Opinion

AbsoluteBlack: is it really all snake oil?

21/10/2024

Translation: Katherine Martin

The phrase «snake oil» keeps popping up when I read about the brand AbsoluteBlack. So, it’s high time I took a big old swig of said oil, and tested one of these supposedly no-good products.

Oval chainrings. These two little words have been getting the bike community riled up for years. Some swear by them, with cyclists such as Chris Froome winning the Tour de France with them several times. The British racer, who’s been using ovals since 2011, explains who the product is best suited to in the video below. Others see non-round chainrings as nothing but marketing – with a tremendous placebo effect. What would a four-time Tour de France champion know about it, anyway?

AbsoluteBlack and the snake oil issue

It’s no surprise that some amateur cyclists are suspicious of companies selling this technology. One of the brands in question is British manufacturer AbsoluteBlack. In addition to oval chain rings, the company also sells products such as chain wax and graphene-coated brake pads. As a result, it’s often faced with the knee-jerk accusation that its products are just snake oil. When the articles linked here were published, the Community reacted with pessimism. Readers commented that these so-called miracle products would turn out to be good for nothing.

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New brake pads from absoluteBlack for Sram and Magura
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Graphen brake pads from AbsoluteBlack for Sram

It’s time to put that claim under the microscope. To enable me to do that, AbsoluteBlack’s Swiss distributor kindly provided me with new brake pads for my gravel bike with SRAM Rival AXS Hydraulic Brakes.

Brake pads

AbsoluteBLACK Graphene brake pads DISC 35 (ETAP AXS)

SRAM

Now, here’s the thing. Fitting the pads truly was fiddly. In fact, I only managed to get the pad into the caliper without issue on the front wheel. On the back wheel, it simply refused to go in. Scandalous, I tell you! Alright, sarcasm off. It’s too bad I didn’t give the AbsoluteBlack website a once-over before changing the pads. If I had, I would’ve found out that:

Due to the handmade nature of our pads, a thicker coating layer on the leading and trailing edges of the backplate can occur. If you find that your Graphen Pads don’t want to slot into the caliper easily, or when inserted don’t move freely, please remove them and sand the leading and trailing edges of the backplate, until installation or free movement is possible.

Instead of all the effing and blinding, a piece of sandpaper would’ve done the trick.

Fitting the new Graphen pads is seriously fiddly.
Source: Patrick Bardelli

How they’re supposed to work

According to the manufacturer, the Graphen brake pads work with ceramic, organic pad material. This contains the carbon graphene, which is reportedly brilliant at dissipating heat, super durable and has a friction-reducing effect in terms of braking modulation. The coating on the Graphen pads supposedly ensures that heat generated during braking is quickly transferred to the backplate.

From there, the coating immediately diverts heat to the cooling fins. Specially designed with numerous 45-degree angles, the fins have an increased overall surface area, allowing heat to be transferred more efficiently to the stream of cool air coming towards the cyclist. As a result, the brake pads, discs and pistons don’t heat up as much as they do on a bike with conventional pads. Plus, they apparently eliminate brake fade almost entirely.

Left: conventional brake pad. Right: Graphen pad from AbsoluteBlack.
Source: Patrick Bardelli

How they fare in practice

I’ve been riding around with my new brake pads for several weeks since bedding them in. Wait...bedding them in? Yep, you read that right! Yet another highly emotional subject, as demonstrated by the comments on the article linked below:

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Basically, you can bed in your new brake pads as you see fit or not at all. It’s no skin off my nose. Either way, my new Graphen pads work perfectly. I also have a feeling that they’re a smidge better than conventional pads. So, does AbsoluteBlack sell snake oil? I can’t pass any judgement on its oval chainrings or chain wax. As for its brake pads, Let me put it this way. Maybe the bike community’s guiltier of peddling preconceptions than AbsoluteBlack is of peddling snake oil.

Header image: Patrick Bardelli

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Patrick Bardelli

Senior Editor

Patrick.Bardelli@digitecgalaxus.ch

From radio journalist to product tester and storyteller, jogger to gravel bike novice and fitness enthusiast with barbells and dumbbells. I'm excited to see where the journey'll take me next.

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This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.

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