Check out these brakes

[Intech]

I hardly ever touch the rear brake unless it's a low speed maneuver. Are they wearing out because of the linked brakes? I guess I would rear brake more if 2 up, but I'm mostly solo. Just curious. I've never had to replace rear brakes on a bike.

The ABS links the back to the front, but the front work solo.

 

[FJReady]

Further proof I ride like a pussy: I replaced my front pads at 44,XXX because I'm planning a long XC trip. There was still about 1/3 pad left. The rears have over half original thickness so I didn't replace those. I guess brake pad life, like tire life varies tremendously.

 

[FJRScorpion]

Speaking of brake usage... my buddy swears that when he needs to negotiate a close quarter "U" turn, w/pillion, he has much more control by applying the rear brakes and accelerating through it. He attributes it to the gyroscope effect. :dntknw: Since I'm vertically (inseam) challenged I'm always looking for an improved and safer way to handle the bike, even at the expense of the rear pads. I've tried it and seem to get mixed results but I may not be doing it the same. I should mention that he has a Vulcan though. This would normally seem to be a minimal issue but if you're house hunting with the wife you make plenty of 'U' turns and quick stops. :wacko:

 

[meosborn]

Further proof I ride like a pussy: I replaced my front pads at 44,XXX because I'm planning a long XC trip. There was still about 1/3 pad left. The rears have over half original thickness so I didn't replace those. I guess brake pad life, like tire life varies tremendously.

So, theoretically, you had 20k+ miles left on those pads? How long is this trip going to be?

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Speaking of brake usage... my buddy swears that when he needs to negotiate a close quarter "U" turn, w/pillion, he has much more control by applying the rear brakes and accelerating through it. He attributes it to the gyroscope effect. :dntknw:

I think your buddy needs to spend some quality time with a gyroscope...?

It does, sometimes, help with throttle control to keep the revs up (a little) and control speed (and power being delivered) with the rear brake while in a slow-speed maneuver.

But..., going and stopping at the same time...? -- well, maybe in an alternative universe....?

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Further proof I ride like a pussy: I replaced my front pads at 44,XXX because I'm planning a long XC trip. There was still about 1/3 pad left. The rears have over half original thickness so I didn't replace those. I guess brake pad life, like tire life varies tremendously.

So, theoretically, you had 20k+ miles left on those pads? How long is this trip going to be?

Yep, I can identify with that...

Until, I remember standing at the dealer's parts counter while some guy, who was on-tour, was buying rear pads to install on his severly scored rotor (metal-to-metal will do that... ).

I just can't seem to ever get those last few miles out of wear items...

 

[twizted1]

Speaking of brake usage... my buddy swears that when he needs to negotiate a close quarter "U" turn, w/pillion, he has much more control by applying the rear brakes and accelerating through it. He attributes it to the gyroscope effect. :dntknw:

I think your buddy needs to spend some quality time with a gyroscope...?

It does, sometimes, help with throttle control to keep the revs up (a little) and control speed (and power being delivered) with the rear brake while in a slow-speed maneuver.

But..., going and stopping at the same time...? -- well, maybe in an alternative universe....?

The rear brake is typically to control your speed while keeping the rev's up and it also covers up some clutch control issues.

 

[bramfrank]

I had my tires changed just before leaving for my road trip and the mech told me my front pads were finished. My rears were like new and she - yes, she - said that she didn't understand why, but one of the 4 sets of front pads was also like new.

I explained the linked brakes - she was impressed.

They didn't have OEM pads in stock (besides, up in Kanada, my DISCOUNTED price for a set of OEM front pads was US$155, plus 15% taxes, so I decided to order from Mondak, which I did. Gary convinced me to buy Carbone Loraine sintered plate pads for about $85 for the four sets shipped - explaining that the disks are worth about $100 each if I managed to chew them up, but the stopping power of the recommended pads would be nothing short of awesome!!

Since he was suggesting less expensive pads than the OEMs (He wanted about $120 for the OEMs) and because he was passionate about it I listened and that's what I've ordered.

So when i got home I decided to shuffle the pads around, putting the 'like new' pair on the most-worn ones and those most worn on the piston connected to the rear.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that her idea of 'worn out' meant that there was still a 16th of an inch of wear guide still visible (after 35,000 miles, much of which was VERY hard riding through twisties at high speed and some track time)

So the new pads are sitting around while I run until my next tire change and THEN I'll stick the new pads on the bike.

If you are wearing out rear brakes you may be well served to take advanced riding lessons.

