Kool-Stop Pads Brake Pad

3.87/5

(134 Reviews)

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MSRP : $9.00

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Product Description

Kool Stop Sintered Disc Pads Formula Mega/One/R1: High performance compounds recommended for all-conditions. Steel backing.

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Reviews 1 - 15 (134 Reviews Total)

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Value Rating:

Submitted by Jorge a Cross Country Rider from Colorado

Date Reviewed: September 14, 2009

Strengths:    None

Weaknesses:    Glazed over after only a few hundred miles on a steep decent. Horrid product.

Bottom Line:

Squeal like hell, had the bike shop install them as I was going for a tour of Colorado and had heard they were excellent.

Boy were all the recommendations wrong, the pads were cooked while coming down a mountain pass (and they only had 300 miles on them). And I wasn't braking that much!!

Bottom line: Expensive and horrible. Don't waste your money. Go for something else.

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Duration Product Used:   1 Year

Similar Products Used:   Shimano bog standard V-Brake pads

Bike Setup:   Trek 7500, Standard set, only changed the brakepads

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Submitted by Rick Hutchison a Weekend Warrior from North Van

Date Reviewed: March 20, 2007

Strengths:    Does what they're supposed to do, stop the bike.

Weaknesses:    Not as grippy as Shimano stock metallic pads.

Bottom Line:

Got these disk brake pads at a sale at my LBS 2 years ago for $5.00 per set CDN. Never used them and as spring is coming decided to give them a try under drier conditions.
Work pretty well but are taking a while to break in. Excellent value for the money but only great for performance.

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Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Price Paid:    $4.00

Purchased At:   John Henry Bikes

Similar Products Used:   Shimano, EBC.

Bike Setup:   Santa Cruz Tazmon.

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Submitted by Darren Ling a Cross Country Rider from Fairfield, Ohio

Date Reviewed: August 2, 2006

Strengths:    This review is for kool stop disc pads, organic compound.
Quiet, didn't have to run in, instant silence and outstanding grip right out of the package

Weaknesses:    zero

Bottom Line:

I will keep this short. Had new Magura pads, both 5.1 and 5.2 compounds. (performance and endurance) or should I say, squeaky and squeakier? Anyway, I got tired of trying to run in and ride on my magura, and found two pair of kool stop organic disc pads on ebay for 24.00, put them on, and tested. NO NOISE, AND AMAZING POWER FROM THE GET GO. I was blown away, and blown away on my first trail ride with these. They felt better, were quiet, and had amazing power. I love them.

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Favorite Trail:   any

Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Price Paid:    $24.00

Purchased At:   ebay

Similar Products Used:   Magura

Bike Setup:   singlespeed 29er w/ Magura hydros

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Submitted by Mick a Cross Country Rider from San Fernando, CA

Date Reviewed: May 12, 2004

Strengths:    Good modulation, grips like a dry rubber on prom night

Weaknesses:    Longevity, wear fast, but soft is good here

Bottom Line:

Best item ever purchased hands down. Transformed grindy, noisy brakes(are stock Hayes pads made a wood?)into baby bottom truck stoppers- saved those brakes from the axe. Discs are worthless without these, get em or resurface your rotors, worth every f'in penny.

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Favorite Trail:   Hummingbird

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Price Paid:    $30.00

Purchased At:   Kool stop site

Similar Products Used:   Hayes stock pads

Bike Setup:   Blur, 5th, XO, X9, DT Swiss, rocket, monkeys, trailbears, eggies

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Submitted by Kevin a Cross Country Rider from Dillsburg, PA

Date Reviewed: February 7, 2004

Strengths:    First off, I am reviewing the MTB pads (salmon and black). The salmon-colored compound increases braking performance in the wet stuff and the black increases breaking performance in the dry. This dual compound design really works wonders as far as keeping your speed in check in all weather conditions! These pads are excellent! They have dramatically increased my stopping power! When I first installed them and took 'em for a test ride, I came back grinning from ear to ear! I haven't used them really hard yet, but they seem to be holding up fine.

Weaknesses:    Because of the increased stopping power, there is more of a tendency to go over the bars!!!

Bottom Line:

No matter what weather conditions you ride in, these will get you stopped in a hurry! Best brake pads I ever used!! And for only $10 a pair the only thing they won't "brake" is the bank!!

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Favorite Trail:   Singletrack

Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Price Paid:    $20.00

Purchased At:   Price Point

Similar Products Used:   Avid stuff

Bike Setup:   2003 Trek Fuel 90 with IRC Mythos XC 2.1 kevlar tires and Kool Stop MTB (salmon and black) brake pads.

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Submitted by Jonathan a Cross Country Rider from Waco, TX Grand Rapids, MI

Date Reviewed: October 25, 2003

Strengths:    Very grippy, easy on rims, rarely squeal, good surface contact.

Weaknesses:    A bit hard to adjust due to their length. Adjustment has to be perfect or they rub the tire or rim. Require some break-in.

Bottom Line:

For $8 these are a great pad. Cheesy name and packaging, but very high quality product. I was a bit concerned at first as the pads seemed quite thin, and didn't seem to grip the rim all that well, but after about a week of riding, the pads had broken in a bit and have become extremely grippy which is perfect for my riding style. A few of my friends with discs can't get over the performace of my very well used V setup in comparison to their Avid and Hayes setups.

All that said its a little hard to align the pads since they are rather long, so alingment has to be really precise.

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Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $8.00

Purchased At:   Outback Bicycles

Similar Products Used:   Whatever came on my Avids

Bike Setup:   2001 Kona Cindercone w/a lot of upgrades

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Submitted by Alex a Weekend Warrior from Canada

Date Reviewed: August 9, 2002

Strengths:    GREAT stopping power.

