R1150GS - poor brakes and pad choices....

Bikermike1411

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Hi everyone,

Had my first ride out on my GS today. Loved absolutely everything about it apart from the brakes... they lack any real bite or feel, and required a good handful to slow down (which isn't good when you come round a corner to find a bunch of gormless kids with rucksacks, clearly lost on a DofE expedition, checking their maps in the middle of the bloody road. Like I did. It's amazing how much visual information you can actually take in in a fraction of a second before reaching for that front brake lever!)

Anyway, my bike has no abs, and already has goodridge hoses. There can't be a lot to investigate, and i'm really hoping the brakes should be much better than they were today!

I'm going to start with the pads and fluid, cleaning the calipers thoroughly and ensuring the pistons move freely. I may even treat the calipers to a full set of seals if the BMW seal kit prices aren't too high (i'm concerned the 'Brembo' branding might make that a super-expensive job though!)

Anyway, on to business.

I've a few choices when it comes to new pads.....

1. OEM
2. SBS Street Excel
3. Brembo 'blue' backs
4. EBC HH

They're in no particular order mind! A quick eBay trawl shows Brembo's are the dearest, at about £70 a pair of fronts only. EBC 'HH' are about £65 for a full set of front and rears, and the SBS Street Excels are about £50 for the front pads only. I'll give BMW a ring tomorrow to get a price on the OEM pads (which i'm assuming are Brembo anyway).

I've run either 'SBS' or OEM pads on most of my previous bikes. I'm inclined to do the same again, but I was wondering if anyone had any opinions about the pad options for GS's? Or maybe the best place to buy them from. It's a 2000 1150GS, and it seems the calipers aren't the same as later 1150's (mine are the ones with 'Brembo' branding on them).

Any help/advice is gratefully received!
Cheers!
Mike
 
you can get a caliper rebuild kit from MaxBMW, and presumable any other BMW Moto stealership.

Braided lines don't last for ever, maybe consider changing them out?

maybe give the disks a rub down and good proper clean.
If they are thin then the effectiveness is reduced.

Also check and clean out the reservoir at the lever end.

(and if you are doing the brakes, may as well do the clutch line as well - plenty on that about the union a the slave cylinder)
 
I've had both types of calipers and noticed very little difference. I've also had many different types of pads which all do much the same. The brakes on all my GS's have been excellent.

Start with fluids and checking the pads aren't glazed and discs are oil free.
 
Cheers lads. I'm going to give everything a damn good clean, and the discs a thorough degrease/light sand. I've not had much success in the past resurrecting suspected contaminated pads and would rather just swap them out (but only once i've eliminated any fluid leak past the seals!).

It's good to hear that the brakes should be excellent - i'd read they were highly rated when new! :)
 
Don't forget Ferodo Platinum, I've always found they give great feel even on Servo bikes

You're doing it right the way you are going! Callipers off, Check pistons are moving freely (that's all you need to do! If you have to use lots of force to move the pistons then pop them out and clean behind the wiper ring

If you aren't riding at high speed and lots of braking AVOID double H pads etc they need heat in them to work "properly"

N.B. Always buy off a recognised supplier Steptoe Motorworks Sherlocks MotoBins as with the NGK sparkplug clones out there at the minute

There are Unscrupulous Effers selling fake pads Don't take a risk for a few quid! Buy off a known source!

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bradleyGSA33.jpg


BVL1150RT17.jpg


BVL1150RT18.jpg
 
Well .... pads do make a difference

I generally use oem BMW if I can find them cheap enough on eBay

Otherwise I use Brembo if you have those calipers (stamped on the inside face)

At present I am using organic Brembo pads (not sintered) on my non ABS GSA just like oem BMW but at £48 for a front set from Motorworks instead of £143 from a BMW dealer

Performance is fab

As said, avoid any HH pads
 
Simply changing the brake fluid can make a big difference if it hasn't been done in a while. It should be done at least every two years.
 
Also use a drill bit to clean out the crap in the disc holes.
 
I've found that new OEM discs made the biggest difference.

Then I swapped from Tokico Calipers to Brembo and discovered proper braking! (But you've already got Brembos).
 
Hi Mike,
My GS is a 2001 with NO ABS and Brembo calipers - the same set up as you have:thumb and the brakes are superb:thumb2
Bike has done 197K now and caliper pistons are still free-sliding and have never been out!
Apart from a couple of "tests" of alternative pads, I always use the OEM Brembo pads - they are expensive from the BMW stealers - Motobins also used to supply them - but their source must have dried up and I think they now only supply standard Brembo pads (blue back) not OEM Brembo (copper back) - and there IS a difference, the OEM Brembo front pads are stamped up MIBA MD512HH - and when I did a bit of searching on this years ago found that this is one Brembo's special competition compounds - as opposed to the standard HH.
Brembo obviously do extensive testing in conjunction with BMW and choose the best compounds at their disposal for that bike, and in the case of a NON-ABS 1150GS they chose the 512HH SINTERED compound for the front and an ORGANIC (Textar) compound in the rear - and it works well:thumb

You can sometimes pick up OEM pads cheaply on here, or on ebay, when somebody sells off new spares for a bike they've now sold.

