Ryan Palmer, gear editor for Bike magazine, regarding SRAM's Code RSC brakes:
"The one thing I don't love is the noise they sometimes make. Codes come with metallic sintered pads, which make that annoying turkey warbling sound in dry, dusty conditions, that anyone who has ever run SRAM or Avid brakes knows all too well. If you're using these brakes for everyday riding like I am, I'd recommend swapping to the quieter organic ones."
Finally!
I've complainedover and over that Bike was remiss in failing to note the terrible track record that SRAM brakes has with noise---particularly the notorious "turkey gobble"---when reviewing its brakes. Kudos to Palmer for pointing it out, although I'd like to see the reviewers hold SRAM's feet to the fire over the years-old problem that's pervaded its brakes.
That said, organic pads never solved the sound problem for me (albeit on older SRAM/Avid brakes). Neither did changing rotors, filing edges, nor any of the other "solutions" that were suggested by shops and the internet at large. SRAM brakes just suck.
Since I have a deep hatred of the gobble sound, I've run Shimano brakes consistently. I've never run across this problem the review notes about Shimano's Saint BR-M820-B model:
"There's another thing about the Saints that bothers me, and it's a gripe of mine with pretty much all current Shimano brakes: Those stupid finned pads are constantly rattling in the calipers. SRAM brakes are more prone to making noise while braking, but at least they don't constantly have me wondering if there's a bolt coming loose on my bike. Fortunately, Shimano still makes rattle-free non-finned pads that work in these brakes."
I run the finned pads on two different bikes currently, with no such noise. I haven't run these Saint brakes, so maybe my XT and XTR brakes aren't part of the "pretty much all current Shimano brakes" set.
"Versus: SRAM Codes vs. Shimano Saints"
www.bikemag.com
