Swiss Stop Brake Pads – Green High Performance £21.99

Sometimes it is only when you stop using a product and move onto testing a new one that you truly get to evaluate a products performance, I found this just to be the case with these brake pads. Swiss Stop have been making brake blocks for over 35 years and made the original Weinmann blocks along with the original Magura HS33 MTB brake, so they have a long history in this arena.

Brake pads are hardly one of those sexy ‘must have’ products people lust after but they play an important role in the performance of your bicycle. Good brake blocks allow you to brake later into corners and offer more controlled braking on longer descents. This is a good thing if you are in a road race, as it will give you valuable time over an opponent.

In the sportive setting it boosts confidence and because of the nature of the pad it deals with a longer events possible weather changes better than a regular pad. Many Pro Riders have switched out their stock brake pads for Swiss Stop over the years to inch that bit more from the bike. It’s a great way to up the performance of their bikes while adding no weight and frowned looks from the UCI. They make a complete range of pads from the Black for summer weather conditions, Green for changeable weather and the Yellow for carbon rims.

Upon fitting the pads you can’t fail to notice the increase in stopping powder. It is almost like someone has thrown a great big anchor behind the bike. Thankfully as the pad wears in the braking becomes even more controlled and consistent. The Green Pad left no black residue upon the rims, which has got to be a good thing as the black sludge on a rim will only increase rim wear over time. Anything to reduce that is a welcome bonus.

Braking was always powerful, even in the wet. But unlike some brake pads when they get hot tend to grab the rim and scare you witless, this never happened. I have used these on a couple of Sportives and on different bikes combined with different wheel combinations and the results have always been consistent. How they work on a Ceramic rim is still unknown but hopefully over winter I will be able to let you know, as this is their recommended pad.

Fitting these to old 9 speed Dura Ace brakes really lifted the performance on a brake set that is over 6 years old, it improved modulation and rim feel no end. Using it on a 10spd set up elevated the performance of a stella brake, again offering all the benefits experienced on the old 9 speed brakes, albeit in the better design. I have not used them on Campagnolo but I would guess that the performance benefits go all the way from Osaka to Vincenza.