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Stopping on a dime: are your brakes up to the challenge?
Kyle Bradshaw from Cruiser Customizing here with Mart Johnson from Parts Unlimited for
your Brake Pad Tip of the Week.
Today we’re going to go through a little bit of an exercise to learn a little bit more
about brakes and how to properly use them.
[Mark] Well, we’ve got all the components that comprise your brake system. Basically
what you’re doing is moving fluid from your handlebar down to your wheel to apply pressure
on a disc rotor.
[Kyle] The one thing I’d like to start with is the brake pad itself because that’s the
one thing that people replace the most often. That’s the biggest consumable when it comes
to brakes. We’ve got some centered metal, we’ve got some organic--what are going to
be the differences that people are looking for when they’re changing out their brake
pads?
[Mark] One of the big differences that you’re looking at with an organic which is how most
brake pads started out for disc rotor brakes--they originally started with asbestos, later on
other carbon compounds. You get a nice easy wear on the rotor with an organic. As more
performance demands came along, you started to see more of a shift to a centered metallic,
and most premium pads at this point in time are manufactured in a centered metallic.
[Kyle] So Mark, here in my hand I have a GG-rated pad, and you’ve got an HH-rated pad in your
hand, what do those letter designations tell us about these pads?
[Mark] My pad stops better than yours, Kyle. It’s a higher friction rating. HH was the
next-generation after the GG-standard.
[Kyle] What would be the stopping characteristics or benefits for going with a centered versus
an organic?
[Mark] In my opinion, you’re getting a stronger bike, you get extended wear characteristics,
and you get better heat dissipation. You’ve got performance upgrades in virtually every
respect for usually a very small price increase.
[Kyle] One common question that we often get when people call up asking about brakes is:
how do they really know when they need a new brake pad?
[Mark] Well, there are a couple of ways. One of them is you’re going to start seeing
your fluid dropping in your reservoirs and if that’s getting down towards the minimum
line--if you’re not leaking fluid then that’s a good indicator that you’re running out
of brake pads. The other thing is to inspect your brake pads. They will always have a recommended
wear before they’re replaced. You’ll find this in your manual or a number of the brake
companies will have this information available to you online. This set is probably getting
pretty close. This one, brand-new. So you can see a difference in thicknesses right
there.
[Kyle] Once you’ve got the brake-pads in front of you and you know you’re going to
go through the process of replacing them, what are the things that we really want to
be able to take a look at while we’re in that process?
[Mark] It’s a good time to inspect the entire system. A few things that do get forgotten:
your brake pads tend to run on a pin or pins inside a brake caliper, if those do have or
are developing any shoulders or grooves in them, your brakes will perform better with
those being replaced. Virtually every motorcycle, they’re readily available, they’re a very
low-cost item that yields an immediate improvement.
The other thing, replace your brake fluid. It’s always a good idea.
[Kyle] Now along those same lines of bleeding your brakes. Let’s say you have a properly
functioning hydraulic system. Hydraulic lines are of course the delivery method from our
master cylinder down to our caliper. Now, how would you be able to tell if your current
lines are still good or if they need to be replaced?
[Mark] Well there’s a couple of reasons to change the brake lines. Obviously in a
lot of the cruiser world, it’s for a cosmetic purpose. Performance-related item: have someone
pull the brake while you have your hand on the line. If you can feel the fluid move through
the line, you will get a definite improvement in your performance with a brake steel line.
[Kyle] Now when Mark says, feel the fluid move through it, if you hold the line, squeeze
the lever, and you feel it flex, and get larger and skinnier as you apply that pressure, you
definitely should look at either a new set of lines or an upgrade to a stainless steel
set.
[Mark] That covers it. And I haven’t seen a bike yet where it wasn’t to performance
advantage to have braided steel lines.
[Kyle] Now that we’ve talked about most of the brake pad and brake applying accessories,
let’s talk a little bit about the rotors. Here in front of me we have the floating rotor.
Let me grab a stationary rotor and I’d like you to talk about the differences between
the two and the effects we can see.
[Mark] A floating rotor compared to a fixed rotor refers specifically to how the brake
disc is attached. On a fixed rotor as Kyle has in his hand, this is attached directly
to the wheel. The advantage to that is ease of manufacturing and cost advantages to it
is--under high-performance applications in particular, the rotor is not allowed to expand
from the heat as easily as a floating rotor. This rotor has a carrier that’s attached
to the wheel and then it has usually some type of buttons to attach the rotor so the
rotor is free to move and expand from the heat so that you don’t work the rotor or
in some cases give the rotor a cone shape.
[Kyle] While still on the topic of rotors, be it fixed or be it floating, how do you
know when it’s time to replace your rotor?
[Mark] Well the first thing with a rotor--if you can feel that the rotor has high and low
spots, it’s almost certainly time to replace that rotor.
[Kyle] While swapping out the brake pads is the most simple part of this process, you
basically remove the pin, drop the pads out, put the new pads in, and replace the pin,
be it one pin or two pin, it’s really a simple task. Now probably the more scary part
for most people is the bleeding of the brakes.
[Mark] Yeah that can be intimidating for a lot of people, but the biggest thing about
bleeding the brakes is it requires patience and just a little bit of common sense. If
you’re using just a hand-bleeder, this one provided to use by Mighty Vac, follow the
instructions, take your time--you’ll feel it at the lever when you really have your
system completely bled.
[Kyle] Refer to your owner’s manual where you can find out specific bleeding instructions
for your particular make and model of motorcycle.
[Mark] The one thing I’d like to add, for anybody changing brake pads--if you’re worried
about brake pad squeals, literally every brake pad leaves a small amount of deposits on the
rotor surface. So when you change your brake pads, I strongly recommend to clean your rotors
very thoroughly before you install your new pads so that you do get all of the remnants
of the old pad off your rotor.
[Kyle] Well thanks, Mark, for filling us in on some of the must/need-to-know things about
replacing our brake pads.
[Mark] Glad I could help, Kyle, and hopefully this helps somebody out there keep their bike
safe and have a lot of fun riding it--so it’s one less thing to worry about this summer.
[Kyle] Awesome. Well thanks for joining us for this week’s Cruiser Customizing tip
of the week. Until next week, take care and ride safe.