Brake Pads

Anything you like about motorbikes
Post Reply
Le_Fromage_Grande
Posts: 12161
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:40 pm
Location: On the road to nowhere
Has thanked: 602 times
Been thanked: 4528 times

Brake Pads

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

My Honda is going to need some new front brake pads soon, I haven't bought any motorcycle brake pads for at least 10 years, might even be 20 years, what's a good set to go for, the bike get's used almost entirely on the road (I do 1 track day a year), I don't use the brakes much, but when I do I want it to stop with plenty of feel. The standard Honda pads that it currently has work well, but they're £53.88 each side.
User avatar
KungFooBob
Posts: 17499
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 1:04 pm
Location: The content of this post is not AI generated.
Has thanked: 627 times
Been thanked: 9495 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by KungFooBob »

Did Honda pick the most cost effective brake pad option, or did R&D work out the best disc/pad combo for OEM that provides the right balance of wear vs stopping power?

I dunno, but everyone says the OEM pads work best with OEM discs on Honda bikes.

I'd probably buy OEM, or Brembo/Ferodo or some other premium brand. I wouldn't touch Goldfren, Armstrong or even EBC with OEM discs.

The EBC's HH's work well, but wear discs fast, imho.
Taff
Posts: 1467
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 9:15 am
Has thanked: 334 times
Been thanked: 1191 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Taff »

For my CBF I stuck with the oe pads because they do work very well. Shopping around I managed to get a set for quite a lot cheaper.

I shoved ebc organic pads in the rear.
User avatar
Trinity765
Posts: 2822
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2020 2:27 pm
Location: Brighton
Has thanked: 3138 times
Been thanked: 3188 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Trinity765 »

SBS RST (road street track). They've been my choice for ten years now. First used them in a 765 StreetRS and they felt just like the Triumph ones, which I think were Brembo, not sure, but a bit cheaper. They take longer to bite when it's very cold but I rarely ride at low temperatures these days so that doesn't bother me. Loads of feel.
Bigjawa
Posts: 2170
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2020 10:54 pm
Location: Ballymena Co. Antrim
Has thanked: 225 times
Been thanked: 969 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Bigjawa »

Ferodo Platinum for me. Used nothing else for about 25 years.
User avatar
Skub
Posts: 14892
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 5:32 pm
Location: Norn Iron
Has thanked: 13109 times
Been thanked: 14170 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Skub »

I haven't had to buy brake pads for yonks either and since the Zed has Brembo calipers and Brembo discs,it seemed reasonable to fit Brembo sintered pads. So I did.

Virtually no bedding in required,good feel and power from the off.
"Be kind to past versions of yourself that didn't know what you know now."
Walt Whitman
https://soundcloud.com/skub1955
User avatar
Yorick
Posts: 19927
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 8:20 pm
Location: Paradise
Has thanked: 12605 times
Been thanked: 8536 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Yorick »

SBS for me. Proper amazing
v8-powered
Posts: 3051
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 7:37 pm
Location: Colchester
Has thanked: 2848 times
Been thanked: 1609 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by v8-powered »

I haven't purchased any for a long time now, but I was a big SBS fanboi - DC for hard track use and Street Excel for road. Neither were hard on discs either....
User avatar
MyLittleStudPony
Posts: 1739
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 9:28 pm
Has thanked: 829 times
Been thanked: 586 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by MyLittleStudPony »

Super Super Super Corsas.
Le_Fromage_Grande
Posts: 12161
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:40 pm
Location: On the road to nowhere
Has thanked: 602 times
Been thanked: 4528 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

Honda OEM pads ordered today
User avatar
Taipan
Posts: 19324
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 1:48 pm
Location: Essex Riviera!
Has thanked: 20857 times
Been thanked: 13671 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Taipan »

Honda OEM is my choice for the best overall performance. I found SBS street pads dire, unless they had a lot of heat in them. It's where most sintered pads fall down for me, but that's because i'm only commuting and pootling along in traffic. Shame a lot of manufacturers have stopped organic pads now.
NC750X mpg Image
Le_Fromage_Grande
Posts: 12161
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:40 pm
Location: On the road to nowhere
Has thanked: 602 times
Been thanked: 4528 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

Brake pads fitted, I think the ones that came out were the originals, weirdly one of them was different to the others (single wear groove rather than three) but still looked genuine Honda.
eautoaccess1
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2026 11:38 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Brake Pads

Post by eautoaccess1 »

