Let me stop you there (hehe).
When I told people I was building up a flat bar cross bike for rippin’ around town on carbon rim brakes, they said “you’re crazy! only disc brakes work in the PNW!”.
And with cantilevers and koolstop Rat yellow pads, they were right. They didn’t work.
Pretty shortly after the first build I bought some TRP mini-Vs and two pair of the Box blue brake pads (with shoes), hoping they would be at least passable.
I was blown away with how well these work. The modulation feels endless, yet they still offer potent bite and stopping power. Oh and they are essentially silent too. I have only run them for about 3 months now, but I have not noticed any significant wear in that time. No noticeable wear or residue on the rim.
Only issue I’ve run into is that the pads are a slightly looser fit in the cartridge holder than typical brake pads (or perhaps there is less friction). This makes them easy to install but it also means the cotter pin is *especially* important. I lost my pin somehow and the pad would fall out at stoplights. Hence having to buy a replacement pad. No worries, user error!
