was a bit dissapointed. BUt after about 5 minutes of riding around the pads started to wear in and prodcued an amazingly loud brake that locked and HELD.ive had them on for 3 months now and i cant even tell if they have worn.

I took them out in the wet too and the performance was also astonishing, the brake was still as loud and sharp as what it was in the dry.

I bought another pair of these pads and gave them to my mate to try.(on a ground koxx rim , and with great success)

I'd definately reccomend these pads as they are the best i have used.

So ill be robbing Mikes house of his stash any time soon now

Max...

[Ben@LeicesterTrials]

Just brought some brand new Plaz of Tarty put them on fresh medium grind and there wank, No noise, No hold, No Bite. Just make a swoosh noise. Whats going on !

I've ridden them for about 20 minutes aswell, I think thats well long enough for them to bed in.

Rim is a KrisHolm by the way

Edited December 20, 2006 by Ben@LeicesterTrials

[BeNNy]

Just brought some brand new Plaz of Tarty put them on fresh medium grind and there wank, No noise, No hold, No Bite. Just make a swoosh noise. Whats going on !

I've ridden them for about 20 minutes aswell, I think thats well long enough for them to bed in.

Rim is a KrisHolm by the way

Have you tried putting water on them to bed?

[Fishy]

Check out my review of Plaz pads, they are pure wank.