Bought a Kona Jake last summer and replaced the pads that came stock on the Avid Shorty 4's today, after 1,200 miles, mostly commuting. Prob shoulda done it just a bit sooner, but wanted to see what kind of lifetime the rest of you get from your pads, and what type you use?

I actually bought Eagle KoolStop 2's at first, not realizing that the Avids take regular v-brake posts and not traditional canti (the post diameter of the Eagles was too wide)

It really depends upon what conditions I am riding in. Stop and go traffic wears brake pads out quite a bit faster.
<-- Captain obvious
I have long distances that I do not stop in. My last brake pad was changed after 6000 miles and I still have yet to change the other wheel.

I just replaced the rears on my hybrid after 2 years and 5k miles. Front will probably happen sometime this year. mostly urban street and MUP.

I use Matthauser pads. Some have been on my bikes for nearly 20 years.
(and still going strong)
Well worth the original expence!

I guess that I just got ~600 miles out of Avid Rim Wrangler 2s on
Avid 6s. There was adequate material left but I am weary of
sanding them when they glaze. I often must stop at the bottom
of hills here so I have many stops from >40 mph. I just installed
Kool Stop Tectronics and hope they are better. Kool Stop blacks
don't glaze on my road bike.

On my jake the snake when commuting, i was going thru a set a month during the winter.
Swapped the front brake to an Avid road disc, and now I change them once a year

3,000 to 6,000 miles.

The ones I have now are rather thick rubber and have been on the bike since I got it in summer 2005. I'm not sure how many miles I've gone on that thing since then. 3k maybe.

I break the bike way before I need new break pads.

Back when I was using a bike with caliper brakes, I'd wear out a set of pads every few weeks during the winter. I'd go whole period from March to December on the same pads, however.

Paul

+1
I used to ride my bike formula 1 style, flying into red lights and intersections at 20-30mph then slamming on the brakes about 70-80 times a day, shifting 3-400 times a day on my ultegra sti levers. I don't do that anymore but when I did with my old mtb, I was going through pads once every 2 months or so. My disc pads last like 6 months that way.

The set I'm using right now have lasted well over a year, including a tour of New Zealand's South Island, Mt Buggary, hundreds of commutes and numerous other rides -- totalling somewhere in the range of 20-25,000km. Fact.

The trouble is, the name of the manufacturer has long since worn off, so I'll just have to go on appearance when I replace them.

I'm surprised I've made it through the whole fall/winter so far (knock on formica)

How long to disc brake pads last in stop-and-go all-weather commuting? In the past few months my brake pads have become less reliable, and one even squeals a little.

I just replaced my Kool-Stop black pads with K-S Salmon pads. The black pads were about 3/4 or more down to the wear line after about 2000 miles including lots of PNW rain and road-grit.
I did notice this morning that the salmon pads stop faster when wet (but that may just be my imagination, or the difference with having cleaned my rims and replaced the pads.)

I recently got some salmon pad inserts (not cheap - probably Koolstop). They've worn out 10 times as fast as the stock and replacement black 105 pads. My guess is about 100 miles. I've bought some lower end Aztecs to replace them.

I had a Giant Sedona with discs for a little over a year and a half. My commute is all hills,I rode it through the rain/snow/sand/salt last winter,and used the front brake hard playing polo once a week. I changed the front pads once,and still had the stock rears when I sold it.

What brakes do you have? Discs require occasional pad adjustment. Squealing can usually be cured by cleaning the rotor.

I have Avid BB5 mechanicals. I've adjusted the brakes a number of times, but the brake pads have at least 3000km on them already, if not more. I've had to replace the rotors once, because they were warped.

100 miles!?! Well, I'll let everyone know next Tuesday if I have any better luck with mine. I didn't think that these were expensive at all ($10 a pair), but I wouldn't want to be spending $20 every week on maintenance parts.

My Koolstop Salmon pads have lasted for a couple thousand miles on my commuter. My commute includes many stops and a couple hills where I have to scrub speed. However they last much longer in dry conditions than in wet weather. And the road spray in the winter seems to really kill brake pads.
My track bike is still going on the original front brake pads (no rear) after over 2 years, but that bike is not usually ridden on wet roads.
Craig

The stock pads on my 2006 Kona Jake got replaced at about 2000 miles, and probably should have been done sooner. I have a 1989 Trek that I never rode in the rain that still has it's original brake pads on it. I swear that water is what eats 'em up.

2-3000 km (stop and go all weather rain, shine or snow)

I have just switched over to Kool-Stops from the stock pads on two of my bikes, so I don't know how long they will last.

My last about 1700-2000 miles with no squealing, lucky me.

[MENTION=41875]head_wind[/MENTION] Why are you weary of sanding your pads?

This thread is from '07 and I have no recollection.