Every brake compound tested - The ultimate guide for road bikes!

Disc brakes on road bikes are everywhere, so understanding which brake pad compound suits your riding style is important, because they all have strengths and weaknesses.

SIROKO CLOTHING – 10% off (automatically applied via link below):
https://srko.co/tracevelo

Noah and Theo brake pads:
https://ebay.us/TAD9fO
Disclaimer - This is an ebay affiliate link, so I get a small commission from ebay if you use it, but I paid for all the brake pads in this episode myself. Noah and Theo have not sponsored me or anything like that, I just really like their brake pads 😊

Most people stick with the stock brake pads that come with their disc brake groupset, but there are lots of varieties out there, and understanding which is best for your road bike can really make a difference to your riding experience. Below are the general guidelines, but I will be testing all four compounds in real world scenarios.

Resin or Organic brake pads:
A softer compound, good for general riding, that is easy to bed in.
Great bite from cold, good performance in the wet, easy on disc rotors
Need replacing more frequently, don't do well under extreme braking conditions (heat)

Sintered metal or metallic brake pads:
High hardness compound, good for extreme braking
Durable, excellent in high heat applications, very strong braking when up to temp
Harsh on rotors, poor bite from cold, bad in wet conditions

Semi-metallic brake pads
A combination of Resin & Sintered, good all rounder, offers best of both.
Good bite from cold, good in high heat, good in wet
Little harsher on disc rotors than resin, not as good in extreme braking as sintered.

Ceramic brake pads
An interesting compound, offering characteristics supposedly unmatched by the other three.
Soft, so easy to bed in, and easy on disc rotors, but despite this very long lasting, and great in high heat applications.

Based on my testing, the resin are a great choice if you commute or do a lot of city riding. The sintered offer excellent performance if you always ride down massive descents, but take too long to get up to temp for general riding IMO.

My favourite were the semi-metallics, but followed very closely by the ceramic pads. I found the ceramic pads were excellent, but had a slight tendency to isolate the heat into the disc rotors during extreme braking.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Start
00:22 – Introduction
01:39 – Resin - Overview
04:05 – Resin hill testing
05:21 – Sintered - Overview
06:06 – Sintered hill testing
08:05 – Semi-metallic - Overview
09:25 – Semi-metallic hill testing
10:32 – Ceramic - Overview
11:59 – Ceramic hill testing
12:38 – Conclusion
15:47 – Bonus clip time

Intro roll:
Created by Dev Joshi - http://www.go2dev.co.uk

Instagram:
  / tracevelo  

Email:
[email protected]

Please note:
I am not a professionally trained bike mechanic. There can be risks associated with using products that are unbranded, untested, or come from sources where the provenance is unknown. Please talk to a qualified bike mechanic if you are in any doubt.

In essence, be careful, do your research, and cycle safe!!!