Rear brake questions

johnnycrash

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6800 miles and I've worn out two sets of rear pads.  The stockers lasted only 3k so I bought a Galfer wave rotor, Galfer pads, and a Galfer steel line.  Last night as I pulled in I noticed I've completely worn these out, too.  So bad that I didn't even ride it in to work today.

Two questions:
1)  is this amount of wear normal? - I swear I'm not dragging the brakes and the rear wheel spins easily when on the stand.  

2)  Galfer says you MUST use Galfer pads on their wave rotor.  Is this gospel or marketing?  I have a ride planned tomorrow - my stealer has OEM pads in stock but not Galfers - I couldn't get those till Tuesday probably.

Sorry if this is a repeat newb question - did a search on this but didn't find much.
 
You should be using the fronts for most of your stopping, and the rear for slow speed turning and holding still. My rear still looks new and my fronts are getting due for some HH's.
 
I understand how to brake properly - I've got over 30k miles on sportbikes - although this thing is a total pig compared to what I've had in the past.

I barely use the rear and it's still wearing out. This is not a rider issue.
 
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6800 miles and I've worn out two sets of rear pads.  The stockers lasted only 3k so I bought a Galfer wave rotor, Galfer pads, and a Galfer steel line.  Last night as I pulled in I noticed I've completely worn these out, too.  So bad that I didn't even ride it in to work today.

Two questions:
1)  is this amount of wear normal? - I swear I'm not dragging the brakes and the rear wheel spins easily when on the stand.  

2)  Galfer says you MUST use Galfer pads on their wave rotor.  Is this gospel or marketing?  I have a ride planned tomorrow - my stealer has OEM pads in stock but not Galfers - I couldn't get those till Tuesday probably.

Sorry if this is a repeat newb question - did a search on this but didn't find much.
<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:tomato'>What kinda wear do you have on tires? Use of the rear brake will go hand in hand with pad/tire wear! I also wear the rear pads out faster than say the person doing stoppies! My previous bike (Bandit 1200) never needed the front pads in 42k commuting miles, but rear pads (same as Busa) i replaced every other rear tire!!!  10k miles + - a few and i used the sintered pads that last the longest. Commuting will eat em up cause we use both or some times just the rear, (stop & go) where as the weekend canyon carver hardly ever touches the rear. I take it both pads are evenly worn? There is a problem for sure with?</span>
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I'm moving this to General where more people will see it. I don't know about wave rotors but I had aobut 30000 miles on my stock rear brakes.
 
Thanks guys - and sorry if I came across like a ##### to Un-Caged. I just don't think this wear is normal even if I am using the rear brake too much.

I'm putting regular pads on it and seeing what happens. Oh - and I'm on my third rear tire but that has more to do with my drag racing tendencies than normal wear.
 
Funny question, I too have went through the rear pads quicker than the front simple because I use them more for around town kind of breaking, yes I know the stopping power comes from the front and when carving up the hills trust me I use them, or when the dear or car pull out in front of you. I have been through 2 sets or rear brakes now on my 3rd and have 30k on my bike. Tires I'm using only last about 6,000k so my brakes are lasting a bit longer. I too have the SS brake lines and been using the Galfer pads. The busa is heavy and gets to speed quickly which means more breaking compared to lighter sport bikes and bikes of the past so your right, pads get eaten up quickly. Just like the torque does it to the rear tire.



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Make sure the little retainer springs are not installed backward. If it is, it will apply constant pressure to the pads and wear them out, lickety-split (How's that for an archaic term?!)

If you have the rear up on a stand and bike in neutral, a good spin of the wheel should carry on for quite some time and with little to no noise coming from the rear braks.

Just a thought.

--Wag--
 
If your not over using your rear brake, or really hitting it hard for stops
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, I think something is wrong. I get 10,000 to 15,000 out of mine and I use them. Something sounds wrong
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to me !
 
Good idea, Wag. I'll throw it on the stand this weekend and check those retainer springs. Hopefully that's it - although it wouldn't explain how I wore out the stockers so fast.

