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Home | Product Reviews | Brake Pad | Shimano XT Pads | ||||
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Submitted by
6_Miles_to_Work_and_6_back
a Weekend Warrior
from Royersford, PA USA
Date Reviewed: 8/11/2004 12:02:54 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | home to mini-mart for ice cream |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $25 |
| Purchased At: | Performance Bike |
| Strengths: | If you ride in the rain, gradually subtracts weight from your bike by grinding aluminum off your rims. |
| Weaknesses: | In my case, some of this ground-off aluminum somehow collected in a 1/2 mm deposit just below the pad surface (on both pads no less!)--impossible to dislodge without taking the pad off, yet surprisingly effective at chewing up my rim. I got these pads with XT brakes on clearance and replaced the pads after five rides. In 35 years of riding bicycles for transportation, I have never seen both pads collect a nugget of aluminum in the same place and grind a channel you can see and feel down the middle of a rim. I didn't know a pad could do this. Terrible grinding noise and extra black dust, of course. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Brake Pads: Ritchey RW2, Avid, Trek, (Red) Mathauser many years ago. Trying Aztec2 pads now because that's what LBS had. |
| Bike Setup: | Jamis Coda steel cross bike, nice fat T519 Mavic rims on Phil Wood front hub with Specialized Armadillo 700x38C tires with Avid 2.0 V brakes, Bontrager cermamic rims on XTR hub rear with Vredstein? 700x32C tires and XT V brakes with a brake booster, Nightsun 35 watt commuter headlights light. |
| Bottom Line: | Anything that chews up $60 rims is less than worthless. |
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Submitted by
KIMO
a Weekend Warrior
from AIEA
Date Reviewed: 5/7/2003 5:25:52 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $20 |
| Purchased At: | LBS |
| Strengths: | The Shimano name is suppose to represent quality in bike parts.. Boy, was I wrong!!!!!! |
| Weaknesses: | I can't get by brakes to stop squealing. Two weeks of adjusting toe, sanding the rims and pads produced no improvement. The brakes on my kid's Huffy run quieter. Super abrasive....bye-bye rims!!!! |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano replacement pads, KoolStop |
| Bike Setup: | Do you really care???? This is about brakes.... |
| Bottom Line: | Just got the KoolStop pads so I'm trying them out. So far, so good. I will never put Shimano pads on my bike again, even if it's free. Pads feel like they're a combination of rubber and valve-grinding compound. Giving these pads a rating of "1" only because there isn't a "0" rating. |
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Submitted by
Sean
a Cross Country Rider
from Kitchener, Ontario Canada
Date Reviewed: 3/16/2003 9:48:45 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Guelph Lake |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $20 |
| Purchased At: | True North Cycles |
| Strengths: | They fit into XT brakes. They are called pads |
| Weaknesses: | Pads worked good for about one hour. After they seen alittle wet stuff. They would not stop squelling and wore out in about 3 rides 60- 80 kms of trail |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool stops Ritchey |
| Bike Setup: | True North, Cromo easton Tubing. Full XT. Bomber Atom 80. Race face Stem, Crank And BB.MAvic Crosslinks. EA70 seat post and bar. Salle XO |
| Bottom Line: | These have to be one of the weakest products Shimano has put out. They work great for ...... nothing waste of time and money!! |
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Submitted by
Wade
a Cross Country Rider
from Woodbury
Date Reviewed: 2/14/2003 10:46:11 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | it's all good |
| Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years |
| Purchased At: | OEM |
| Strengths: | keeps the pad holder from contacting the rim. |
| Weaknesses: | affinity for rim metal. rapid wear. |
| Similar Products Tried: | WTB, KoolStop, no-name |
| Bike Setup: | Yes |
| Bottom Line: | These pads came on my first V-brake bike. I thought they were fine until I wore them out in ONE DAY of wet riding. I was lucky and didn't go all the way down. A bike mechanic on the ride rode his into the rim! When I changed to WTB's I found that: little pieces of metal quit showing up in the pad, brakes don't HAVE to squeal, and that pads don't have to wear out every time it rains. I've put 10x the wet riding on WTB/KoolStops than the OEM jobs, and they're still fine. Seems like Shimano could do a better job. EVERY OTHER pad I've tried has been better than the Shimano product. The good knews is-for Shimano pad users- I now carry a spare set in the Camelbak. |
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Submitted by
mikeb
a Cross Country Rider
from Sodom in the North
Date Reviewed: 1/27/2003 6:23:38 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | boggs mountain demonstration forest |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $800000000 |
| Purchased At: | private seller |
| Strengths: | none |
| Weaknesses: | overpriced don't last very long don't do a very good job of stopping the bike |
| Similar Products Tried: | i have been riding moutain bikes for a while |
