V-Brake Pads

[Dave]

Anyone have any suggestions for a good set of pads? I have LX brakes and levers. I use the bike for a bit of trials, but don't really want to use any tar on the rims due to the mess and the noise. The Jag Wire ones seem good, but I don't know anyone that's used them. I've had decent luck with Thin lines, but am wondering if there's any better ones??

[Quo Fan]

Sorry, I stopped using V-brakes years ago.

[gnurider1080]

v-brakes for trials?? wow, yours must hold pretty well.

[Geoff G.]

actually most people prefer v's for trials, because they lock up much easier, with disc brakes, the wheel has a ton more leverage on the rotor. And with v-brakes, the wheel has almost no leverage, because they grab the outside edge

[gnurider1080]

well i believe for trials they use the hydro rim brake.

[Quo Fan]

The brake of choice of many trials riders is the Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brake.

[bike187]

v-brakes: still good in my opinion. they have their place. i still prefer discs for trail riding or snow/rain riding anywhere. i use v-brakes on my putzing around bikes that i try little trials maneuvers on, and i weigh 250 and they hold. i run avid mags and sd7 for my good bikes. i have lx brakes on the front of one of my bikes and find it inferior to the avids, i also like the one-piece stiffness of the avids. it should eb noted that i still have the stock shimano pads in the lx ones so that explains some of the lack of grab.

in response to your question on pads: i've had great luck with aztec brakepads and avid rimwrngler pads. currently i have rim wranglers on most of my v-brakes. for trials, you should probably get the one-piece ones, not the ones with replaceable pad inserts. for trials specific pads, i've heard great things about the plazmatic pads. these are trials specific so would wear quickly if you put them on a trail bike probably. check out http://www.trialsin.com/start.htm for retail on some interesting trilas specific gear. also check out trials forum boards (i believe ridemonkey.com and hcor.net have a pretty active trials forum) and ask their advice on the matter.

[Dave]

Thanks all, I agree that discs are superior in many ways and that the best trials brakes are the Maguras, however I'm not able to pop the dough for the Mags. The bike I have set up is basically built out of spare parts I had lying around the garage, I had so many parts that were all in good shape, I decided to buy another frame to hang them on it. At any rate, the bike is for jumping and a bit of trials and whatever else, so while the V brakes aren't the best, I know that some new pads would help it out a lot for not a lot of $. I know that once I get the brakes set up well, providing that conditions stay dry, they'll be almost as good as discs, we'll see how that goes.