break pads

5503 Views 18 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Colonel, Nov 14, 2018

Pete

Discussion Starter · Oct 31, 2015

Ok, so I have searched a few forums with not much success. What break pads are you guys putting on your bikes? OEM are expensive, and I cant find a lot of info on aftermarket pads. I have 2013 Ninja 1000, no ABS, with just over 33,000 miles. It's a commuter bike. I HAVE to ride it 70 miles one way to work.
Thanks for any info!

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mrphotoman

· #2 · Nov 1, 2015

do you mean BRAKE pads? I would not skimp on them since they are one of the most important things on a bike.

Just google (insert year of bike) brake pads and there are many choices. I would just suggest not purchasing some generic no name china brand pads that may or may not work. is your life worth saving $20 on BRAKE pads?

OR are you talking about break pads that harley owners use to stick under their bikes to absorb oil leaks and catch parts that fall of the bike when it is parked? I hear that puppy pads work great and are easy to find at walmart. I doubt you would need them though since you are riding a kawasaki.

Reactions: 2

MikSchultzy

· #3 · Nov 1, 2015

I'm seeing quite a few sites offer EBC pads. EBC has been around a while and should work nicely.

Pete

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 2, 2015

mrphotoman, you are tooooo funny. I especially like the Harley comments. Yeah, I meant brake pads. Sorry about that. I don't want to skimp at all. But what I have read so far is the OEM pads are marginal at best, and quite pricey. So I figured I would look for a nice set of aftermarket pads. I just wanted to know what has worked good for others.
I'll check out the EBC pads.
I read DP's are supposed to be pretty good. I looked at the DP website and cant find pads for my bike, so I sent them an e-mail. No response yet.

rcannon409

· #5 · Nov 2, 2015

The frond pad for our ninja 1000 is one of the most common pads ever made. Same pads as the gsxr's take from the year 2003-2009. Same pad as the zx10 takes from 08-15, too.

The ebc's are rather noisy, as are the dp's. AA good commuter pad that is quiet, powerful, and not too expensive would be galfer.

Heres an example.

04 11 Suzuki GSXR 1000 04 09 GSXR 600 750 Front Galfer HH Brake Pads New | eBay

One of my favorite all around pads. Not gritty feeling like ebc, or noisy like dp.

If you want my real favorite, the one that will make you go, "oh my god, I had no idea...."nothing is as good as these:

Vesrah VD-355 RJLXX racing brake Pads, GSXR, ZX10R, GSX-R, Suzuki, Kawasaki

EBC;s are fine, and very popular, but its not hard to better their performance.

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Reactions: 2

mrphotoman

· #6 · Nov 3, 2015

Pete said:
mrphotoman, you are tooooo funny. I especially like the Harley comments. Yeah, I meant brake pads. Sorry about that. I don't want to skimp at all. But what I have read so far is the OEM pads are marginal at best, and quite pricey. So I figured I would look for a nice set of aftermarket pads. I just wanted to know what has worked good for others.
I'll check out the EBC pads.
I read DP's are supposed to be pretty good. I looked at the DP website and cant find pads for my bike, so I sent them an e-mail. No response yet.

i know i was just kidding around. I wonder if brembo makes pads for our bikes. they did for my old fz6 and they were great.

Pete

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 7, 2015

well, after much reading about OEM pads being soft, and locking up the front wheel with aftermarket pads, I think I'm just going to replace with OEM, front and rear. Wont have to worry about locking up the front. I'm an old guy anyway, so don't need to learn any new tricks the hard way.

Thanks for all the advice.

mrphotoman

· #8 · Nov 7, 2015

I think the stock pads work well.

Hornblower

· #9 · Nov 7, 2015

mrphotoman said:
I think the stock pads work well.

On my N1K at least, I agree!

mrsand

· #10 · Nov 8, 2015

Old?

Pete said:
well, after much reading about OEM pads being soft, and locking up the front wheel with aftermarket pads, I think I'm just going to replace with OEM, front and rear. Wont have to worry about locking up the front. I'm an old guy anyway, so don't need to learn any new tricks the hard way.

Thanks for all the advice.

How old is old? Just curious.......

Pete

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 8, 2015

mrsand said:
How old is old? Just curious.......

Yeah I know, it's all a state of mind. ha ha

I turn 56 next week. Been riding dirt and street since I was 8.

My wife doesn't think I'm old, so I guess that's all that matters.

mrsand

· #12 · Nov 8, 2015

All Good

Pete said:
Yeah I know, it's all a state of mind. ha ha

I turn 56 next week. Been riding dirt and street since I was 8.

My wife doesn't think I'm old, so I guess that's all that matters.

