Campagnolo Brakes

[User]

 

[ColinJ]

I buy compatible blocks for very low prices at DiscoBrakes. I'd say that they are 90-95% as good as the originals. I find Campagnolo brakes excellent and 95% of 'excellent' is good enough for me!

The biggest reason that brakes don't work well in the wet is having greasy rims. I have had a few near misses and blamed the blocks but they brakes worked perfectly once I had scrubbed the rims.

I do 50 mph descents in the wet off the local hills and don't have any problems so I don't see why you should either!

 

[Tin Pot]

Erk! How do you clean the rims? Degreaser?

I wipe mine down with an oily rag after a wet ride.

Maybe you should do something else

 

[ColinJ]

By silly low prices, I am talking something like £8 for 4 pairs!

PS You need to work out which type you need. I have slightly different Campagnolo brakes on my 2 road bikes and get mixed up which type is which.

 

[ColinJ]

Erk! How do you clean the rims? Degreaser?

I just used diluted washing up liquid and a scouring pad, then rinsed the rims afterwards. It made the difference between being almost unable to stop coming down a 20% hill () and almost going over the bars the next time I braked hard on a flat road! (I'd been pulling the levers hard to get the brakes to 'bite' on the greasy rims and forgot to be more subtle once the rims were clean!)

Which reminds me - I noticed that the wheels rims are greasy again after not being cleaned for a few hundred miles of winter riding. I'll go and clean them now.

Oh, I remember taking a photo the last time I cleaned the rims. It was baby wipes that I used that time ...

 

[ColinJ]

I just found the photo ... If you didn't believe me, this is what my wheel rims did to white baby wipes!

 

[Yellow Saddle]

... are rubbish ....no they're not that bad really, but to replace, I can only find Campag branded genuine pads for about 20 quid for a set of 4.

Does anyone know of any other compatible types which might be better? (As in better in the wet). I'm running Campagnolo Mirage 2005.

Ta!

No need to get stuck with Campag brake shoes. They are proprietary but can be replaced with Shimano style shoes for which there are zillions of aftermarket options. Firstly, find yourself a nice set of Tektro brake shoes complete with wings and little screws to keep the pads in. Then, replace the pads with Koolstop Salmon coloured pads. Your bike will stop again.

If you can't find Tektro (chosen as an example 'cause they are cheap), just get the complete Koolstop shoe and pad assembly as in these: http://www.koolstop.com/english/road_pad.html

Shimano, Campag and other pads are all rubbish and pick up aluminium from the rim. Koolstop salmon pads are the bee's knees.

@ColinJ That black stuff on your baby's bottom is not grease but aluminium. Aluminium immediately oxidises as it is scrubbed off and turns black like that. It isn't that that causes the brakes to underperform but the fact that the rim is glazed. Scour it with steel wool, sand paper or a domestic scrubbing powder with gritty stuff in. I can't think of a local brand name now. The rim mustn't be smooth and shiny but have a satin finish.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

The easiest way to clean glazed rims and pads is to ride through a muddy puddle whilst applying brakes. The grinding sound is what you are after.

 

[ColinJ]

I have been riding through a lot of muddy puddles, braking, and hearing grinding noises - that seems to be where the greasy deposits, er, oxidised aluminium came from!

I'm not saying that there aren't better brake blocks than the DiscoBrakes ones, but I don't think that there are many better value ones. They work well enough on clean rims so I will stick with them. The one real criticism that I have of them is that can fade a bit with heavy braking on long, twisty descents. We have some pretty severe hills round here and my brakes cope with them and they do it without wearing rims out at an unacceptable rate. For Alpine or Pyrenean descents though I would spend more on better quality blocks.

Anyway, theory aside, @User3094 ... spend 5 minutes with some baby wipes (or a scouring pad), and £4 for a bike's worth of blocks and see what you think!

 

[Tin Pot]

I'm on a Veloce groupset using Fibrax shoes and pads which are like a fiver with 2 pairs on that disco site.

I'm trying Lifeline pads crammed into the Fibrax shoes which seem to work ok, but at that price I might as well buy the whole sets instead of search for seperate pads.