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WTF....I fired off a query to them today regarding the "out of stock" for XT and Zee brakes.... they fired back an email to say thus
"Hello Davy Thank you for your interest in our pad range. We are sorry to say that we are now completely out of stock of pads that will be compatible with your brakes. We have now opted to discontinue our complete brake pads range. We will not be restocking any of our brake pads. Apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused. Yours sincerely, The Superstar Team."
been using SS pads for years now and never had any probs with them.....
Moved on haven't they. Try Uberbike for a similar alternative
No idea what their sales were like but I imagine as there's a lot of competition from similar business models like Disco brakes and Uberbike who've been around similar amounts of time or longer as well as tens of ebay sellers selling pads even cheaper.
That and whilst perhaps rare and limited to a bad batch as they said, there were enough people that had pads fall apart and subsequent crap warranty to probably make most people think "anywhere but superstar".
they are going to try and stop........
The pads I've had from these guys https://noahandtheo.co.uk/ have been pretty good.
I bought form ebay, but seem to be similar prices on their website.
That'll be me then, I bought two sets and they were both too thick to fit in the caliper.
They stopped more than a while ago, the said something along the lines of it was £100k minimum order to restock and others were selling pads at a tiny or zero margin so it wasn't worth it.
I love SS, but there was more than a hint of irony about it, when they started selling pads that's exactly what the OE manufacturers said.
I think they're moving into Hope's territory now, or at least where they were a few years ago. I like a lot of their stuff, but I wish they'd tone down the of the garish branding and used less cheap looking colour anodising.
yeah, they've been tooling up to be a UK only manufacturer for a good while now
Discobrakes are the nearest thing to Superstar out there -
https://www.discobrakes.com/?s=0&t=0&c=14&p=1042&tb=001
Must admit I usually trawl the online shops for price reductions. Last bought some Clarks from CRC for about £3.50 a set.
Last time I bought some pads from bikediscount for the genuine shimano ones it really wasn't very much. It depends on being in the market for a big enough order to get free shipping, or a few other things to absorb the delivery, but even the finned pads were an OK price!
You can get the exact same pads elsewhere for about the same price, it's got to be a low margin product for them and i guess they don't need the trickle of cashflow any more.
(goes without saying that lots of folks who slagged off superstar pads were perfectly happy to buy the same pads from disco and thought they were ace)
Moved on I guess. Back when Neil set up the business it was operated out of a room in a house. Pads were expensive and alternatives sparse. They now offer a more diverse range of products and seem to be moving into getting more and more uk made bits and pieces.
Probably not worth the effort for them now if the margins are tiny. Uberbike, discobrakes are both good.
Last time I bought some pads from bikediscount for the genuine shimano ones it really wasn’t very much.
Oh yeah this too, if you can live without the fins, which is a safe bet if you've already looked at SS, the OEM Shimano ones are £7 a pair on CRC.
As above, I think it was about 2014/2015 they decided they were getting out of the pad market and they've just been selling old stock since. As such, their range is a pretty good indicator of what is popular and what isn't...
i had some gorilla brakes for sram levels, but to be honest i'm happy with the hope (£9.99-£12.99) or the Resin Shimano XT on amazon when they were £4 a pair.. so never felt the need to go elsewhere.
i had mates swear by superstar.
I'm a big fan of Uberbike Race Matrix if I'm honest, they have loads of power and last really well.
Yeah, ages ago they stopped restocking, and the cost vs profit being the reason. I asked given their Made in UK focus if they'd make them themselves but the machinery is very expensive apparently.
Also the same goes for grips. No restocking there either.
The two things I used Superstar for.
Uber for pads now. Moved to Renthal Kev grips as they seem durable and like the feel.
I asked given their Made in UK focus if they’d make them themselves but the machinery is very expensive apparently.
If "made in the uk" matters to you then EBC still sell pads, I've used them before, can't recall how good they were though.
Fibrax make good pads at reasonable prices in Wrexham.
The problem with pads is that anyone can go to the main supplier of most of the aftermarket brands and start up a business selling them. Then its just a race to the bottom to see who can do them cheapest. Same with grips, so I can see what Neil's logic is - no point setting up specifically to compete in a space thats already crowded and pays so little.
If “made in the uk” matters to you
Doesn't to me, but does to Superstar so I asked just out of interest if they were thinking of doing their own. Obviously price would be higher. I can understand their answer though. Cost of getting kit to make them is just way to high for the volumes they'd sell. Just can't compete with cheap stuff from far east, even the nice stuff that OEMs sell.
Slightly OT, but I’ve wondered before if there’s any sort of QC/cut system that decides which pads to Aztec, Disco, 35Bikes, Superstar etc or if it’s purely luck of the draw?