Thanks for the ideas and help.
 
Good idea, Wag.  I'll throw it on the stand this weekend and check those retainer springs.  Hopefully that's it - although it wouldn't explain how I wore out the stockers so fast.

Thanks for the ideas and help.
Yeah, the first time I did mine, I didn't check those springs carefully against the drawing. Wore 'em out in about 4K miles. Very very bad. Also, I remember that I could hear the pads making noise as I spun the wheel to lube the chain but I always dismissed it to having put less than ideal pads on it.

The next time I changed the pads, I had a Haynes book (Thanks to Chris). The picture was much more clear and sure 'nuff, I could see that the retainer springs were installed backward, pushing the pads toward the rotor.

--Wag--
 
You should be OK with stock pads on your aftermarket rotors, as the stock pads are a softer material. Got 11K on my rear stock pads before replacing. Changed to EBC HH pads at 11k and I have 23K now with some wear left.
 
I would say there is some serious brake drag going on. Check the free-spin of the rear tire see if the rear brake is dragging.
 
I cant deny the fact that using both brakes is more efficient at stopping but i havent touched my rear brake in a few months now.And i do a lot of commuting on straight roads.Besides something like over 80 percent of stopping power comes from the front anyway.
 
Do you use the rear brake only to stop on a regular basis? If so it takes a much longer application of rear than front to stop, which would greatly accelerate pad wear.

And exactly what way is a Busa a "pig" compared to WHAT other bikes?
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No offense taken JC; I just jumped on the obvious too quick. Something's definitely wrong though. Does it have good pedal feel? A little air bubble could affect how quickly the pads return after using them.
 
i smoked my stock oem rear pads in less than 8K miles...and it took me by surprise as i do a bit of trail braking at the psuedo track but...normally?..cruising, around town and group rides?...i make little use of the rear brake...and didn't even notice the wear till i heard that ungodly grinding sound of metal on metal and was like...nawww.....the pads couldn't possibly be gone..but they were.

Conversly?...i got 22K miles on my old Kaw ZRX rear pads (10K on the fronts) and 27K miles on my Yami FZ1's rear pads (also changed the fronts on that at 10K)...but on the busa?...i got EBC HH's back there now...and EBC HH's coming for the fronts next week from Jester.

but bottom line?...comparitively speaking?..the big busa seems to eat rear pads rather quickly for some reason...imho...annnd...

L8R, Bill.
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6800 miles and I've worn out two sets of rear pads.  The stockers lasted only 3k so I bought a Galfer wave rotor, Galfer pads, and a Galfer steel line.  Last night as I pulled in I noticed I've completely worn these out, too.  So bad that I didn't even ride it in to work today.

Two questions:
1)  is this amount of wear normal? - I swear I'm not dragging the brakes and the rear wheel spins easily when on the stand.  

2)  Galfer says you MUST use Galfer pads on their wave rotor.  Is this gospel or marketing?  I have a ride planned tomorrow - my stealer has OEM pads in stock but not Galfers - I couldn't get those till Tuesday probably.

Sorry if this is a repeat newb question - did a search on this but didn't find much.
This is not normal wear
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you must be using a lot of rear break
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This was exactly the case with me as well.

I'm looking at a back pair every season and a half. And of course I look forward to the snide comments from the stealer about proper braking technique. My favorite was:

"I get a alot of Chineese kids coming in here after dragging their back brake too much".
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Not sure which part of the above is the most offensive, the obvious racial slag or grouping me in with a bunch of amatures, one of which I am not.

Granted I use the back quite a bit. I like the way it sits down a bit when the braking is balanced (70/30). All font fells like a bit too much dive, expecially in traffic.

Too many people seem to think that because you get most power from the front that there is no point using the back at all. Not the case, it really stablizes the bike. Maybe all the big front brakers use harder front shock settings then I like.

Anyway, nice to hear a few others are burning through these things like hot cakes as well.
 
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