ItsJustMe

Just for everyone's info, I now have some data on the wear I got out of the aftermarket brake pads I bought for my Avid BB7 discs.

The OEM pads that came in the new BB7 lasted 2520 miles, I replaced them just as they got below the recommended 3mm point.

The aftermarket pads, which I bought on eBay for $6 each (instead of $18 for Avid original pads) were just replaced at 2.97mm on my calipers. They lasted just over 5000 miles.

Both were semi-metallic, and stopping power, wet and ice performance seemed fine on both.

CCrew

Thanks.... But other than "eBay" was there a brand to look out for? Hit or miss what you can get there..

jefferee

Huh. I've complained about the lifetime of stock BB5 pads before (about 1500 miles), but I didn't realize that the stock BB7s aren't all that much better.

I'm trying out some BB5 pads I got on Ebay. I don't remember the dealer I went with, but the pads are made by Disco Brakes (website: https://discobrakes.com), who also sell direct for about what I remember paying. I bought a four-pack of the medium compound, which works out to about $7/pair. It's a metal/graphite compound, and is the cheapest one sold by this company--they also stock some longer life and/or higher performance compounds which I have not tried out.

I only have about 600 miles on the first set of pads but they seem to perform as well as the stock pads and do not, at this point, show any signs of wear. They should last at least as long as the stock pads (probably longer, but I don't have a lot of data yet) for less than half of the cost.

Based on my experience, Disco Brakes is probably worth a shot.

ItsJustMe

I just bought the cheapest ones I could find. They were "sintered" pads. The brand name on these was "Ashima" but I don't see that particular brand up there now. Personally I'd just go with another set of sintered pads. There's one vendor selling 10 sets for $45 shipped. I'd go for that if I was sure I'd ever use them up (I go through about a set per year).

Honestly, with the $18 OEM pads lasting 2500 miles, at $6 a pair they could probably make the pads out of old shoe leather and they'd last the 850 miles it would take to outlast the OEMs.