Swissstop Flash Green

[markinho]

Hello everybody,
I’ve just registered and I am looking for some advice on brake blocks which is due to having an accident the other day due to my brakes not working as well as I expected (escaped with bruised ribs and sore hand). I’m using at the moment a road bike with Ultegra callipers with I think the standard brake block cartage, I was thinking of changing to the Swissstop Flash Green cartages, but they are a bit expensive, £22. Has anyone used them and would they recommend them? Thanks beforehand for the advice.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Welcome to the madhouse markinho

General consensus seems to be koolstop brake cartridges.

 

[Lardyboy]

Just swapped over to Swiss Stops from Campag. Quite a noticeable upgrade I have to say.

 

[andy_wrx]

Think I read something very positive about SwissStop in one of the magazines, like they were a very good upgrade if expensive.

10sp Ultegra brakes&pads seem pretty good to me, far better than the 9sp 105 brakes/Fibrax cartidges I have on my Winter bike

 

[ejls2]

On a related note, does anyone know if you can buy just the jobbies that hold the campag shaped brake cartridges?

My bike's got Veloce brakes but they use blocks rather than replaceable pads and I'd like to give swisstops/koolstops a try.

Cheers,

Ed

 

[markinho]

I don;t know if you mean these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDeta...wissstop Race 2000 Green Pair Of Brake Blocks
the only thing is you have to buy the complete set, insert and holder so it is a bit expensive, though it may be possible to buy cheaoer holders and then buy the inserts only which are sold in as pairs http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDeta...n=Swissstop Race 2000 Green Pack Of 4 Inserts.

 

[ejls2]

Brilliant! Many thanks for the info. I'd been assuming I'd need to buy a campag set of brake shoes and then add the pads afterwards. This looks much more straightforward.

Cheers,

Ed

 

[Lardyboy]

I don;t know if you mean these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDeta...wissstop Race 2000 Green Pair Of Brake Blocks
the only thing is you have to buy the complete set, insert and holder so it is a bit expensive, though it may be possible to buy cheaoer holders and then buy the inserts only which are sold in as pairs http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDeta...n=Swissstop Race 2000 Green Pack Of 4 Inserts.

PBK have got blocks and shoes going very reasonably at the moment, buy them and add the Swiss Stop, much cheaper. It's what I've done.

Ejls, point to be aware of. Campag replaceable block shoes have a larger allen bolt than can fit into a Veloce caliper slot. So you may need to change the allen bolt. The PBK ones seem small enough though.

 

[andy_wrx]

Swissstop offers the best braking performance in all conditions for all types of bike. Green high performance compound for aluminium rims. Excellent in the dry and unbeatable in the rain. Extremely low pad and rim wear.

• Top performance on dry rims and even better performance on wet rims
• Complete absence of abrasive materials which could damage rims
• Compatibility with all rim materials with no danger of damaging the rim through using the wrong pad
• Consistent braking power from -20°C to +40°C
• Silent operation

- they work better in the wet than they do in the dry ? (perhaps I'm purposely misunderstanding what they mean )
- work down to -20°C ? (I'll take their word for that !)
- and are silent (well the pads might be, but that lovely layer of grit you've picked-up from the road at this time of year won't be...)

More seriously, the carriers/shoes/whatever the word is look identical to the Fibrax ones I have (down to the Front and <L> / <R> printed on them)
- I bet there's a factory somewhere in Taiwan producing these and all the aftermarket pad manufacturers are using the same ones, so should probably be possible to swap around

 

[Lardyboy]

- they work better in the wet than they do in the dry ? (perhaps I'm purposely misunderstanding what they mean )
- work down to -20°C ? (I'll take their word for that !)
- and are silent (well the pads might be, but that lovely layer of grit you've picked-up from the road at this time of year won't be...)

More seriously, the carriers/shoes/whatever the word is look identical to the Fibrax ones I have (down to the Front and <L> / <R> printed on them)
- I bet there's a factory somewhere in Taiwan producing these and all the aftermarket pad manufacturers are using the same ones, so should probably be possible to swap around

I think you are being a little bit Andy!

But you are right about the shoes though - they seem to be the same for a large number of different manufacturers. Just look out for different size bolts like I advised earlier. And different mounting arrangments between Shimano and Campag