| Bike Setup: | i was using these pads on my GT with xt vee brakes. |
| Bottom Line: | worst pads i've ever used. would never buy them again. would take them out and throw them away if i got a new set of XT brakes. end of story. |
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Submitted by
Todd Kunkler
a Cross Country Rider
from Los Angeles
Date Reviewed: 1/27/2003 11:51:46 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Mission Point |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $7 |
| Purchased At: | Supergo |
| Strengths: | I hated these pads when I first got them with my Shimano XT brakes. They seemed far too abrasive. But after trying three other brands... trying to stop the squealing, I put these back on. NO MORE SQUEALING! I was ready to buy disc brakes for the front. |
| Weaknesses: | They ARE abrasive and I'm sure I'll have to replace my wheels a bit sooner but... that's ok |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool Stop and WTB razor blade |
| Bike Setup: | Litespeed Obed with XT and XTR |
| Bottom Line: | If you've tried every other brake pad to stop the squealing, go back to these pads. |
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Submitted by
L Friesen
a Cross Country Rider
from Calgary
Date Reviewed: 10/5/2002 6:44:42 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $20 |
| Purchased At: | LBS |
| Strengths: | none at all |
| Weaknesses: | worst sound i have ever heard coming off a set of pads. Squeal with even just a light moistening, let along mud. Shimano you should be ashamed to sell these with good XT brakes |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool Stop Eagle 2's |
| Bike Setup: | deore levers, XT Vee's, kool stop eagle 2 pads (I switched) |
| Bottom Line: | When you buy XT's dont even bother using these at all- immediatly change to kool stops- they are amazing. Im just angry that I have to patronise these pads with one chili |
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Submitted by
Richie
a Cross Country Rider
from The Bronx
Date Reviewed: 8/27/2002 3:21:09 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $25 |
| Purchased At: | Cambria |
| Strengths: | They Stop |
| Weaknesses: | They sound really bad, even the Taxi drivers rolled up their windows, and are eating up my rims. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool Stops |
| Bike Setup: | Cannondale F700 XT'd out, Spinergy X-Rok rims, Panaracer Fire Pro |
| Bottom Line: | The pads came with the V-brakes, and no matter what you do with the pads they still squeal bad. I'm turning to Kool-Stops before I give an old lady a heart attack. |
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Submitted by
Aaron
from Pleasant Prairie, WI, USA
Date Reviewed: 6/12/2002 7:04:14 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Wilmont Mountain |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | price point |
| Strengths: | Stop OK on the first few rides, no noise then. |
| Weaknesses: | I cleaned my rims after I installed the brakes, after the very next ride they were full of black gunk. They squeal |
| Similar Products Tried: | rim wrangler, ritchey, KOOL STOP |
| Bike Setup: | Jamis Exile, XT, Mavic, SID |
| Bottom Line: | For road use ONLY! After riding through mud the pads had a coating of dirt embedded into them. Kool stop is the best! |
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Submitted by
Todd Kunkler
a Cross Country Rider
from Sylmar, CA USA
Date Reviewed: 6/3/2002 11:57:44 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | La Tuna |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Purchased At: | Full brake system from Supergo |
| Strengths: | None |
| Weaknesses: | They're like a grind stone against the rim. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Avid |
| Bike Setup: | Litespeed Obed with XT and XTR |
| Bottom Line: | World's worst brake pads. Get KoolStop replacements NOW |
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Submitted by
Ddust13
a Weekend Warrior
from Bolton, MA, USA
Date Reviewed: 1/27/2002 8:02:04 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | None! They suck!!!!!!!! |
| Weaknesses: | These have destroyed my rear rims with only mild usage without riding through mud of dirt. They are dirt magnets, they hold onto dirt and let it grind your rims to nothing. They suck! |
| Bottom Line: | Did I say they suck? That's why I'm getting some Kool-Stops today |
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Submitted by
Alan Koslowski
a Cross Country Rider
from Seattle, WA, USA
Date Reviewed: 1/14/2002 8:26:27 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Little Bald Hills (Redwood NP) |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $12 |
| Purchased At: | REI |
| Strengths: | Decent Power in dry conditions |
| Weaknesses: | Wear quickly Mediocre at best in wet conditions |
| Similar Products Tried: | Avid stock brakes (came w/V brakes), Aztec |
| Bike Setup: | 2000 Specialized FSR XC, stock |
| Bottom Line: | Note: Price paid is for 1-pair Just thought I'd throw in another mediocre to bad review for this product. Guy at the shop said these are good. They work fairly well in dry conditions, but performance decreases greatly in wet weather and pads deteriorate quickly. The MSRP is high, performance is at best average. NOT a good value. |
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Submitted by