Yep, its all good

Experience_Matters

· #13 · Mar 9, 2016

mrphotoman said:
i know i was just kidding around. I wonder if brembo makes pads for our bikes. they did for my old fz6 and they were great.

Yes they do.

Brembo SA & SC's.
I stick to them, haven't found a better pad myself.

angelo112233

· #14 · Mar 9, 2016

Experience_Matters said:
mrphotoman said:

i know i was just kidding around. I wonder if brembo makes pads for our bikes. they did for my old fz6 and they were great.

Click to expand...

Yes they do.

Brembo SA & SC's.
I stick to them, haven't found a better pad myself.

How are the SC pads? Are they low maintenance?

I have the RC pad, although they are powerful, they are very dusty, and it keeps the discs gray.

Experience_Matters

· #15 · Mar 9, 2016

angelo112233 said:
How are the SC pads? Are they low maintenance?

I have the RC pad, although they are powerful, they are very dusty, and it keeps the discs gray.

RC's are not for street.
You wouldn't reach the necessary temperatures to get max grip.

SC & SA are great, but I would recommend SA's.
I brake a lot, I do 6000-7000 km's with SA's
4700 km with SC's.

It's not because SC has lesser mileage, that I won't use them anymore.
It's because the tiny difference they gave for street usage, doesn't really justify their extra price.

No expert on braking, it might be that with other brake rotors the difference is bigger ?

I use a Brembo RCS19 master cylinder + Hel steel braided lines + Motul 600 fluid, still stock discs but they should be replaced this year, after 60K km they are worn out.

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angelo112233

· #16 · Mar 9, 2016

Experience_Matters said:
RC's are not for street.
You wouldn't reach the necessary temperatures to get max grip.

SC & SA are great, but I would recommend SA's.
I brake a lot, I do 6000-7000 km's with SA's
4700 km with SC's.

It's not because SC has lesser mileage, that I won't use them anymore.
It's because the tiny difference they gave for street usage, doesn't really justify their extra price.

No expert on braking, it might be that with other brake rotors the difference is bigger ?

I use a Brembo RCS19 master cylinder + Hel steel braided lines + Motul 600 fluid, still stock discs but they should be replaced this year, after 60K km they are worn out.

Yeah, but since the max grip coefficient is much higher, it would eventually be almost equal which says on the website too. It's just really dusty.

Does the SC produce a lot of dust?

Believe me, I've read things on the internet but I find the opposite. My OEM pads were crumbling when I took them out. Could be the weight of the bike and the RIDER?!? lol!

Experience_Matters

· #17 · Mar 9, 2016

angelo112233 said:
Yeah, but since the max grip coefficient is much higher, it would eventually be almost equal which says on the website too. It's just really dusty.

Does the SC produce a lot of dust?

Believe me, I've read things on the internet but I find the opposite. My OEM pads were crumbling when I took them out. Could be the weight of the bike and the RIDER?!? lol!

More then the SA's.
But hard to tell, I clean my discs every month with brake cleaner.

SA is more then enough.
My suspension tuner races in some national oldskool bike cups, and Brembo prices are no concern (as a dealer), he also prefers the SA's.

It might be cool the have the best pads, but keep in mind it is just a part in the full system, and the other parts might need an upgrade too.

I have no real proof of this, but I think that my brake discs had a lot more wear with the SC's then the SA's. My last pair was SC and my current one. But next will be SA again.

I only do twisties, I pull the throttle hard & the brakes as well, all the time.
I would be very surprised if you would really feel the difference between SA & SC.
You better save some of that money, and put it in a descent brake master cylinder.
A much better way to spent your money IMO.

In 3-4 months I will be installing the Brembo Supersport brake discs.
I'll leave my impressions here if interested.

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THEMANRACING

· #18 · Apr 12, 2016

The Vesrah pads RC linked to are the best pads you will ever use.

I have used galfer's in the past with good results. never been a big fan of EBC's. They are ok, nothing wrong with them, but nothing great either. The Vesrah's are just amazing. they are spendy, but amazing.

I have the Brembo RCS M/C on mine, Speigler lines, and oversized Galfer wave rotors, along with the Vesrah pads I have super bike worthy front brakes.

Personally I thought the front brakes as stock were terrible.

Colonel

· #19 · Nov 14, 2018

Tokico & EBC

The N1K's OEM pads are Tokicos and they are plenty good. After 2 years, I had very little wear & didn't even need to change 'em. I did anyway because they were 5 years old. My rears were like new, literally. I was shocked. I went, with, what the dealer had on the shelf, EBC. Note, the rear is organic & EBC's is also organic. Oh, the calipers are also well made. EBC is a direct replacement and an after thought, also from the dealer, it is like a racing (R) pad but so is Tokico already. "The stock Tokico's are so so-good, not even funny." HTH.

TOKICO is enough

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