8BitDo ultimate 2c controller

To replace an old I got the new for me 8BitDo Ultimate 2C wired controller. I picked the peach edition as it came with a discount, the price was just under 17 €, or a bit under $ 20, price without transport. So I said for this price I cant go wrong and got what is probably the least desired color scheme out of the bunch.

The peach color looks kinda nice in person, better then I expected.

The 8BitDo did a good job designing the controller, as it feels nice in hand, the buttons, joysticks, triggers and D pad all feel nice to press. Being a hall effect game pad it should last quite a lot.

The back of the controller has textured plastic for a better grip. I really like the feel of it. The only thing I would change about is is having the shoulders a bit wider. 

The controller is wired and connects to PC with USB A to C cable (c on the controller side). It is a thick cable, not beaded, but decent quality.

From what I see and tested the joysticks don't have dead zones. They are responsive and have a nice actuation, it works great with a PC and the price is really compelling. So in the end there is not much I can say about it. Go for it, 8BitDo made a great controller at a very attractive price point. I don't think it can get any better than this. 

Aliexpress brake pads test and review

Over the last 10 years and almost 16 000 km I tested several brake pads, and now I want to share my experience with the different brands and types of pads I used.

These 16.000 km are mainly commute in all types of weather, in a hilly city with a heavy rider, I weigh around 90 kg, so the entire weight bike, myself and luggage is just over 100 kg.

The type of pad I use is the Shimano BS01 style pad.

I tested brands like Shimano and Ashima but also brands from Aliexpress like Zoom which is a manufacturer of brakes as well, but also no name generic B01s pads. I tested different brands and compounds because I was qurious about the differenece in braking and I wanted to see if cheaper pads are any good. Shimano resin B01s pads are about 7.86 € / $ 9.24 while you can get a pair of brake pads from Aliexpress for just 1 € / $ 1.18.

Brake pad model    Total             Avg km 

Shimano      (1)      2.313 km     1.157 km (rear)
Ashima        (2)      4.791 km     2.396 km (rear)
Zoom          (1)      1.870 km     742 km (rear) / 1.128 (front)
Aliexpress*  (1)      14.388 km   1.146 km (rear) / 1.591 (front)

(1) - resin pad
(2) - semi metallic pad
* - products bought from several Aliexpress shops, multiple orders 

There are differences between pads, but from my experience not so much between manufacturers as there is a difference in how they work and feel based on the compound. The resin models worked more or less the same, cheap no name pads from Aliexpress had similar braking power as the Shimano ones. Where I saw a difference was between resin and the semi metallic pads.

The semi-metallic pads brake a bit better, they last a lot longer (lowering the life of the disc) and make more noise, especially in the rain.

But between Simano and Aliexpress I couldn't feel a difference in power, or how much the pads last. With the original Shimano pads I averaged 1157 km / pad on the rear wheel while with Aliexpress pads (bought from several sellers) I averaged 1146 km on the rear wheel. The difference between the two is negligible. 

The difference can come on the other hand from the tolerances of the no name pads. I ran into an issues with a set I bought where I tested 4 different pads and they didn't properly fit in the caliper. I needed to file a little bit of the sides so they could fit and reset after braking.

It is an annoying inconvenient, but from all the pads from Aliexpress I changed only the last 4 pieces came with this issue. I do not know if I was lucky until now, or unlucky this time.