Cartridge compatibility?

The advantage of swapping to cartridge pads is that you have a wide choice of block compounds available to suit ride conditions and your braking style. In theory, it should also easier to change the blocks once the cartridge housing is set up in the caliper. However, if the calipers are shite then you might not see much improvement for the effort and cost involved. Just how bad are the Tektros?

well, don't know if its the actual tektro caliper which are bad, but the blocks seem to be made out of chalk. Or at least I feel as though they are (the powdery feel, if you get me?). I've heard that the calipers don't matter that much, i've read in another thread that a guy has a pair of campy centaur brakes, but put record pads on them, and work really well. but don't really know if that really is the case..