This past November, my rear wheel's kool-stops (the red kind?) failed after apprx 9 months of daily commuting. I pulled into a shop nearby & they replaced them w/ Bontrager pads. The replacements not only failed fast, like barely 2 months, but then concaved my rims on both sides! Two wrenches I've talked to about this were not surprised, "you ride every day, dude...". But the koolstops lasted 5x as long, Feb'07-Nov'07. Okay, that was better weather than the Nov07-late Dec'07, granted. But still...
Okay, so when that 2nd set wore out, the shop I went to nearby (not my usual lbs) recommended the Serfas cartridge brand, "They're the best quality for the price!" Well, I am not so impressed, there has been some slipping in the rain. They are not the performers, I think, that the kool-stops were, again...I think but I am not sure.
Any opinions on the products mentioned? I don't want to get into upgrades to v-brakes or disc. That is something that I will discuss with my mechanic eventually if I continue to have these occasional brake mishaps (one is too many
. Also, I just ordered a replacement rear wheel, a Deep V, my mechanic's recommendation, and, at $180, I want to preserve that rim for a long time!
Thanks.