Le_Fromage_Grande wrote: Mon May 18, 2026 8:56 pm My Honda is going to need some new front brake pads soon, I haven't bought any motorcycle brake pads for at least 10 years, might even be 20 years, what's a good set to go for, the bike get's used almost entirely on the road (I do 1 track day a year), I don't use the brakes much, but when I do I want it to stop with plenty of feel. The standard Honda pads that it currently has work well, but they're £53.88 each side.
If you're satisfied with the feel of OEM Honda pads then you'll never go wrong using these. Otherwise the EBC HH sinstered pads area good popular road pad with decent feel, plenty of bitr and slightly cheaper than OEM.SBS are fine also.
User avatar
ajlog
Posts: 232
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2020 5:04 pm
Has thanked: 798 times
Been thanked: 715 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by ajlog »

Spurred on by this post I thought it was time to give the pads on the Triumph a once over.

After 8,000 ish miles they are down to about 1mm so not exactly in dire need for a swap but I thought I’d give them a new set.

New ones arrived the other day and I was immediately suspicious.
Nothing 100% jumping out at me but a combination of things.
The packaging looks genuine and matches the Brembo site but was a bit battered and dog eared.
The paint on the pads was a bit scrappy, but since checking on the Brembo site the genuine ones don’t look any different.
So I was more or less settled that these were OK and I was just being paranoid, the paint was similar and the packaging was probably sitting around for a while.

Then checking today the rear of the pads looks good, printing was a good quality.

However there are a couple of anomalies that are bugging me.

Adding to me initial suspicions is the fact that these ones have holes in the backing plate that I cannot see on any image search for these pads.
IMG_0147.jpeg
IMG_0147.jpeg (783.9 KiB) Viewed 653 times
Here’s the image from the Brembo site.
IMG_0149.jpeg
IMG_0149.jpeg (135.83 KiB) Viewed 653 times
Then when checking the thickness these have a much thicker friction material part Brembo, I measure 9mm where below it shows a thickness of 7.8.
Both have a 4.5mm back plate (I found that dimension elsewhere).
IMG_0148.jpeg
IMG_0148.jpeg (58.14 KiB) Viewed 653 times
IMG_0150.jpeg
IMG_0150.jpeg (983.5 KiB) Viewed 653 times


What do you folks think? Am I being paranoid or are my suspicions that these could be fake correct.


Brakes are not something I want to be anything less than 100% certain about, especially as my bike only has the 1 front disc!
Le_Fromage_Grande
Posts: 12161
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:40 pm
Location: On the road to nowhere
Has thanked: 602 times
Been thanked: 4528 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

They look a bit fake to me, they're a different colour red.
Supermofo
Posts: 5966
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 3:39 pm
Has thanked: 5954 times
Been thanked: 3572 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Supermofo »

No idea if fake or not but have heard pads are often faked. I was going to get mine from Sportsbikeshop so I know they were genuine
User avatar
Yorick
Posts: 19927
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 8:20 pm
Location: Paradise
Has thanked: 12605 times
Been thanked: 8536 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Yorick »

These are the Brembos I took out of the GSXR a few weeks ago.

They were absolutely shit BTW
20260530_161704.jpg
20260530_161704.jpg (2.94 MiB) Viewed 558 times
20260530_161654.jpg
20260530_161654.jpg (1.84 MiB) Viewed 558 times
Whysub
Posts: 1021
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2020 8:53 pm
Has thanked: 1276 times
Been thanked: 1014 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Whysub »

My NC750 wears the pads out really quickly-on my 3rd set (of ge uine Honda pads) now at 38000 kms.

The last pair were down to the metal after 8000 kms, a lot of which was covered on motorways. And found this whilst at my mates in Wrocław in Poland.
Could not get any pads for it locally, only place he could find a pair was at thr Honda dealer in Poznan, 180km north. I had no choice but to ride there as it was.
20250526_113021.jpg
20250526_113021.jpg (2.15 MiB) Viewed 529 times
20250526_112422.jpg
20250526_112422.jpg (2.59 MiB) Viewed 529 times
Bit paranoid about pads in that bike now. They have done 10,000 kms and still have a fair bit of pad material on them
User avatar
Felix
Posts: 5231
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2021 12:34 am
Has thanked: 713 times
Been thanked: 2036 times

Re: Brake Pads

Post by Felix »

EBC on the back of my 600. Recon calliper with a free spinning wheel. 500 miles and they are fucked.
Post Reply