Originally Posted by makeinu
What about new old stock? I just bought some new pads, but they are a discontinued model, which makes me worry that they might be no good when I open the package.
Impossible to know for sure, they could be too hard, they could be fine. Are they many years old? It depends on how they were stored too. It's not much money to buy new ones. It's not a big project to lightly sand the braking surface and try them on your bike to how they work. There are different softness pads available for different uses anyway.