Current thinking on brake pads

[HogHog]

Hi

About to get pads for the Dyna and the Sportster.

Been offered Sintered or Organic

I want the ones with the best "Stopability"

What are the current thoughts........

cheers

 

[fatbaldbob]

Why you dont ride fast enough to use them, ya big wuss

 

[Greg Masters]

Hi

About to get pads for the Dyna and the Sportster.

Been offered Sintered or Organic

I want the ones with the best "Stopability"

What are the current thoughts........

cheers

What discs are you using?

Stopability in the dry or wet?

Low speed or high speed

Feel?

Fade?

Service life?

Price?

Environment?

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

Aftermarket disc & caliper would be my first choice

 

[HogHog]

Brakes

What discs are you using?

Stopability in the dry or wet?

Low speed or high speed

Feel?

Fade?

Service life?

Price?

Environment?

Well there's 2 sets of answers to your questions......

What discs - round ones
Dry or Wet - Dry of course - it's a Harley
Low Speed or High Speed - Low of course - it's a Harley
Feel - actually I'm not too well at the moment, but we can discuss that by PM
Fade - see above - yes I'm fading fast
Service Life - ???
Price - cheap of course - I've no money left - I bought a Harley
Environment - yes, I recycle everything and try to re-use where possible

And now for something altogether more sensible:
Discs - whatever was supplied by Harley on the bikes - they seem to be OK, no roughness or grooves.

Dry or Wet - the sportsters get ridden fairly hard in both conditions, one of them used for daily commute by my son in all weathers, so Wet and Dry.

Low or High Speed - Both Dyna and Sportster get ridden fairly hard. At the Legal Speed limit on most roads most of the time.

Feel - fairly important on the Sportsters, (maybe not so important on the Dyna) you do want to know whats going on if you're pushing on a bit. Would also be nice to use 2 fingers on the Dyna (to brake with ) rather than having to squeeze the life out of the lever.

Fade - Dyna is single disc at front and can fade out a bit if slowing from the Legal Limit Would be useful if this didn't happen

Service Life - not important - brakes are cheaper than a life - can be replaced more than once.

Price - not relevant - brakes are cheaper than a life - can be replaced more than once.

Environment - Scotland and Scottish weather mainly, although Dyna and Sportster may be going to Europe next summer.

Looking forward to your reply.......

 

[Greg Masters]

And now for something altogether more sensible:
Discs - whatever was supplied by Harley on the bikes - they seem to be OK, no roughness or grooves.

Dry or Wet - the sportsters get ridden fairly hard in both conditions, one of them used for daily commute by my son in all weathers, so Wet and Dry.

Low or High Speed - Both Dyna and Sportster get ridden fairly hard. At the Legal Speed limit on most roads most of the time.

Feel - fairly important on the Sportsters, (maybe not so important on the Dyna) you do want to know whats going on if you're pushing on a bit. Would also be nice to use 2 fingers on the Dyna (to brake with ) rather than having to squeeze the life out of the lever.

Fade - Dyna is single disc at front and can fade out a bit if slowing from the Legal Limit Would be useful if this didn't happen

Service Life - not important - brakes are cheaper than a life - can be replaced more than once.

Price - not relevant - brakes are cheaper than a life - can be replaced more than once.

Environment - Scotland and Scottish weather mainly, although Dyna and Sportster may be going to Europe next summer.

Looking forward to your reply.......

Discs - cast iron or stainless? Their mu is different.

Environment - I meant pollution of the environment.

So now you have a handle on the issues, you're better equipped to decide which brake you want to use.

Greg

 

[boxer]

EBC HH - good pads, long life not kind to disc. Half price of OE.

EBC Organic - Nearly as good as HH. Need an eye keeping on them as they last for 3000 miles. Cheap. Kind to disc. Very dusty.

HD OE. Long lasting, good performance. Probably good on disc wear. Made by Brembo I think and not available from Brembo

HD OE discs' are pretty cheap. I use HH. Order these well in advance since there seems to be a supply problem with these pads.

 

[HogHog]

EBC HH - good pads, long life not kind to disc. Half price of OE.

EBC Organic - Nearly as good as HH. Need an eye keeping on them as they last for 3000 miles. Cheap. Kind to disc. Very dusty.

HD OE. Long lasting, good performance. Probably good on disc wear. Made by Brembo I think and not available from Brembo

HD OE discs' are pretty cheap. I use HH. Order these well in advance since there seems to be a supply problem with these pads.

Should have said in OP

It's between EBC Organic or Sintered

 

[itspilsbury]

EBC HH - good pads, long life not kind to disc. Half price of OE.

EBC Organic - Nearly as good as HH. Need an eye keeping on them as they last for 3000 miles. Cheap. Kind to disc. Very dusty.

HD OE. Long lasting, good performance. Probably good on disc wear. Made by Brembo I think and not available from Brembo

HD OE discs' are pretty cheap. I use HH. Order these well in advance since there seems to be a supply problem with these pads.

2008 XL883L - 16000 miles on original pads, not worn out....but changed them for EBC organic pads and bled the brakes, the old fluid was going dark and although the bike had been dealer serviced that had obvioulsy been overlooked!!!

Wow what an improvement!!

Anyway 8000 miles on the EBC Organic pads and the rears are almost down to metal! the front only partly worn..... I have fitted a new set of rear EBC Organic pads, ordered EBC HH for the front and a braided front hose hoping that that will improve feel and stopping power.

How does she ride it (wife), all weathers, and all speeds 0 to 90mph (recently travelling from France through Pyranees into Northern Spain 90mph for some miles.

The bike has done almost 25K now from new, all over Europe (including Poland Romania) and in October North Africa.

Its a great bike and she keeps it bloody clean and shiny.

Have just pust 12+1/2" rear Progressive shocks and front Progressive springs on, I hope that stops her scraping the exhaust bolts away.......

 

[Stanley Knife]

Been using EBC HH front and rear on mine pretty much from new as the OE pads on Dynas had a reputation for the pad material detaching from the backing plate so I changed mine for the EBC's when they had only done a few hundred miles.
Also changed the brake lines to HEL braided a few years ago too which made a small difference, but as mentioned already keeping the DOT 4 fluid changed regularly makes a big difference and only takes about 10 mins each end

 

[HogHog]

Been using EBC HH front and rear on mine pretty much from new as the OE pads on Dynas had a reputation for the pad material detaching from the backing plate

Yep - happened to me on a fairly quick approach to a roundabout.....!!!

 

[Steptoe]

I use ferodo.
But my veiwpoint is irrelevant as i have two six piston harrison calipers on my Glide so it stops pretty sharpish whatever pads i use. .

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

Did you make the calipers yourself?

 

[andysdad]

OE Pads

HogHog - strange to relate I had a pad break up whilst touring Scotland near Inverness!

Google it and you'll see c.2005 Harley pads known to separate - so I wrote to VOSA (with photos) describing how 2 of my OE pads separated in 3 days.

Their reply was "it's not a safety issue, it's a maintenance issue"

In their "expert" opinion, every rider should check every pad before every ride (it's true - you could not make this rubbish up ).

I tried to point out that no car driver has to do this plus it's impossible to see anyway. Then I gave up (you can't fight city hall etc.)

Bought full set of EBC HH pads - no problems and better stopping. End of.

A