thatsut

i have a brompton im looking for some "anti-wear" (term i invented in the hope they exist ) brake pads. im intrested in people with longterm use of salmon koolstop and other low/non rim wear braking methods (not hub, drum, feet :lol, parachutes, crashing in to old ladies or disc brake etc.... yet)

jur

Yes I have something on offer...

Don't use the back brakes. Just use the front. Use the back ones only for emergency stops, when you use both by reflex or at a steep long downhill.

Why?

* Rear brakes give minimal real stopping power - as you decelerate, the weight on the back wheel reduces so it will easily skid. Not so the front - it gets more weight and gives more stopping power.

* You won't go over the bars - at least you won't if you don't lock up the brakes. And with normal sort of street riding, brakes are modulated carefully.

* The rear rim and brakes wear very fast, and EXTREMELY fast in wet riding. This should not be underestimated - I literally wore out a new set of rear brake pads one wet week of commuting. The problem is the rear of the bike gets all the road grime kicked up by the front, and lots of grit gets deposited on the back wheel, some of it on the rim and pads - instant sandpaper. As you brake, the grit gets embedded in the pads and then it sits there, wearing your rim down, until you dig it out.

So, I stopped using back brakes altogether except in emergency stopping. And it has stood me to good stead - I got well over 10,000km from a front rim on my Birdy of every day commuting in all weathers. My rear rim still looks close to brand new. My colleague, who barely has 3,000km on his, is up to replacing the rear rim and the front is also worn, although not as much of course. Not to mention endless brake pads.

If you think this is madness, to stop using the rear, check out what Sheldon Brown had to say on the issue.

thatsut

Thanks jur helpful as usual,

just to confirm you use salmon koolstop

"The rear rim and brakes wear very fast, and EXTREMELY fast in wet riding...The problem is the rear of the bike gets all the road grime kicked up by the front" agree

"I got well over 10,000km from a front rim on my Birdy of every day commuting in all weathers" is that with salmon kool stop?

also due to my brompton setup i operate both brakes with one lever (as i have a throttle on the other side, please dont ask just yet i will show picture of my motorized brompton when finished over 100 miles of so far), currently i use a large vbrake salmon on the front and small salmon on the back and wanted to know if there was anything else out there that would mean i woouldnt have to replace rims on long tours.

thanks again

jur

I have had Salmon pads and although they do work very well, the wear is not less.

yangmusa

I use Salmon pads on my old Raleigh commuter. They work great - greatly increased stopping power over the stock pads (on steel rims the braking in wet conditions was non-existent!) I've used them for about 3 years of daily commuting, and can't say I've noticed much wear on rims or pads.

2_i 

I do not know what standard brakes a Brompton comes with, but I can state that it is important to have decent brakes on. With some stock Tektro that came with my bike, I had to change pads every 6 months. After I replaced them with Avid Single Digit 7, the time between pad changes went up to 2 years. However, occasionally, I ran into squeaking caused by rim shavings being lodged in pads. This kind of problems have gone away with salmon Koolstops. I am not sure how often I change the pads now - rarely for sure.

brommie

Yes, they exist. Definitely no wear and a good brake . . .
Take a look at https://www.flickr.com/photos/plooifiets/3671516172/

gringo_gus

can someone enlighten me to let me know which version of the koolstops it is that fit a 2009 model brommie ta....

thatsut

hola gringo,

i used these https://www.totalcycling.com/index.ph...urrency&id=GBP then ground down the bolt to make them work.

but will also be trying these....https://www.cyclesportsuk.co.uk/produ...oducts_id=3305 in in my.... https://www.cyclesurgery.com/28/Aztec...campaign=pid28 ill let you know how it goes but i have a workshop and active imgination so can make a round peg fit a square hole

thatsut

brommie i am aware of your hub brake and have been for a while thanks for the response. do you find this is as good as a front brake with salmon or swiss stop (other brands available ) ? and do you have the 70 or 90 mm size hub? and do you think there is a difference with hub sizes braking power? and do you find and resistance in the wheel and lastly have you taken it apart? thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions?

brommie you may help out a great deal of fellow "bromptonauts" by updating your thread about the but you started back in july i think,

kind regards,

kamtsa

How can I tell the wearing level of my rims and when they need to be replaced?

Thanks,

Kam

wahoonc

When the rim disintegrates? Been there done that. You can look at a rim and tell when it is getting worn on the braking surface, when it starts getting really concave I would be looking for new rims ASAP. Some rims have a groove machined in them, when the groove is gone...time to get new rims.

FWIW I use the salmon pads on many of my bikes, the improved braking is a huge plus. I haven't noticed any really accelerated wear.

I may try a set of the Velo-Orange Squeal Free pads the next time around. I do try to keep my rims and pads as clean as possible to minimize rim wear.

Aaron

daven1986

I have salmon kool stop on my front wheel. First of all I'd file off their silly flap as it increases brake travel! Also I think they wear quicker than other pads as they are a softer compound (however I am not 100% sure). Decent braking power but still nothing compared to my discs

kamtsa

Thanks for the pointer and please post a review if you are going to use them.

Kam

JimBeans83

If rear skid is not an issue, do you think rear wear is greater than front wear? (bike with fenders)

That is, to decelerate the bike, one must use more rim force in the back than front? (assume no skid)

One thing that's a little irritating when going hub dynamo in front is (for me) trying not to use front brake, as disposable rear wheels are cheap, rebuilding front dynamo wheel is expensive, so .. use that which can be replaced less expensively.

jur

Assuming no skid, I would say the same or very similar force is needed.

The problem of rear wear is notable when riding wet roads, even with fenders the rear gets loads of dirt. My Raleigh 20 has always had fenders; the rear brakes are almost non-working so bad they are; but still that rear rim is quite badly worn. So all the time I was riding and braking evenly, the rear was wearing down and stopping was coming from the front.

The penny still didn't drop for me until I had a very wet week of riding to work when I was forced to use my Swift (R20 was broken). After just that one week, the rear pads were toast. And to put it into perspective, I literally thoroughly washed the bike after each ride - after getting to work, again after getting home. (It was the wettest week ever.)

But dry riding the situation is OK I would think.

brommie

Thatsut,

there is another thread here about the koolstop pads so maybe you will find there more info.
About the hub brake: I think it's at least as good as the Koolstop pads and sure better than the "old "original Brompton brake pads. Don't know about the new ones. But it's better, much better in wet conditions than both.
I think the brake is smoother but if you break harder it really stops the bike at once.
While biking in France ( hilly) I regularly checked if th hub brake was overheated, but no problem at all.
I've never take the hub brake apart, there was no need for, everything works well.
I've never noticed any resistance in the wheel (there was a discussion about this in the Brompton Yahoo forum but so far no problem at all), it's really an update you put on the bike and forget about it.
When you need to remove the wheel it's a faster and cleaner operation, but that's not something I do often...
I've just measured the hub brake and it's 70mm
I'm not sure what you mean about updating the thread about the but . . .

BTW I don't mind questions, but remember that English is not my daily used language, but I will try to answer as good as possible