Maybe it would help if I clarified my setup a bit more thoroughly. The initial build up of the bike used a bunch of parts I had on hand - that’s why I’m slowly looking at improving what I have now. The brakes are Weinmann, the cables and housings are new Jagwire braided, the levers are Shimano 105, and the pads, while new, are no-name. I’m willing to cede that the quality of the pads could be suspect, but other bikes with these pads seem to be able to stop. As far as describing the term “efficient”, I guess I’d say that compared with my other bikes (canti and side-pull), I need to use roughly 50% more pressure to attain the same stopping effectiveness. With my canti bike, when I installed a set of highly rated brakes, the stopping power definitely improved. I have also had good experiences with Kool Stop pads. I just wonder if proceeding incrementally would be best, or if I could greatly increase the effectiveness by getting different brakes. I’ve attached a pic of the front setup - let me know if you see anything amiss. And thanks for all the suggestions!