Cyclaholic

I get 1500 - 2000 miles out of a set, I seem to wear fronts and rears at about the same rate.

BeTheChange

I was going through break pads way too fast so now when they get low I turn them around. Since I adjust for the toe-in the rear of the pad always has a lot more life left than the front. So i turn it around and use it twice as long. I wouldn't recommend this for the front brake because it seems the break pad flexes more this way and breaking isn't as crisp. But I'm cheap so I'll deal with it.

bostontrevor

A lot of pad designs these days are directional for improved water shedding. I'm not sure that I buy it anymore than directional tire tread, though.

Man, I'm really trying hard to understand how you folks run through some many pads. Even my rain bike doesn't go through brake pads that fast... And it's not like I don't brake in the wet, I'm worried that my rim is gonna fail before I get in the parts to build up my new front.

DCCommuter

Koolstop.

This was going across downtown Washington DC during rush hour, in a torrential downpour. In DC, that means water deeper than the bottom bracket in places. I probably used my brakes 30 to 40 times and went up and down some big hills. It was so wet that each time I braked there were a few seconds where the brakes had no effect, then they grabbed once the water had been displaced. It was not a fun ride, but it was memorable.

During the ride I thought that my cable must have stretched or slipped, because I had just changed my pads but I kept getting more and more travel. When I got home I looked at the brakes and realized the pads had worn substantially. My hypothesis is that when you get a layer of water on the braking surface that causes the pad to brake to be ineffectual it also leads to accelerated wear.

Shortly after that ride I switched to disc brakes, which are a better choice in every way for the all-weather, urban commuting that I do.

tokolosh

crappy pads? i dunno. my bike is somewhere on the low end of low-end-box-store, and i think mine are done as of tonight after 6 months of ownership and 2 months of commuting - say about 800 miles <--- generous estimate. but i've got a lot of downhill through intersections going on, one way at least. when i started out, i never let go of the brakes riding down the bridge.

i imagine the weight of the bike and rider are also marginal factors, like i guess they would be with tire wear. all other things being equal, stopping x-hundred pounds probably eats some proportion of (x-y) more brake pad per stop than stopping y-hundred pounds.

bennyk

you must be getting old...


bk

TheDL

...hmmm...as wet as Oregon is....maybe I should move to discs....I got some wicked descents along my route as well.

Raiyn

If I may make a humble suggestion. Try these: https://www.pricepoint.com/detail/111...Brake-Pads.htm

Even if they last the same amount of time as the Avid pads saving the $10 a set should make them worth your while.

Michel Gagnon

Get KoolStop Salmons.

On my then new touring bike (Dec 2000), I used to go through one or more sets of brake pads (Avid or Shimano) per month during Winter and one per 2-3 months in Summer. With KoolStops, they last one or two years.

P.S. That touring bike saw lots of city riding while towing a trailercycle AND a child trailer.

ken cummings

The soot or amorphous carbon added to the synthetic rubber makes it last a lot longer.

ken cummings

The pads on my cantilevers are going on 7000 miles and will be replaced soon. Riding mostly on the flats allows the pads to stay cooler and last longer. I have smoked a full set of pads on the brakes of a heavy faired recumbent going down a long steep hill at altitude (less air drag) in a single run. Stopped finally by pushing my shoes against the front wheels of my trike.

TheDL

I've used the salmons. It just must be the girtty conditions and the hills of Oregon that eat up my pads.

jyossarian

Don't listen to either of these two guys. They lie like a rug. Brake pads are like the ones on your car. They're good for the life of your car or until the metal bolts sheer through the discs/rims completely, whichever comes first.

As for me, I ride in NYC all the time and I haven't changed the pads yet since I got the brakes back in the 1998. I just jam my heel onto the front wheel to save the brake pads for when I really need them.

Artkansas 

It varies with the ride. On my last commute, my pads lasted about 3 years. But it was all flat without many stoplights or stop signs.

