Cjeck your brake pads!

[Kilbane83]

Had a serious run in with lady luck today. I was just about to head out to Leakey Tx, from San Antonio.. about a 180mile trip out in the middle of nowhere when I was stopping at a light and my brake lever went soft. I pulled into the gas station at the corner and took a look, fluid was gushing down the side of the left rotor/caliper. I did some parking lot maintence, took the caliper off and looked at the pads realizing I"ve never checked them since I put em on and yikes! Those where Galfer pads at one point.

As luck would have it, there was a motorcycle store just down the street. I took the pads off and remounted the caliper and limped the bike over to the shop using the rear brake.. who'd a thought it'd come in handy

Got a set of new EBC pads, replaced both sides in the lot... and spent the next hour bleeding the brakes. Fun stuff. It could have been a hell of a lot worse so I'm thankful it happened where and when it did. It's my own damn fault. 25kmiles and I never thought to check the pads :tard:

Moral of the story, check your pads when you change your oil. I know I will from here on out.

 

[Zack]

Scary stuff!

I can't really understand brakes on motorcycle. 3 rotors for 200 kg vehicle. I drive Honda Odyssey, it has more than 2500 kg, 4 rotors, more than 80000km (50k miles) and brake pads are still original ones, not even close gone. How is that?

 

[reiobard]

my pads lasted about 16k miles and they were pretty toasted, i can't even think of what they would look like at 25k miles!!!

 

[Wolfman]

Lol....i reckon that's just about the most hardcore set of pads i have seen for a long while....How are your brake disc's? scored?

 

[sempul]

^^^^thats what im saying! that one rotor should have been eaten up!

 

[paulinus]

Goodness, man! Were they not squealing?

 

[paul1149]

I can't really understand brakes on motorcycle. 3 rotors for 200 kg vehicle. I drive Honda Odyssey, it has more than 2500 kg, 4 rotors, more than 80000km (50k miles) and brake pads are still original ones, not even close gone. How is that?

On a vehicle as light as a motorcycle you must include rider weight. That will skew the calculations by around 50%. Then, there's pad surface area. How do the Honda pads compare in size to the FZ's? Then, composition. Some pads are harder than others and can wear longer. Finally, there's the human factor: how is the bike/car ridden?

 

[Kriswithak]

Yea I would imagine that motorcycle pads are probably a bit more sports orientated than the normal car type, performance rather than longevity!
Thats pretty bloody amazing though! Good to hear it happened when you had a chance to fix it or it could have been a major issue :S
Did you make sure you gave the bike a really good wash in that back area once done to get off the brake fluid? Its nasty stuff and will eat through the paint on your rims etc