Ease of use is what got me mountain biking. I ride out of the driveway and in 5 min I am on trails. Dirt bike would be a different level of effort where I am at now.
now that I need/want to replace mine, anyone have any good pad recommendations for Shimano road disc? I hadn't even considered aftermarket until this thread.
Stop riding bicycles. It's ghey and you're in the way of @Venom51 and he will run you over just for spite.
I don't know the road stuff, but whatever the equivalent to the g02a pads are for your groupset. Looks like it is probably l02a or k02s, depending on if you want finned or not. But double check my work.
Anyone tried the Vesrah pads? https://www.kurveygirl.com/shop/index.php?cPath=180&osCsid=08f9cach3v75q1a5gpj48ujec0
Mark Junge has been helping develop them as well as riding and racing on them for a couple decades now.