Now, I ride 1/5 of the distance, and my pads are almost done in a year. Of course the whole trip is up and down hills, so I'm doing hard braking at 30+ mph several times a day.

chipcom 

Winter slop chews up brake pads. I went through 2 sets last winter, while 1 set gets me through the entire rest of the year, which is why my new winter bike is sporting disks. Disk brakes seem to be more reliable and last longer in the winter slop than cantis, calipers or V brakes.

slvoid

Nice! Thanks for the link.
I bought 2 pairs of koolstops off ebay for $37 shipping included. How do these compare?

dynaryder

I hear ya. I hate the pads that came on my Coda. Every time I ride the bike gets covered in black crap. I'll get around to swapping them,but for now the road conditions are bad enough that I'm commuting on the Giant.

As for pad life,the only time I had a serious prob was when I first started commuting on the Trek. My route almost all downhill going into work and I trashed the front pads in a little over a month. I've since found another route,and my skills have increased,so I'm getting good life out of all my brakes.

The only set of disc pads I've had to change so far have been the fronts on my Giant. They wore in a funny wat that makes me think the brake wasn't set up properly. Swapped the pads and so far so good. Oh,and for any Giant riders out there;Giant GX-2 = Hayes MX-2. Same calipers,same pads,just a designation change for Giant.

SoonerBent

Assuming that we're calling worn out being worn to the bottom of the grooves the separate the "blocks" I've never actually worn out a set of pads. I've put at least 10,000 miles on a couple of sets and changed brakes or bikes before needing to replace the pads. I must not brake much.

SS

ItsJustMe

I've been on the same front pads since I bought my bike 2+ years ago (about 4000 miles). I mainly stop with my fronts. I can still lock up both wheels easily. However, I very rarely use brakes, and never very hard except in very rare emergencies.

I do have new pads on the back, because I built a new wheel for the back when the stock one was breaking tons of spokes, and I got a pair of koolstops when the stock pads didn't really fit the rim properly. However I didn't really need them.

I'm the same way with my car. I have a Ford Taurus, and I finally replaced my original factory pads at 110,000 miles. They didn't really need it, but I had bought the pads at 100,000 miles when I was replacing everything else, and I was just getting sick of checking the pads (I'd been looking at them every 5K since about 60K) and figured I'd just put the damn things on and be done with it.

My ride is miles and miles of just pedalling along, there are only really 2 spots on my ride where I even MIGHT have to stop, and I only generally stop at one of them (the stop SIGN, I time the light so I can coast through).

ken cummings

Modern electric cars use regenerative braking. Switching circuits allows the motor to act like a brake, generates power that can put charge back into the battery. How about trying this with a generator hub? Could some electronic wizard advise us? No battery? In winter you could dump the energy thru resistance heaters in our clothing.

.:Jimbo:.

simple...it depends on how soon i notice i need em. Ive only rode my bike with discs a few times so im not sure how soon i go through disc, but i replaced my v brakes on my old commuter often, simply just to know its done, and i worked on my bike a lot, so i replaced alot of things that really didnt need to be replaced, cause i fixed things before they way they broke, as i see it, so the bike always rode well. For the sake of dates, id say i replaced em evey three weeks, probably way more often then neccessary, but it would suck to be goin down a hill only to find out you brakes have retired themself,...its only a matter of time before your luck runs out.

DCCommuter

I think the problem you would run into is that you need a quite large generator to stop as well as with conventional brakes. Here's the physics for geeks:

According to Forester (who I'll trust on this issue) a conventional front brake can generate about 0.6g of decceleration. Assuming a total mass of 100 kg (220 lbs) that equates to a braking force of roughly 600 Newtons. Assuming a speed of 10m/s (about 22 mph) that equates to a braking power of about 6000 watts. That's peak; average power deccelerating from 10m/s to 0 at .6g would be about 3000 watts.

Either way your talking something substantially bigger than a typical automotive alternator, and about 1000 times bigger than a generator hub. Not what I'd want to carry around.

Electric cars get away with it because they have to carry a big engine around anyway to power the car, and they just reverse it to brake.

Domromer

went through a set of pads per rain storm when I was working as a bike messenger!