Now: Modolo sinterized pads, a survey
 

Bumping this into a new thread, here's a quote from waytoomanybikes:

I have rims that were used on a bike with Sintered pads for years and they show no more wear than they would with rubber blocks, possibly less.
The sintered pads, in my experience, do not wear away the rims any faster than rubber blocks.
What the sintered pads do is give a "softer" feel to the brake and a very firm braking pull.

Though I love Modolo brakes, for years I've avoided using the sinterized pads cause I had been told they were very abrasive and would rapidly wear my rims. Here are my questions:

Do you use or have you used them, or is your experience "anecdotal"?

What do you like or dislike about them?

Do you find wear on the rim braking surface to be "normal" or not?

Do you know what the "sinterized" ingredient is (powdered metal)?

Where do you buy them?

Thanks for participating!:D

Yes I have used them, both on my Trek 670 and later on my Jan de Reus
(before putting on CdA deltas).

I didn't like the noise, they seemed to squeal as badly as Mafac racers if not
properly adjusted. They didn't stop any better or worse than most of the brakes
of that particular era. I believe that was more to do with single vs dual pivot vs center pull design
than the shoe material.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that sinterized pads were harsh on hard anodized
rims. I've never experienced this personally but the "legend" had to start somewhere.
I seem to recall that the sinterizing material was asbestos, at least originally, however
I can neither confirm nor deny that.
Bought mine from Banana Brain on ebay.
Marty

I have heard the "asbestos" rumor, too...don't know if it's true, but I kind of doubt that they'd choose that as an additive in the '80s, the health concerns were well known by then...who knows?
That eBayer has a price of $28 for a pair...hmm, $28...maybe I DO want to sell mine ;)

Campy's 'synt' shoes were, they claim, a mixture of "Colophony, Phenolic resin, elastomers and other special components". Maybe its those special components that make them so finicky about toe in -- I found them too prone to squealing to run them long enough to see what they did to my anodized rims. Given the time frame they were intro'd (87 i think) the likelihood of them having asbestos in them is close to nil.

If anyone wants to trade a pair of Campy Delta-sized normal pads for synterized ones, let me know!

I've got 1 slightly used pair, if anybody wants to try them.
PM me.

Squeal they do! It's great to hear every dog in a five mile radius start to bark when I come to a stop sign. I have the Modolo pads on the Trek 670 I got from lotek. The anodizing on the rims is coming off, but I imagine that would happen with any pads eventually. The pads also spray a nice black residue on the fork and the seat stays. I'm thinking switching to Kool-stop blocks for better stopping power. The sinterized pads give a nice, firm feel through the lever, but feel like they are just sliding across the rim in terms of grip.

I don't want to thread jack, but does anyone know if these Kool-stops would fit into the Modolo sinterized holders? Is it even possible to pull the old pads out?

Modolo calipers are fine, but I like KoolStop salmon pads.

Those blocks would work in Campy holders. The aluminum holders on the pair of Modolo's that I have are rounded on the forward edge. So you would have to round off the pads, or let them hang out the back of the holder.
I haven't tried to pull the pads out of the holders because there are aluminum and I don't want to mess them up. But looks from here, like they should slide out without too much trouble.

Well, I must have the magic touch with these things then because I do not get any noticeable squeal from them.

Hey Mchaz how you doing? How is the 670 holding up?
I've recently seen a few sets of modolo non sinterized pads on ebay.


Marty

The 670 is holding up great. I just switched to clipless. I'm liking it much more than the toe clips. :) Anyways, the Trek always gets looks when in a crowd. Something about the '80s teal steel separates it from the rest. :D

Back on topic. Has anyone directly compared the sinterized pads vs. the non-sinterized pads, keeping everything else the same?

I've used the sinterized pads and kool stop salmon continentals in the same set of speedy brakes on the same bike, and I can say with confidence that I would never use the sinterized pads again. They're messy, loud, and don't work very well.