Kool-Stop Cross Dura 2 Threaded Set Triple Compound Pad

The purpose of this post is to notify owners of Avid Shorty Ultimate cantilever brakes that these shoes as supplied from the manufacturer will not fit. The problem is that the 5mm stud nut is too big to fit between the pad holder arm and the cantilever arms because the distance between the front cantilever arm and the rear arm is too small for the 5mm stud nut to fit between them.When faced with the choice of returning these pads and looking for pads that would fit, I decided to keep the pads because the Kool Stop pads are supposed to be the best pads around, This made it necessary to replace the pads that came with the brakes with the Kool Stop pad using the hardware that came with the original pads. This proved to be the second best choice, the better choice would have been to use the Kool Stop pad holders with the Avid brake pad hardware because securing the brake pad to the brake pad holder is SO MUCH easier. With the fomer, there is a pin that goes through the pad holder and threads to the underside of the pad holder and that's not immediately apparent. With the Kool Stop pad holder, a screw threads in the pad. It took me about an hour to figure out how to reinstall the pin and no time to figure out the Kool Stop pad holder.I have about 100 miles on the Kool Stop pads and they work just fine. Since these pads were an experiment, I have only used them on the rear brake. I will convert the front pads to Kool Stop shortly.UPDATE: Due to my positive experience with these brake pads, I have converted all my bikes to Kool Stop pads, both front and rear. They are quiet and stop the bike very well. I hope the other reviewers are right about these pads being kind to rims because I've rebuilt all my wheels using HED Belgium + rims and I don't want to replace them any time soon.

I purchased these to replace worn out pads on trp cyclocross brakes. They don't include any instructions or helpful hints for installing so that's where I'm docking points. I'm going to guess that any instructions they might offer would be a support liability so they can just avoid that problem by not providing any. Pad installation should not be complex, but I found it to take some time to get it correct. I spent a few minutes googling for techniques. Pads should be installed with toe-in, that is the front (area of pad closest to front hub) part of the pad should contact first. This improves brake modulation and reduces chatter. To do this I used a rubber band on the rear of the pad to set the angle. There are a total of 3 washers on each pad: 1 goes between pad and brake and 2 between brake and hex nut. The washers allow a the pad to be angled in various positions and this is what allows the toe-in.Here's my install process:I would position the pad on the rim (with rubber band on the rear of pad), pull the brake lever and if aligned in center of rim, best I could tell, I pulled the brakes very tight and then tightened the hex bolt. But invariably the tightening would turn the pad so that it is no longer aligned. What I found is after tightening, with some hand force to make the pad rotate counter-clockwise while loosening slightly, I could rotate the pad back and get it aligned and also be tight enough.Finally I cleaned the brake track with alcohol and attempted to bed the brakes by speeding up and applying gentle brake pressure, then increasingly more pressure.The brake power is good, but still not as good as my road bike, but good for cantilevers. I can now slow down on ~10% grades with hand on the brake hood without getting cramps. This was just my first ride. I expect as more brake matter adheres to the track to get better performance.

Although these pads are a little pricey, I decided to try them because everyone always says that Kool-Stop makes the best pads. Well I don't know if they're the best or not, but they are decidedly better than the Tektro pads that came with my brakes, which I've been told are actually pretty good. I bought the "cyclocross pads" not because I race cross (I don't) but because they fit cantis which I have and they have replaceable refills so instead of having to replace the whole thing when the pads wear down you just refill them with new friction material. If I understand the somewhat confusing documentation of these on the web correctly (apparently they're a new product without much info out there) these take Dura-Ace road holder refills but fit cantilevers. (yes, Kool-Stop makes Dura-Ace style refills in a variety of compounds.)Anyway, I'm thoroughly satisfied with these and my only quibble is that the mounting hardware is a little more fiddly than the hardware on the original Tektro pads. Other than that they just plain work; you can pull a "stoppie" with these if you're so inclined. If you ride even semi-seriously you should have good brakes, and these pads are at least "good." I'm hesitant to give them a more glowing review just because I haven't really ridden any other pads in years other than the Tektros that I replaced.

I gave the mountain bike version of these a try on my Specialized Crosstrail and they are great. The OEM pads were garbage. They'd pick up dirt, sand, etc and make a lot of noise. The Kool Pads stay clean and quiet. I bought a pair of the Dura 2 for my daughters new Woom 6 bike because her OEM pads were very noisy, and now the noise is gone. Highly recommend!

I only wanted the holders for some Reynolds carbon pads I needed for use on my CX bike, so I dont have any comments on the pads themselves.The bolts were a little short for Paul touring cantis, but I had some spare hardware in my toolbox from other brakes and was able to make them work.

these did the trick for me. my old pads were worn and had stuff lodged in them causing my rims to get scratched up. no bueno. so i slapped these babies in and now everything feels as it should.