Enve 3.4 Gen 1 clincher brake pad rec needed

[LegendRider]

I have a set of Generation 1 Enve 3.4 clinchers. I've only used the standard Enve grey pads - they've been OK but not great in dry conditions (I avoid rain with these wheels). Can I improve braking performance with another set of pads? SwissStop? Anything else out there? Or, am I stuck with mediocre braking due to the the old tech braking surface?

[Bigger Gear]

If you want maximum braking power the yellow SwissStop carbon pads are hard to beat, however they do put a lot of heat into the rim. In the older days of carbon clinchers there were quite a few heat related failures for Enve, Reynolds, Easton, etc and often the yellow pads were the culprit. You could try the black SwissStop Prince pads, but I'm not sure they would be much different than the Enve pads. I have the same wheels and I'm OK with the Enve pads, I'm 165-170 lbs and ride mostly rolling terrain. I too avoid the rain on these wheels.

[RyanH]

If you want maximum braking power the yellow SwissStop carbon pads are hard to beat...

What....

Yellow SwissStop are quite possibly the worst in almost every regard. Reynolds Power Pads work very well with Enve g1 tracks. They take about 100 miles or so to fully bed in but they become very grippy once they do.

[Calnago]

Unless they’ve changed the compound in the yellow Swiss stops over the years, and they may very well have, I agree with RyanH... worst pads ever for carbon rims. Yet it’s funny how when carbon rims were introduced these were the most recommended pads out there. “Great, fantastic” were descriptive words that come to mind. Perhaps that was more due to being the only pads for carbon rims out there at the time. Pad composition has come a very long way. @BiggerGear: if you truly love the yellow pads, send me a PM with your address and I’ll send you a bunch of brand new Swisstop yellows that I will never use. Sounds like you’re just above the border from me somewhere.

[Bigger Gear]

I realize that pad composition has come a long way, and it's been a long time since I used the Yellow pads....maybe it's just my old brain failing me. I recall using them on some older Edge/Enve Classic 45 rims and I thought they had a lot bite, but poor modulation and they ran "hot". When Reynolds came out with the first gen of Cryo/Blue pads I tried those and found they worked much better on those old Enve rims, in terms of linear modulation and I also felt they were not as prone to heating.

But honestly, on my Enve 3.4 gen 1 I never want for more braking power. The stock Enve pads with DA 9100 calipers work very well for me.

[Calnago]

@BiggerGear: I think your recollection is ok. My first set of carbon rims were clincher Reynolds DVULC (46mm ultralight clinchers). I got them instead of the EDGE at the time because my contacts at Wheelbuilder steered me that way. They were experiencing an inordinate amount of warranty returns with the EDGE rims and suggested I try the newer Reynolds instead. Also very light. As an aside turns out both the Reynolds and the EDGE rims were simply underbuilt and both had material added back to them the following year. Since the Reynolds Blue pads were still quite aways from being produced I had the yellow Swissstops. Ugh!... screeching like crazy in the cool wet mornings and in the rain they were really unsafe, even if you were being appropriately on guard and extra cautious. They’d glaze up as well (run hot as you say). Then finally Reynolds produced the blue pads and they were very soft but much better. The wheels were essentially too light for me anyway and I eventually put them on my girlfriends bike and she loved them. From there they got sold to a friend and he still has them, has raced them a season or two and they’re still good. Still running with the blue pads.
To the OP... I suppose you could just experiment and try some red Campy pads. Or, are the newest ENVE pads the same as the grey pads you have? I might want to try those first. Call ENVE if you haven’t already to get their thoughts. Maybe they just need a refresh? Or the rims’ brake track needs a deep clean. But these days I wouldn’t settle for mediocre braking from carbon rims.

[LegendRider]

Thanks everyone. I may try the Reynolds pads.

[RyanH]

Make sure you get the Cryo Power Pads. They are a tad pricey but significantly better. On the plus side, my last set lasted around 8K miles or so.

[Calnago]

@RyanH: are the Cryo Powers a lot “harder” than the old Reynolds blue pads, which are super soft. Or are they still relatively soft?

[RyanH]

That's an interesting question as I think that we often proxy relative hardness through pad longevity. Is there another way to guage how hard or soft a pad is?

[Calnago]

I’m sure there are ways to gauge relative hardness, but I think you’re right... longevity in use is certainly a good indicator, rims being equal of course. But I’m talking about just at a really high (like yeah, this pad is way harder than this pad) kind of thing that’s easily determined just by handling them even. The old blue pads were like that I thought... very soft. At least compared to most carbon specific pads these days... like certainly the Campy red pads as well as most others I come across now. All seem pretty darn hard. So was just wondering if the newer blue pads you mentioned had changed much in that regard as I thought that’s what you might have been comparing them to (the old blue pads from Reynolds).