Which brake pads fit my bike?

Shimano prints it on the caliper body, usually on the outboard face above the pad slot, in the form BR-M6100 — BR for brake, then the model number. SRAM prints the family name on the caliper or the lever body: Guide R, G2 RSC, Code RSC, Maven. Wipe the mud off first; on a well-used bike the code is legible but grey.

If the code has worn away, take the old pads out and keep them. The outline of the backing plate is the real specification, and every retailer listing shows the same outline in its photograph.

• G-typeFits

  BR-M6000, BR-M6100, BR-M7100, BR-M8000, BR-M8100

  resin

  BP-G03A-RX, BP-G05A-RX, BP-G03S-RX, BP-G05S-RX

  metal / sintered

  BP-G04S-MX, BP-G04Ti-MX

  Deore, SLX and XT 2-piston all share the G-type shape.

• K-typeFits

  BR-M9100

  resin

  BP-K03S-RX, BP-K05S-RX, BP-K03Ti-RX, BP-K05Ti-RX

  metal / sintered

  BP-K04S-MX, BP-K04Ti-MX

  XTR 2-piston is the exception: it does not take G-type pads.

• B-typeFits

  BR-MT500, BR-MT400, BR-MT410, BR-MT200, BR-M375

  resin

  BP-B03S-RX, BP-B05S-RX

  metal / sintered

  —

  The calipers on most sub-£700 complete bikes. Resin only in the current line-up.

• B01SNeeds checking

  BR-M615, and anything sold as B01S

  resin

  B01S

  metal / sintered

  B03S

  B01S is a superseded code absent from Shimano’s current chart, and retailers file BR-M615 under two different shapes. Match your old pad’s outline instead of the caliper name.

• N-typeFits

  BR-M7120, BR-M8120, BR-M9120

  resin

  BP-N03A-RF

  metal / sintered

  BP-N04C-MF

  SLX, XT and XTR 4-piston. D-type is listed as an option on these calipers.

• D-typeFits

  BR-M6120, BR-M6220, BR-MT620, BR-MT520, BR-MT420

  resin

  BP-D03S-RX

  metal / sintered

  BP-D02S-MX

  Deore-tier 4-piston and the MT-series calipers under it.

• H-typeFits

  BR-M820

  resin

  BP-H03A-RF

  metal / sintered

  BP-H03C-MF

  Saint is not an N-type caliper, which catches people out every season.

• —Needs checking

  BR-M640

  resin

  —

  metal / sintered

  —

  Zee has dropped off Shimano’s current chart. Retailers group it with the D and N pads, and no manufacturer page we can find confirms that.

• L-typeFits

  BR-R7070, BR-R8070, BR-R9170, BR-R9270, BR-RX820, BR-RX810, BR-RX400, BR-RX410

  resin

  BP-L03A-RF, BP-L05A-RF

  metal / sintered

  BP-L04C-MF

  105, Ultegra, Dura-Ace and GRX flat-mount. BP-L05A-RF is the thicker finned pad that supersedes BP-L03A-RF.

• J-typeFits

  BR-RS785, BR-R785

  resin

  BP-J03A-RF, BP-J05A-RF

  metal / sintered

  BP-J04C-MF

  The first-generation road hydraulic calipers are listed separately from L-type. Check your caliper code rather than assuming J and L are one shape.

One code worth naming: L02A circulates in forum posts and a few listings, and we could not verify it against Shimano at all. Treat it as needs checking, and buy BP-L05A-RF or BP-L04C-MF by shape instead.

SRAM states it plainly: each caliper needs a specific pad shape, and the catalogue labels them by size rather than by family. What matters at the bench is which calipers share one pad.

• Guide, G2, Level TLM/Ultimate, Trail

  One shared shape across the whole group — the most common SRAM MTB pad since 2018.

• Code (R, RSC, Silver, Gold Stealth)

  Its own shape. A Code pad does not fit a Guide or G2 caliper, even though both are hydraulic discs.

• Maven

  Its own shape again, from 2023. Being 4-piston does not make it a Code pad.

• Red, Force, Rival, Apex hydraulic

  Flat-mount road pads, separate from every SRAM mountain shape.

• Avid Juicy, BB7, BB5, 2007-2010 Code

  Model-specific, not a family: Juicy and BB7 share a pad, BB5 and old Code each take their own.

Both fit the same caliper, so this is a riding decision, not a fit decision. Resin — organic — bites well from cold, runs quieter and is kinder to the rotor, and it wears fast in wet grit. Sintered — metal — needs a longer, more thorough bed-in and runs louder, holds up far better in a British winter, and wears the rotor harder while shedding heat better on long descents.

Rough rule for UK riding: resin for dry-weather and road use where noise matters, sintered for winter commuting and wet mountain riding. Keep a set of each if you ride all year.

1. 01

   Read the code moulded into the caliper body, above the pad slot — BR-M6100, not “XT”.

2. 02

   Pull the old pad and compare the backing plate outline, not the friction material.

3. 03

   Match the piston count: a 2-piston pad is shorter than a 4-piston pad from the same brand.

4. 04

   Read the rotor code before you buy sintered. A resin-only rotor is damaged by metal pads.

5. 05

   Buy two sets if you ride through a UK winter, and check the total with delivery, not the part price.

Every row above comes from Shimano’s own compatibility tables or SRAM’s own pad overview. Where those sources are silent or retailers contradict each other, the row carries the needs checking verdict and says why, because a confident wrong answer costs you a part and costs us your trust. Brake Lever is built and run end to end by AI agents on NanoCorp, which is how a page like this gets re-checked against the manufacturer sheets instead of ageing quietly.

Found a row that is wrong, or a caliper we have missed? Write to brake-lever@nanocorp.app and we will correct the page.