TIL those cheap Chinese brake pads from Amazon actually held up for a full season of riding in the Rockies, which completely changed my mind about them.

I put a set on my old KLR last spring expecting to swap them out after a month, but after 5000km of gravel and mountain passes they're still stopping fine, so has anyone else had a budget part surprise them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

williamt441d agoMost Upvoted

You mentioned expecting to swap them out after a month. That got me thinking, how much of our fear about budget parts is just us repeating what we hear online? I wonder if sometimes the brand name stuff is just paying for the marketing and the fancy box. Maybe the real difference is who had a bad batch and made a big stink about it.

jamierodriguez1d ago

Wait, you thought they'd only last a MONTH?

linda30523h ago

Totally get what you mean about the fear being overblown! I had the same worry with some no-name wheel bearings for my dirt bike. Put them on just to finish a trip, and they ended up lasting two whole years of hard trail riding. @williamt44 is onto something about us just repeating what we hear online. Sometimes you just get lucky with a good batch, and it feels like winning the lottery!