I rode my bike up Mt Um last weekend and on the way down I had the opportunity to consider that my satisfaction with the performance of the brakes on Purple Haze was perhaps not as complete as I'd like it to be. I brought up this subject on the Google road biking group and one of the more technical members suggested that I might enjoy upgrading the brake pads to SwissStop brand pads instead of using the default SRAM pads that came with the brakes.
So, since pads are pretty cheap, I ordered a pair and dropped them in the front. I left the rears as-is because rear brakes don't really do a heck of a lot.
First up, they're a lovely yellow color, so I guess that's neat. As for braking performance; after bedding them in on one of the hills behind my house, I found that my impressions were really kind of unchanged. I'll keep them in there because there's no reason not to, but I think when they wear out (which might take a while, I've barely started to wear the original pads and these are supposed to last a lot longer) I might switch back to the SRAM pads I took out to see if I feel a dramatic difference.
So, tune in like 5 years from now for the follow-up to this post.
In other Purple Haze news, I also felt that my on-bike nutrition situation needed improvement. I had stashed my energy chews in my jersey pocket (which is on the back for cycling jerseys), and given I was wearing thick winter gloves (ok, "winter" gloves. It's still California here), and wearing a jacket over top of the jersey, I found that accessing the chews on the bike was less than ideal.
Simple solution, add a top-tube bag.
I actually have this same model bag on Crimson Ghost, though reversed and tucked under the seat to hold my multitool, pump, etc. This is more like how it's intended to be used, so we'll see how well it works out for me. I have high hopes for this one.
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