Weaknesses:    throw you off you bike even if youre doing 5 mph, up a 45 degree hill! I thought it would wear fast, but i havnt seen anything so far.

Bottom Line:

Great stopping power, no matter how good your brakes are. they squelled a bit in the begginning, but a quick toe in adjustment, and from then on they worked great. only bought some for the front, but i might get some for the rear in the near future.

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Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $10.00

Purchased At:   lbs

Similar Products Used:   stock pads, forgot name.

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Submitted by nArKeD from Bellevue,WA

Date Reviewed: July 21, 2002

Strengths:    Excellent Stopping Power
Last Forever
Looks Pretty Cool

Weaknesses:    You must clean your rims of ALL black stuff before using these unless you enjoy major squeal. Took me 2 cleanings w/ Wheel Cleaner and Scotchbrite brush to eliminate squealings.

Bottom Line:

These are very nice brake pads, but nothing ground breaking. They do what they are supposed to, which is a nice change from most brake pads I've tried.

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Duration Product Used:   6 months

Price Paid:    $12.00

Purchased At:   REI

Similar Products Used:   Shimano Pads
Generics

Bike Setup:   Trek

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Submitted by steve a Weekend Warrior from pottstown

Date Reviewed: October 24, 2001

Strengths:    great stopping power
good in mud, water, lava, and tornados
goes from 60 to 0 in one endo
cheap, and worth it

Weaknesses:    um, it aint really a weekness to me, but they wear fast, heck for $10, i'd rather know i can stop when i pull the brakes

Bottom Line:

very good brakes. buy them if you are in need of stopping power with V-brakes. work great!

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Favorite Trail:   anything with dirt

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $10.00

Purchased At:   bikeline

Similar Products Used:   xt's xtr's and other stuff

Bike Setup:   sweet cannondale fully customized to my liking.

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Submitted by Steve a Weekend Warrior from Mountain View CA

Date Reviewed: June 11, 2001

Strengths:    Cheap
Easy on the Rims

Weaknesses:    None so far

Bottom Line:

The Avid pads made by Kool-stop that came on my Avid 25 brakes were just awful when they were wet. I finally tried some newer Kool-stop pads and they've been great, both in wet and dry conditions. They have a bit more power than the Ritchey blacks, and they seem quite a bit easier on the rims. I suspect they won't last as long as the Ritcheys, but if they continue to be easy on the rims, that's a good tradeoff. Because they aren't curved to match the rim, they actually make a bit broader contact, which I suspect will also help with rim wear. The angle leading edge seems silly, but it won't take long to wear it off.

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Favorite Trail:   Henry Coe

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $7.00

Purchased At:   Bicycle Outfitter

Similar Products Used:   Ritchey
Avid

Bike Setup:   Santa Cruz Superlight

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Submitted by jochen a Cross Country Rider from vienna, austria

Date Reviewed: April 12, 2001

Strengths:    much nicer breaking power than the others (shimano ...), cheaper than ritchey (which also carry the koolstop sign)

Weaknesses:    ??

Bottom Line:

take em, and you will like em

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Duration Product Used:   1 Year

Similar Products Used:   shimano, ritchey, aztec

Bike Setup:   santacruz heckler sl, marzocchi atom 80, xt, raceface, salsa, roox

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Submitted by Peter a Weekend Warrior from New Jersey

Date Reviewed: April 24, 2000

Strengths:    Salmon compound - Incredible stopping power, wet or dry

Weaknesses:    Color clashes with bike

Bottom Line:

The salmon compound is not to be confused with the red. The salmon is a dull brick orange color. It's actually the compound used by the Scott-Mathauser pads which was bought up by Kool Stop. I found out about these and ordered them from Harris Cyclery, http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/brakeshoes.html . They're hard to find at most retail outlets.

I have been having trouble with my rear brakes for about a year. I tried all the normal remedies- cleaning the rim with acetone, deglazing my pads, lubing the cables, checking the adjustment. None of this did much good. When I substituted the salmon Eagle 2 pads for the black pads of the same type, the difference was incredible. Perfect braking, wet or dry. I can easily lock up the rear wheel immediately after going through a puddle. I'm very impressed. I'm also told that these pads don't leave streaks on the rim or build up messy black dust near the brakes.

If you already have good braking, these might be too much for your bike.

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Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Similar Products Used:   black compound

Bike Setup:   Mountain bike/commuter

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Dustin a Cross-Country Rider from Canada

Date Reviewed: September 1, 1999

Strengths:
stops quicker and with no noise and less effort then any other product I've tried

Weaknesses:
none that I've seen

Bottom Line:

if you don't have v-brakes these are the pads to have!!

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Duration Product Used:
2 Years

Similar Products Used:
shimano

Bike Setup:
Gary fisher rangitoto with a duotrack front fork, and shimano acera X brakes and shimano XTR derailors

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Tony a Weekend Warrior from Singapore

Date Reviewed: May 20, 1999

Strengths:
Enough to lift the rear wheel even with all my weight on my butt!!!

Weaknesses:
non so far, but maybe wears fast.

Bottom Line:

Why didn't I get it earlier & why do anyone needs V-brakes?

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Duration Product Used:
less than 1 month

Similar Products Used:
shimano

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Nepoker a cross-country rider from Nepok Kingdom

Date Reviewed: December 4, 1998

Bottom Line:

This pad has very very good performance no matter in dry or wet or muddy condition. It makes no noise when breaking and is have great power so it is worth giving it a try since the price is prety low. So I would rate it five stars.

Reviews 1 - 15 (134 Reviews Total)

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Kool-Stop Pads Brake Pad

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