Kevin Niesen
a Racer
from Union Grove , Wi
Date Reviewed: 12/11/2001 11:23:02 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Wimont Mt. |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $30 |
| Strengths: | None None None |
| Weaknesses: | Every thing! Squeals like a pig going in heat, also sounds like palm sander on your rims, $30 what the hell for ? |
| Similar Products Tried: | Next ! |
| Bottom Line: | Never used anything else (my fault) I thought I was doing something wrong on my set up until I was enlighten by others that wrote about this piece of S$%t. Next will be Kool Stops. I think the Manufacture should reimburse us for new rims, so write me a check for 500 big ones. |
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Submitted by
Ferrari
a Weekend Warrior
from Singapore
Date Reviewed: 8/12/2001 8:03:13 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Track 15, Mandai |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Strengths: | Works well in dry weather, but still squeaks if not toed-in. |
| Weaknesses: | It fails almost totally when comes in contact with mud. Brakes feels like it disappeared and could hear it sratching the rims. Squeals so loudly, u can hear it from a mile. And it did sratches the rims upon inspection. All those metallic liquid on my mavics...darn it |
| Similar Products Tried: | some taiwanese brake pads, which were much much better |
| Bike Setup: | 2001 Zaskar Race, judy race, XT/XTR/Thomson componentry |
| Bottom Line: | Don't buy these. They are over-priced and way way way underperformed. One big dissapointment. Eat your expensive rims. A heartbreaker... Get Koolstops instead. At least they live up to it's name by really stopping your bike even in mud. The dudes at SHimano better get this pad making thing done right. U guys almost killed me with your failing brakes. |
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Submitted by
Manny E.
from Austin,Tx.
Date Reviewed: 4/17/2001 2:58:30 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Strengths: | Hmmm... ....... .......Ok -they will STOP your bike.(But you'll be deaf as sh*t!) |
| Weaknesses: | ...Did I mention something about 'deafness',above????? Man,I thought I was watching "Deliverance" on t.v.! ...."Squeeeeal like a pig,boy!!" |
| Bottom Line: | The whole Shimano setup "XT",is good,in my opinion. I like brake levers,and shifters. But these XT pads... dudes...they suck!! (not necessarily the brake unit themselves.) XT pads are always good out of the shop,but they get bad very,very quickly! I've had to have my front brake adjusted at least 10 times. I just bought bike in November!! At the suggestion of a bud,I'm switching to 'KoolStop EagleClaws'. |
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Submitted by
ian
from ny
Date Reviewed: 3/31/2001 7:57:11 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | stop the bike |
| Weaknesses: | wore them down to metal in a single one hour ride....kinda wet and muddy but that's unacceptable. |
| Similar Products Tried: | brake pads |
| Bike Setup: | trek 6000 with shimano xt brakes |
| Bottom Line: | nah this is crap sorry |
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Submitted by
David
a Cross Country Rider
from Brunei
Date Reviewed: 9/26/2000 7:54:23 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | anything new |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $15 |
| Strengths: | None |
| Weaknesses: | expensive, clog up in mud, wear fast and screw you rims. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Powertools and Koolstops |
| Bike Setup: | KHS with LX/STX-RC |
| Bottom Line: | Absolute crap!! Dont buy them!! Seemed ok for a day or two but one good long ride in the mud and they were half gone. Add to that the fact that they clog up then act like sandpaper on your rims and they make for a pretty bad purchase. Wore them down to metal in an incredibly short time. I have since gone to Kool stop thinlines which are 1000 times better and show almost no wear for the same abount of riding. |
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Submitted by
Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Antioch, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: 7/12/2000 8:09:28 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Ridge Trail |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | Don't know. Probably work well in wet conditions (that's what the "M" system means). |
| Weaknesses: | Awful scraping noise (like sandpaper on the rims). They also pick up grit and aluminum from your rims which then acts as a tool to score your rims. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Aztec one piece and replaceable cartridge pads. |
| Bike Setup: | Cannondale Killer V-HT with DD-60 shock. |
| Bottom Line: | I used these pads for 2 rides (the XT slip-in pads with holders). I can't take the scraping noise. Once I stopped when it was scraping loudly to see if I could determine what the noise was all about. I saw a grain of sand imbedded in the pad, obviously acting like a tool on a lathe to cut into my rims! The Aztec one piece pads I had on before never did that and were quiet. If you value your rims and silence, change out these pads. |
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Submitted by
Kokopelli
a Cross Country Rider
from Cincinnati