Also, the last time I had to buy pads, the BMW dealer prices were better than they had been in the past - don't know if it was just a temporary deal or a permanent re-alignment to match the replacement market better?


Cheers..................Grizzly:beerjug:
 
Thanks for the awesome input everyone, and that's a great set of pictures there DrFarkov! I had to do a full split/rebuild on a set of GSXR six pots a few years ago. Those seals were the most expensive elastic bands i've ever bought!

I think it's got Ferodo pads in at the moment, but seriously, they weren't for stopping with any urgency, even at sedate road speeds. I've always run HH pads going back to my days on 400's and Hornets, and from what Grizzly has suggested the OEM pads are actually HH pads themselves. If the OEM pads are hideously expensive when I ring up I think i'll have to go with the SBS pads - if only because noone here has said they've used them yet, but my first port of call is whipping the calipers off tonight and seeing what's going on.

Grizzly - is there any noticeable difference in use between the blue off-the-shelf Brembo pads, and the OEM copper backed ones? And (i'm sorry, I can't check eBay at work!) are the blue ones HH?

Cheers!
 
Like I said above if you are NOT hooning around avoid the HH They actually do need heat to make them work correctly

Ferodo do 2 types now the ST suffix which is the sintered version would be very similar to HH

I put HH in the rear of my 1200GS to try and slow pad wear but the back brake has little or no feel now so I am going back to the platinums
 
Grizzly - is there any noticeable difference in use between the blue off-the-shelf Brembo pads, and the OEM copper backed ones? And (i'm sorry, I can't check eBay at work!) are the blue ones HH?
Click to expand...

Mike,
Didn't use the "standard" Brembo's with the blue back - I'd ordered a set from Motobins as usual and had read their note saying the backs were now blue - but only found out when they arrived and i looked into things that these pads, although genuine Brembo, were no longer OEM Brembo with the 512HH compound but instead were the standard HH fitment for that type of caliper on ANY bike.
They may well still be excellent pads? - but Motobins website is still misleading to this day as regards these pads.
I phoned them and organised a refund at the time.
I did try DP(Dunlopad) sintered and also Ferodo - both good but not as good at original. Also important is pad life and disc wear and original Brembo's were good in that respect also - usually about 40k out of front pads - but only18k from rears.

I've just fitted a full set of SBS pads to my K1300GT and very pleased with them so far - so maybe worth a try on the GS if OEM Brembo'sare ridiculous price?

Cheers..............Grizzly:beerjug:
 
Got Goldfren in my 1100GS. And used them in all my bikes, big, small, fast & slow models. Work fine for me.
 
Cheers Grizzly. At least you've confirmed that the OEM ones are sintered/HH!

DrFarkov, I fully get that HH pads need to be up to temperature before they'll bite properly, but i'm really worried about putting anything 'less' in. I'm certainly not racing anywhere these days, but when the mood takes you and you're flicking down a country lane at 60mph the GS is a big old lump to have to slow down - i'd hate to put any of the organic compound brake pads on and find myself under-braked. But there again, I appreciate the chance that for the other 95% of my riding the pads aren't going to be getting up to temperature anyway! Has anyone got any thoughts on this?

Theres not a lot in it on price through Motorworks for EBC or Brembo pads - about £50 - £60 per pair which is par for the course. They don't sell SBS - where did yours come from Grizzly? It'll probably have to be an eBay jobbie, unless someone on the forum can supply SBS. Either way, I'm going to look at the calipers and check the state of the fluid tonight before ordering some tomorrow (as long as Mrs Mike doesn't keep tabs on what i'm buying it should be fine!)
 
Mike,
I ordered my SBS pads for the K1300GT on Ebay from a UK seller called "simmiperformance", he seems to stock the whole range and there about £20 a pair.

Back to BMW/BREMBO pads, the CORRECT set up for YOUR bike - ie 2000, non-abs, Brembo calipers is:-

Front..... 34 11 7 663 764 - SINTERED pads (Brembo 512HH)
Rear...... 34 21 2 335 465 - ORGANIC pads (Textar)

Sintered pads do not suit the rear non-abs brake, hence BMW's choice.

I think your doing the right thing checking caliper piston, fluid etc first because to be honest any decent pads - such as Ferodo etc - should still be great - if all else is good, so your near miss with the kids would suggest something else is the problem.

You mention it was your first run, so I assume the bike's just been purchased? Has the previous owner/garage just fitted new pads but not bedded them in?
New sintered pads fitted onto older discs with some wear grooves will take a LONG, LONG TIME to bed in fully!


Cheers....................Grizzly:beerjug:
 
Cheers Grizzly - its getting sintered pads in asap! I've heard from the last owner - the pads were changed some time ago.

I've dropped the LH caliper off - the pistons move freely and there's surprisingly absolutely no cheese (besides brake dust!). The pistons themselves seem fine (but I've not popped them out fully yet, just so the pads close up).

However, the pads themselves seem slightly rusty-coloured. I've changed tonnes of pads over the year and this doesn't inspire confidence. I'll look at the RH set after tea (or dinner if you're daan saarf), but I'm inclined to think that time hasn't done them any favours.....
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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