Originally Posted by
pdlamb
I was just thinking, reading the original post, that two of us rode down from the BRP into Vesuvius on Randonees, same bike as the OP's, and had no problem braking all the way down. On stock pads (which I later changed out for Koolstop Salmons, but that's another story). Fully loaded. I guess we're lucky there were no runaway truck ramps.
Some folks say the Shimano stock pads are actually pretty good. Anyway on my BRP ride the weather was 100% humidity even though little actual rain. Worse than rain because the moisture was ever-present whereas usually it can rain with drier air. So the pads could never scrub the water off the rims. Have owned bikes with many different models of rim brakes but even the best like Campy Record sidepulls have the problem of slower rain braking. Folks say "except for that rim brakes are good enough". Umm if a car cuts off a biker 1 or 2 seconds can mean the difference between a serious crash or a mere scary moment. A few months after that ride I saw a guy riding an Independent Fabrication disc-brake tourer. We both agreed rim brakes were a stupid relic for touring.