Does your Strada still have the Safety or "Turkey" levers on it? Are you using them to stop? Despite the name they are better for slowing you down, for stopping you need to get in the habit of using the actualy brake levers.
Since you need nutted brakes you best bet to easily get a quality brake is to go witht he DP Tektro w/ nutted mounting. But as FB points out you may need to upgrade your levers too.
I still might try cleaning everything up and going with a new Slamon or daul compound pad like the KoolStop 'cross. These will also let you adjust the toe of the pads a bit to aid in braking and reduce noise.
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk