Kool-Stop V Bicycle Brake Pad Inserts (Black)

I put these on my front tire for a road bike, and they work great.

I hated the stock shimano xtr pads.... they stopped the bike but they always sounded like you were stopping your bike with "sandpaper pads". I always believed in shimano engineering - and thought that they had engineered their pads. It is obvious they fell short on their responsibilities selling their stock pads. The new pads stop the bike very well with practically no rim noise

I installed these on my commuter bike this spring, and they are good stuff. One of the first things I did after I installed these pads was nearly launch myself over the handlebars. That was my own stupid fault for waiting too long to replace my old pads, but these things have grip! One of the really nice features of these brake pads (yes, I meant to use "features" and "brake pads" in the same sentence) is the angled tip. When the pads are properly aligned, it allows the rear tip to make light contact with the tire before the rest of the pad to squeegee water or gunk from the braking surface so the rest of the pad can grip. It works really well, but in my experience, it take just a bit of extra work to get the alignment right. If you don't, they will screech a lot, so it is well worth the extra few minutes.

They are probably the best, "grippiest", and quietest pads I've used on my vintage 1999 GT 26-inch MTB.My only complaint is that they only fit well in the Kool Stop pad holders. While Avid and Kool Stop are both theoretically "Shimano V-brake" compatible, if you are replacing pads on an older Avid or Shimano system, the Kool Stop pads have a frighteningly loose fit; however, simply upgrading to Kool Stop pad holders as well makes for a much better fit.

I use these on the v-brakes I put on my Surly LHT, which sees daily commuting service. These brake pads are the best I've had on any bike for wet conditions and minimize the loud, sometimes embarrassing squeal bike brakes can make when it's raining, or even if it's not. The leading edge of the brake pad (relative to the rotation of the wheel) is designed to push away water, dirt, and grim that may be in the rim when it rains allowing the rest of the brake pad to work on a drier, cleaner rim.Short of disc brakes, which have their own issues and would mean I'd need to get a new bike frame anyway, these pads are the best I've found.So glad they're on Prime now, too, for those times, like this one, when I couldn't make it to the LBS.

Pads are good, stopping power is increased especially in the wet. Front brake is noisy and requires very fine tuning to produce quiet braking. To be fair, this has a lot to do with the fork and not the pads.

Great quality for an old school brake pad. Some people actually make their tools last. Disc brakes are nice but their are other...less expensive options too

I used to be a Shimano-only pads kind of guy. But after reading numerous positive reviews about these pads, I decided to give them a try. I am VERY pleased with them and will not be converting back to Shimano anytime soon.For comparison, I was contemplating dumping my whole XT v-brake setup and converting to Avid Single Digit 7s. The Shimano setup is powerful, but the pads grind and groan, especially when hot. My Specialized has the Avid setup and I really like them. They're quiet and powerful. I almost started to hate to ride my Trek only because of the grinding brakes. A set of $15 Kool Stops saved me a couple hundred in a new brake setup.