Customer Reviews

Kool Stop Bicycle Brake Pads

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Salmon brake pads are, in my experience, the best stoppers out there. At 190 + bike, I need good brake pads, and these are they.

*note: the product pictured here is not the right one. What I ordered and received were the V-brake pads

I was having trouble being able to stop my bike on a steep downhill on my commute to work. Even pulling back hard on the brakes, I could not stop and barely reduced speed. Not good. I did all the things I could to improve the braking, but no luck. Last thing to do was to try some different pads. Asked around and kept hearing these being recommended, so I ordered a set. Put them on and headed out on my commute. Headed down the hill, used the brakes, and lo and behold, I could stop. They stop me quickly, smoothly, and noiselessly. What more can you ask for? Most importantly, I have confidence that I can stop if/when cars pull out in front of me on this section of the downhill.

As for price, I compared these to the SwissStop green pads. The Kool Stops come in packs of 2 and the SwissStops in packs or 4. So you have to double the price of the kool stops to make a comparison to the quoted price of the Swissstops. Still, the Kool Stops come in priced less than the SwissStops.

Highly recommend these pads from the perspective of price and stopping power.

The Kool Stop brake pads are an improvement over Shimano Dura-Ace/Ultegra. Braking is smoother, quicker and quieter. I replaced my Shimano brake pads at the same time I installed new aluminum wheels on my bike. Judging from the condition of the rims after about 300 miles, the Kool Stop brake pads appear to be gentle to the rims. Due to the low milelage on these brake pads, I can't judge how long they will wear relative to the Shimanos, but given the relatively low price for the Kool Stops, I'm willing to replace them more often than the Shimanos, if necessary.

These Kool Stop Continentals solved a problem with my Weinmann Delta style brakes that are on a time trial bike, the OEM pads just slowed the bike down and if you were going down hill it wasn't going to stop!
The Kool Stops were an easy replacement with no mods needed, Continentals went on the front and Kool Stop threaded Mtn bike pads on the back.
The bike now stops when I need it plus no growl or sqweal :)

These brakes were listed as for Dura Ace / Ultegra / Shimano. They are at least an inch too short to go onto 2002 ultegra road brakes.

I've had these pads on my bicycle for about a month and they're a significant improvement over the original Ultegra pads. My original Ultegra pads were making noise and I noticed that the rims of my wheels were starting to get grooves cut into them. A quick search on this issue led me to learn that the original hard compound Ultegra pads get flakes of aluminum embedded into them, which cause even more rim wear. The hard compound Ultegra pads also didn't stop me very well.

I installed the Kool Stop salmon pads and my brakes are quiet and my rims aren't getting ground down anymore. They are also very responsive, stopping me quickly without requiring much effort.

There are no better brake shoes than Kool Stop. Maybe some are as good, but I don't know. I have never heard from anyone who claims another is better. I use Kool Stops on all my bikes, and I recommend them to everyone.

Very glad to have replaced my front stock ultegra pads with these for a recently purchased used bike. The original pads didn't seem to have been used much, but the braking capability was lacking to say the least for going down hills at speed. Was getting to a point of looking for replacement brake set but glad I tried these pads a try first. Perhaps new Shimano pads would have resolved my braking issue as well but these pads work very well for me. Agree with other reviews regarding the nice gripping action of these pads. Highly recommended!

Kool Stops are the best pads I know, and priced right. It is a mystery why Shimano chooses to make its Dura Ace pads out of abrasive material that makes grinding noises. While Prime seems to have some issues with bike parts (they keep sending me cheap tubes when I ordered pricey tires, and my rim tape seems to have been lost in transit), this got to me correctly and timely. Now, if only Prime would start carrying the newer, thicker version.