Tom Dalton wrote< Really, if the Mathauser pads were so clearly better, wouldnt Campy have improved their own compound?> I don't know about Campag but what about Mafac? Those studded blocks were rubbish when Mafac introduced them and they were rubbish when they, thank God, went out of production. All you could say about them was that they, unfortunately, lasted a long time. Luckily my wife worked for BOAC and she got me Mathauser blocks in L.A. so I could stop even when it was raining as it often does in England. Ray Green, Brighton, England