Brakes gone in a day, what to do?

[Horacio]

Ok I have a problem, yesterday I crashed into a concrete wall at 12 miles per hour. the clutch was engaged, front and right handles were squeezed, and feet were dragging on the ground. I was going down hill and could not get the bike to stop, even though I had done it before, the brakes on my bike had worn out too quick.



It has stock pad breaks, and today I went to every bicycle shop in town looking for someone to put disk brakes on my front tire. but everyone said its impossible. anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do so i can stop before i hit the wall?

 

[GearNut]

If you'd done a search, you would have found this:
Kool Stop Salmon Brake Pads for Bicycles from Harris Cyclery
Quite possibly the best pads for use with caliper brakes on a motorized bicycle.

 

[Elmo]

If you'd done a search, you would have found this:
Kool Stop Salmon Brake Pads for Bicycles from Harris Cyclery
Quite possibly the best pads for use with caliper brakes on a motorized bicycle.

They work very well. Even with the elcheapo vbrakes on my bike they stopped very well.

 

[Horacio]

Any advice on which ones are best? i have a hybrid bike, if that makes a difference

 

[Elmo]

Any Shimano vbrakes that are not stamped steel are good. The Kool Stop Salmon pads are very good. The pads are two toned, If I remember they are black on the front1/3 and a pinkish color on the rear two thirds and they are longer than regular pads.

 

[GearNut]

The Kool Stop pads are available in a dual compound which are black/ salmon pink as well as a single compound which are salmon pink. From what I understand, the ones with black in them are good for steel rims and the solid pink ones are good for aluminum rims. Either one will work very well on steel or aluminum rims, though the black tends to wear out the metal of aluminum rims a bit faster.

 

[benutne]

To switch to disc brakes you would need a disc compatible wheel and a disc compatible fork. Take some pics of the fork and your front wheel. We'll get it figured out. In the meantime, get better pads as suggested.

 

[Horacio]

To switch to disc brakes you would need a disc compatible wheel and a disc compatible fork. Take some pics of the fork and your front wheel. We'll get it figured out. In the meantime, get better pads as suggested.

I got the pads from that website, work great, don't need disk anymore.