Date Reviewed: 5/25/2000 7:46:11 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | www.spokejunkies.com |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | They stop the bike. |
| Weaknesses: | They wear out quick, they squeal like a pig. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool-stops |
| Bottom Line: | I got new brakes and these pads came with em. They were done after less than one month of riding. Granted the riding was in mostly muddy conditions but after riding Kool-stops I expected more from pads, I'm switching back. |
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Submitted by
Ben
a Racer
from Illinois
Date Reviewed: 3/30/2000 7:17:39 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Strengths: | It stops, runs noiseless SOMETIMES |
| Weaknesses: | fading, FADING!!! ARG!! I HATE FADING!!! the grinding noise makes me AVOID using my brakes!!! |
| Similar Products Tried: | shimano XTR, Avid Rim Wrangler |
| Bottom Line: | These pads work. Kinda. At first, they were noiseless, and were quite powerful. After 2 rides they started to fade down steep descents. the pad material is unacceptible! It grinds after 5 seconds of hard braking! i can only use them in short bursts to keep my rims from grinding through. Although they are powerful (when not FADING) i'm purchasing a pair of WTB dual compound pads today, i hope they WORK much better than these pads. 1 star for the agony the've cause, and 3 for the power. average out to 2. |
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Submitted by
DIRTY BIRD
a Weekend Warrior
from Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: 3/23/2000 9:03:36 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Hardwood Hills |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Strengths: | None |
| Weaknesses: | Noise, Limited Stopping Power, Eat the S&*T out of your rims, and cost way too much. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool-Stop |
| Bike Setup: | Giant ATX 890 - XT, Judy SL, XTR Rear |
| Bottom Line: | These pads are crap and should never have been placed on such a great bike. I have Kool-Stops now abd they make all the difference. |
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Submitted by
Lasse Rasanen
a Cross Country Rider
from Finland
Date Reviewed: 1/31/2000 10:45:36 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Strengths: | Comes with the brakesystem OK power until it gets full of aluminum chips |
| Weaknesses: | They eat the rims They make a big mess They're expensive |
| Similar Products Tried: | Several very cheap models |
| Bike Setup: | Rock Shox Judy SL, XT V |
| Bottom Line: | The first time out with these in good weather and they already started to chew little pieces of aluminum from my Mavic. I'll try KoolStops next. I tested the XT pads under winter conditions and the power was OK. I just hate pads vaporizing my rims :I. |
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Submitted by
johnnyb
a Cross Country Rider
from San Anselmo, CA
Date Reviewed: 1/24/2000 1:01:32 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Wagon Wheel |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | NONE |
| Weaknesses: | Durability |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool Stop, Ritchey |
| Bike Setup: | Stumpy Pro, Manitou, Race Face |
| Bottom Line: | One rainy 30-mile bike ride and the new pads wear down past the limit line? And they cost 9 bucks? Who are we kidding? I have Kool Stops in the back and they are still fine and I've had them longer than the XTs. Kool Stops have always lasted longer, on cantis and on vees. And they cost about 7 bucks. Waste of money. Like the other XT parts though :^) |
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Submitted by
Commuter Bob
a Cross Country Rider
from Sydney
Date Reviewed: 1/24/2000 3:39:54 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | Came with the brakes |
| Weaknesses: | Durability |
| Similar Products Tried: | Kool Stop |
| Bike Setup: | Giant XTC, Marzocchi Z2, XT XTR |
| Bottom Line: | Wore down to the metal in 1 day. 1 day. An endurance race in wet sandy conditions in Canberra. |
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Submitted by
byron
a Racer
from st. catharines ontario
Date Reviewed: 1/16/2000 6:04:55 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | bruce in decew falls short hills |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | power light cartridge |
| Weaknesses: | none |
| Similar Products Tried: | cool stops tons of 4.99 pads |
| Bike Setup: | specialized a1 frame mostly xt lots of ritchey spyder r |
| Bottom Line: | I just bought these recently to try them. I rode a cheep padds for about a year only getting at most 6 weeks on them. I tried cool stops and got a little more power. Then I got xt's my power really increased especially in the snow they don't hold ice like the cool stops and they get more power they only cost me 18 canadian |
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Submitted by
Disgruntled Earthling
a Cross-Country Rider
from Orlando, FL
Date Reviewed: 11/9/1999 |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Strengths: | Excellent performance during test ride at bike shop. |
| Weaknesses: | Endless squealing thereafter. |
| Similar Products Tried: | I have a 3 year old beater bike and the brakes work just fine. |
| Bike Setup: | Marin / XT / Sid XC |
| Overall Rating: | |