 

[glory racing]

Speaking of brake usage... my buddy swears that when he needs to negotiate a close quarter "U" turn, w/pillion, he has much more control by applying the rear brakes and accelerating through it. He attributes it to the gyroscope effect. :dntknw: Since I'm vertically (inseam) challenged I'm always looking for an improved and safer way to handle the bike, even at the expense of the rear pads. I've tried it and seem to get mixed results but I may not be doing it the same. I should mention that he has a Vulcan though. This would normally seem to be a minimal issue but if you're house hunting with the wife you make plenty of 'U' turns and quick stops. :wacko:

This technique works very well. That is why many call the rear brake the control brake. Ever seen the police doing tight figure 8's at very slow speed...control brake. Since the rear is linked on the fjr, I use them exclusively to stop if I am on a lazy ride. Also when the wife is on back, I use the rears almost exclusively to keep from throwing her forward as much. I use my rear brakes quite often.

 

[mr.paul]

Ok, now I feel like adding my 2 cents.

A very accomplished racer friend of mine says he never uses his back brake. He does ride very well on technical stuff. However...I have a different take.

I am a firm believer that when the SHTF, you will fall back to your training far, far more often than "rise to the occasion". Because of this I use both front and back brakes every time, without exception. When the 16 year-old cellphone wielding girl plows out in front of me I want all of the great braking available from my Feej.

For what it is worth, I replaced my brake pads at 26k before my recent trip from Minnesota to North CAroliina nd back. I found all varying thicknesses on my pads, including one pair that was relatively gone. So I am glad I replaced them. Could I have gone further on them? No question. For the price of a set of pads do I want to worry/wonder about that while running the Dragon? Oh puhleese....it aint worth it.

paul from Minnesota

 

[scubabiker]

Looks to me like you just have full metallic pads now. For those of you not using your back brake, watch the "Ride Like A Pro" DVD if you want to learn what it's for.

 

[Wee Willy]

Sir Isaac will tell you that the amount of brake material used over time is a measure of the energy being absorbed/dissipated. It costs brake material to pull kinetic energy from the 2-wheel system when the brakes are used. And energy is a strong function of the system mass (weight essentially) and the square of the velocity being scrubbed (E = 0.5*mass*velocity*velocity). So if you carry more weight, you eat more brake to stop, all other things equal. If you like to stop from a faster speed, you get a squared effect in brake material loss, all other things equal. If you're fast AND heavy, well, you get the picture.

The front brakes have more pad surface area in contact with rotors so they should wear less quickly (as measured in pad thickness) because they can spread the workload between both disks. As a rough estimate, the same amount of material would be used to stop the machine, front or back. It's just that the front has more to give up so it might seem to wear more slowly.

Aggressive riders will tend to go through pads more quickly because they put more energy through the system and do so at a quicker pace (more power generated and expended). That's why a tracked car would use its brakes up far more quickly than on the road, all other things equal. Racing machines eat brake material.

There are ways to get the most from your pads/disks & other elements of your binder system. Use your engine for braking; downshift into the stop. Also, less hard-on, hard-off riding. Brake temperature, which is a measure of how much energy is being pumped into the brakes, can significantly affect the wear rate. Hot pads tend to wear more quickly, again, all other things equal. Better energy management which basically equates to getting through the same bit of road at the same rate with less time on the binders. This equates to driving skill really. Things like line selection, corner entry and exit, apex selection, etc. And finally, there's just going slower...less energy in the system means less brake work for the binders.

For those with a performance bent, brakes are probably the most important piece of the big picture after the tires. It is said by many who live on the podium that the center pedal wins races.

Cheers,

W2

 

[meosborn]

Further proof I ride like a pussy: I replaced my front pads at 44,XXX because I'm planning a long XC trip. There was still about 1/3 pad left. The rears have over half original thickness so I didn't replace those. I guess brake pad life, like tire life varies tremendously.

So, theoretically, you had 20k+ miles left on those pads? How long is this trip going to be?

Yep, I can identify with that...

Until, I remember standing at the dealer's parts counter while some guy, who was on-tour, was buying rear pads to install on his severly scored rotor (metal-to-metal will do that... ).

I just can't seem to ever get those last few miles out of wear items...

I can definitely understand not wanting to have to shop for new pads in the middle of a trip but, my point was that I wonder if the trip that he was going on was going to be anywhere close to even half of what he could have expected to get out of the pads.

Another option if you're technically inclined, it takes about 2 or 3 tools to replace a set of pads; just bring them along and an extra set of pads if you're really paranoid.

On the other hand, what is it worth to you to not have to worry about changing out a set of pads on the road? Whatever. To each his own.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

I am a firm believer that when the SHTF, you will fall back to your training far, far more often than "rise to the occasion". Because of this I use both front and back brakes every time, without exception. When the 16 year-old cellphone wielding girl plows out in front of me I want all of the great braking available from my Feej.

Which will be the front brakes 80 ~ 90 % (some bikes, stoppie, 100%)

...I replaced my brake pads at 26k ...found all varying thicknesses on my pads, including one pair that was relatively gone.

Could that have been the one front pair of pads operated by the rear brake? If so?, it shows a (maybe?) over-dependence on the rear brake?

When the-fit-hits-the-shan, a trained response to progressively, forcefully, apply all six front pads (along with the two highly worn pads) will be your best friend.