Review: CLARKS triple compound v-brake cartridge pads.

One of the reasons for this review is that despite disc brakes being somewhat de rigeur these days, there are still a lot of v-brake users out there. Consequently, there are an awful lot of v-brake pads still available on the market. I'll be honest, I've only tried Shimano XT pads (not brilliant and very noisy) and the stock pads that came with the Arch Rivals (reasonable but very thin friction material so not long lasting).

I can't remember why I had these on the front brakes when I got back on my bike last June but they've been absolutely fantastic. Compared to discs, v-brakes are never going to be brilliant, especially in the wet, but these really are as good as I've tried and are extremely confidence inspiring. Best of all, you never hear a peep out of them, they really are fit and forget. The friction material is fairly thick too so you won't be replacing pads every few months.

My front pads were worn right down (after ~1,200 miles of road and off-road, wet, dry and downright muddy conditions) when Halfords had their new year sale this year. These were on sale for £4.99 for a pair so I bought two packs and replaced all my brake cartridges. Here they are fitted:

I've done a few hundred miles on the new brakes and I'm just as impressed as I was with the first set. Best of all, when the pads are worn down, you just pull out the mini cotter pin, slide the worn pads out and fit a new set of pads which are sold seperately so there's none of the hassle of aligning new ones.

Recommended!