Weight Weenies

I know what enve says, but how much of an infraction is this?

Frankly, who cares? I'd rather live and Swissstop Black Prince have about twice the retardation and modulation of Enve pads in the dry; unlike Enve pads, they also work (up to a point) in the wet.

Comments based on Enve 45 Classics - YMMV.

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Which Enve rims do you have? If it's the new textured brake track rims, I wouldn't diverge from the Enve black pads. I have found the braking to be excellent in both dry and wet conditions. The wet braking so surpassess anything else I have experienced (other than Mavic ceramic Reflex rims with swissstop green pads) that I couldn't imagine that it could be improved.

BdaGhisallo wrote:Which Enve rims do you have? If it's the new textured brake track rims, I wouldn't diverge from the Enve black pads. I have found the braking to be excellent in both dry and wet conditions. The wet braking so surpassess anything else I have experienced (other than Mavic ceramic Reflex rims with swissstop green pads) that I couldn't imagine that it could be improved.

Old track - 8.9s.

I've stayed on the enve pads on my 4.5's (old track), stopping is fine in the dry, in the wet you wouldn't chose to be out as the braking dominates how you ride. I have the advantage of a wet bike though (that runs discs) so I'm not making much of a compromise to stay within warranty.

Having said that I'm not sure how Enve would tell you hadn't used their pads.....

AttacknowAttackoften wrote:I know what enve says, but how much of an infraction is this?

Enve doesn't make brake pads, and in all likelyhood it's Swiss Stop who makes them FOR Enve. I'd rock the Black Prince ones.

Best thing is to contact the Enve and ask them if they have approved other pads with your specific wheelset.

If you don't use their pads and you have a problem with your rims, your warranty will be void.
If your warranty is over, do what you want, but better to ask Enve first.

I run Black Princes on my chinese rims, but I know plenty of people who run them on Campys, Enves, Mavics and even Lightweights and nobody has ever had an issue.
Braking in the dry with my basalt-coated tracks is excellent, I wouldn't be able to say how they are in the wet as I've never gotten caught out in the rain while riding the tubies.

A few weeks ago i went for a week of trainning in the Pirynees with a few friends.

One of them was on a pair of enve clinchers and he absolutely "fried" his rims (rear blew up and front got deformed) descending the Tourmalet on the 3rd day of our week trip. Guess what? He was NOT using the stock enve pads! We are talking of a 75kg rider..

It's never a problem until it's a problem.

Enve's brake pads are stupid expensive. MSRP might not be that far off from SwissStop, but actual street prices differ by almost a factor 2. So I also run Black Prince pads on my SES 4.5 rims with the old brake track…

Kaboom wrote:I run Black Princes on my chinese rims, but I know plenty of people who run them on Campys, Enves, Mavics and even Lightweights and nobody has ever had an issue.
Braking in the dry with my basalt-coated tracks is excellent, I wouldn't be able to say how they are in the wet as I've never gotten caught out in the rain while riding the tubies.

Lightweights brake pads are made by swisstop. People running swisstop on Campy Boras are actually not getting full potencial of their brake performance. Someone I know who races had FFWD with black prince and bought a set of new Bora one 50 tubular. He mentioned to me that his braking was crap. I told him to use only campy pads and that using other pads will void his warranty. He came back to me with a big smile after using the stock pads. Best braking ever he said.

Any brake pads will work, especially on flats. But when you get to steep descends with heavy braking, that's where you will see the difference. Also people who are not confident descending tend to ride the brakes more and that heats up the rims much more. It can make the difference between getting back home safely or rim failure. You can kiss your warranty goodbye. A Bora rim is very expensive if you have to pay from your pocket. Its better to just buy a new wheel as the price is almost the same. A Campy rep once told me that they do test other pads during development, but nothing performs like their pads.

MayhemSWE wrote:Enve's brake pads are stupid expensive. MSRP might not be that far off from SwissStop, but actual street prices differ by almost a factor 2. So I also run Black Prince pads on my SES 4.5 rims with the old brake track…

I don't know about Europe, but in North America you can get them at 19$ a pair. That's not expensive for piece of mind considering how much new Enve wheels cost.

If you can afford a pair of ENVE wheels but you can't afford to ride them with stock pads then something is wrong....

I recently went from Zipp to new track Enve/ Enve pads and was shocked by how poor the braking was. I put on Black Princes yesterday and had a wet and dry ride this morning and the braking was so much better. I would not consider going back to Enve pads, warranty or not. I want to stop.

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