So some of you may know the story of my 1985 Panasonic from older threads. I found this bike in a "bike junkyard" and have fixed it up. It does still however have the same brake pads that were on it when I found it. They are still "soft" as in not hard and dried out. But considering my other bikes all have modern discs, I am not up to snuff on modern brake pad technology for rim brakes. I know that when wet they don't stop for crap compared to discs. Last year on RAGBRAI we all got caught in rain and I saw people with rim brakes unable to stop at "stop" areas and slid right through almost hitting other riders. My question is, considering the Panasonic stops as good as any rim brake bike I recall from my youth, Is there any modern technology on rim brake pads that will greatly benefit me over the "black" pads that are currently on there? Keep in mind even though they still appear to be soft and "grippy" I don't really know how old these pads are. Since they seem to stop good should I just keep using them or is there some modern pad that is going to be superior in all weather conditions to stock pads?

The red "salmon" pads by Kool Stop are considered as good as any, especially in the wet.

But the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory comes to mind here.

Hard to say without trying. If you want to test something else, I'd recommend Kool Stop Salmon or Shimano R55C4.

I just didn't know if there was some modern pads that were far superior to what appears to be just black OEM pads that are on the bike now. I am uneducated when it come to modern rim brakes.

The answer is yes, as has already been stated: Kool Stop Salmon. I've tried their red, and it's good too. And definitely going to be better than 30 year old pads or even brand new versions of those 30 year old pads. Cheap enough to try, what have you got to lose?

I'd recommend Kool Stop Salmon or Swisstop black pads. The Swisstop might be a little more $$ than the Kool Stop. I also don't think that Swisstop has as much support for all of the different pad types like Kool Stop does.

https://www.koolstop.com/english/rim_pads.html
https://www.swissstop.com/brakepads/rimbrakes/

I agree on cheap price. Just wanted to know more. Thank you guys

Mathauser red (now sold by Yokozuna) is the original 'good brake pad' compound. Just another option.

It's a bit louder than the black compound or the kool-stop red, but it stops very well. When they're new, the Shimano 'all weather' pads work quite well, but they have a habit of casting off residue, so if you like a clean bike, I would avoid them.

For disc pads, are Swiss Stops any good? Trying to get my first replacement and a little lost.

Consider also that a lot of the people riding RAGBRAI are newbs who are grabbing old bikes with minimal maintenance for the event. Some folks even have steel rims.

Discs aren't really the C&V crowd, but you're likely to get more level headed responses, for sure.

For what it's worth, disc pads are all really more or less the same, excepting compounds:

-Resin/organic (resin with copper flakes)
-Metal/sintered (soft metal with/without other metallic compounds added)
-Ceramic (ceramic compound)

Resin/organic are the most common on bicycles, and provide good initial bite with a cool system. They are also the quietest. Long rotor life, short pad life.

Metal pads are able to get hotter and still function without glazing the rotor, but usually require 1-2 applications before they get as responsive as resin pads. These are the loudest pads, typically. Long pad life, short(er) rotor life (than resin).

Ceramic are quite uncommon on bicycles, since the main point of ceramics is high heat capacity/performance under high heat. They sometimes appear on downhill bicycles or e-bikes, but they are still fairly uncommon since they have very poor performance until heated significantly. If you have high heat requirements, there are usually better braking systems that allow the use of the other pad compounds (Shimano's brakes with ceramic pistons/finned pads/finned rotors come to mind).

I usually find no benefit in buying 'premium' pads from a company like SwissStop. You're better off buying OEM steel-backed pads, if you're looking for a well performing budget option. Koolstop manufactures (as does some large OEMs like Giant) generic pads to fit many brakes that don't break the bank.

When my son at age 14 first rode an adult-size drop bar bike, one equipped with dual pivot Shimano brakes and OEM black pads (not old, hard ones), he had trouble stopping at the base of a one-block long 10% hill not far from our house. BTW, such steep, short hills are fairly typical around Seattle, and he was definitely NOT going too fast.

When we got home, I immediately replaced his pads with Kool Stop salmons. The next day, same hill, he had no problem stopping. ALL my bikes get KS salmons, and there’s no down side too them.

It also wouldn't hurt to wipe down the braking surfaces on the rims regularly with a degreaser.

Ok so aren’t most modern pads, including kool stop salmons, offset and the longer side goes to the rear? Look st this pic of my front fork. I am afraid offset shoes may interfere with my fork? Not much distance right now with OE shoes.

Kool-Stop Continental pads will be a perfect replacement for those:


(Image pilfered from Sheldon Brown/Harris Cyclery, from whom I generally buy them.)

I think modern pads are far better than old ones - I've used Koolstops and Yokozunas but I have come to prefer SwissStop.

Road pads aren't really offset. I have used modern holders/pads on Campy and Zeus calipers and I haven't had any clearance problems....but your brakes do look to be pretty close.

Kool stop salmon is a pad material that is made into many, many differently shaped pads, including the classic Continental (shown above) and exact replacements for the Mafac, Weinmann, Campagnolo, Suntour and Shimano refills that fit those classic holders. You can even get a salmon replacement for Phillips/Raleigh rod brake shoe holders. Kool Stop International - High Performance Bicycle Brake Pads Since 1977

Thank you for that info.