Gold Fren brake pads

[Read Replica]

Renewing pads in the next week or so. Has anyone used pads from Gold Fren before? They seem reasonably priced on eBay at the moment at just shy of 40 quid for all three discs.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220455500438&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

The pads that I have fitted to the F2 at the moment are from the 80s so I would expect these to be a bit better. What pads are others using at the moment?

Have fun
Andy

[Yoshi823]

I always used Ferodo on my 750F2, even when I had the 900FC calipers & discs. I wouldn't use some unknown pad on my bikes, at least not until i'd read some comparison with some other well known makes in some bike magazine. Just because they're a 'good' price dosn't mean that they'll work properly when the time comes to really hammer on the brakes in the time of an absolute emergency. I think i'd prefer to pay another couple of quid & get something that you know will work from the word 'go'...

[Read Replica]

Oh, yes. No argument here. Just wondering though if anyone had used these pads. They are being used on the racing circuit by some teams but I would suspect with a different compound to that supplied for road use.

[UK Pete]

I used them on my klr600 i dont rate them all that really
Pete

[K2-K6]

Hi Never heard of them and no direct experience of this make but you could do a reasonable assesment of them to make up your own mind as to suitability, this is what I would do to figure it out:- Change all pads on one wheel, have a quick light duty run out and inspect pads while still fitted to assure no obvious mechanical failure, if ok then complete approx 50/75 miles of light use to get the pad surfaces to match disc surface/alignment, then complete a heat cycle in which you get them stinking hot (dragging them continuosly) then don't stop the bike but ride for a while with very low brake application to allow a cool down of whole brake system, then you are done. If all satisfactory take the pads out to give a good surface inspection (should look like smooth coal, very little cracking, no edge break-up, no obvious shiny resin effect) but replace in the exactly the same location to maintain the disc contact you've just worked to get right. IF ALL IS OK use them as normal but just look them over with a torch initially to allow you to spot any change and check them out with a few heavy applications to check for fade.

This sort of proceedure should really be used to prep any high demand pads to get any brand to best performance level  as if you do really need them and don't know their effectiveness then it could all get a bit scary.

Any comment from others?

[UK Pete]

My thoughts on that are, buy the best pads you can afford in the first place pads that have been tried and tested by others, having said that i am guilty of buying other brands purely because of price and convenience
Pete

[Yoshi823]

The Ferodo Supersport pads that I bought for my Exup1000 had a purpleish coating on the friction face that the fitting instructions said would aid in the bedding in process...but i've never come across this on other pads that i've bought...like for instance the Brembo ones for my KTM enduro racer. But invarioubly there is no time to bed in new pads like in the previously stated method & I have read about...& experienced situations where there was good feedback from the lever, as well as a wooden feeling from other pads & shoes.

A good example were a set of discs & pads that I bought for my XR400R that I used to use for enduros. The pads that came with these discs were the recommended ones & the instructions stipulated not to use any others. But wet or dry...clean or dirty...they just wouldn't bed in...which was very dangerous for me & I ended up injuring myself on a steep hill where I had no back brake at all. I have since bought a set of EBC discs for the XR, & have tried EBC pads on the back brake...with dire consequences. Despite giving the pads & discs time to bed in, the feedback is terrible, & had to end up buying some quite agressive Ferodo MX pads that work far-far better than the EBC stuff. The pads went into the bin, along with the Armstrong pads that I had tried previously, even though they still had plenty of life in them.

My earliest experience of what to & what not to use where some Vesrah pads on an early CB550. I don't mind naming & shaming this brand as they were downright deathly to apply the brakes in the rain...& nothing happened. It was only because of a heavily applied rear brake that I managed to avoid hitting the back of the vehicle in front of me. This has put me off ever suggesting Vesrah brake products.

I tried what were at the time, the only alternative to genuine parts when I needed some new brake shoes for the front of my XL250SA that I had a few years ago. The originals that were on the bike were getting a bit thin, & the cost of OEM parts was a bit prohibitive, so I went for the EBC as suggested by my local shop. Duly fitted I went out on one of my regular Sunday rideouts on the local greenlanes around Biggin Hill & Brands Hatch. I took it easy at first so as to help the new shoes bed in, but the lack of feedback made me place more time on allowing them to bed in. But by the end of the day I was still getting little or no retardation from said pads. I removed them to check if they were getting any signs of misuse, but they looked as they should have done. But by this time I was not going to give them a second chance, so I 'bit the bullet' so to speak, & bought some OEM items. From the word go they worked, & restored my faith in using the front brake. This has put me off suggesting EBC pads & shoes.

I have also found that the quality of the disc material can play a big part in how you get feedback from the front or back levers. When I first bought my KTM i'd heard about how 'touchy' the OEM brakes were, so I made a decision to put on what were being used by the likes of David Knight...Braking discs. The first few tentative miles on what is my first ever brand new bike proved that, using the OEM Brembo pads, gave me good feedback on the rough stuff...just what is needed in enduro situations. I had ridden a friends KTM before I bought my one, & so knew what the OEM discs felt like..very sudden & grabby. So the Braking discs are a revelation in feel where you need to sometimes ride to just before the event of locking either wheel in the heat of competition. I have since fitted a Braking disc to the rear of my R1 & to my Exup1000, with equally good results. With this in mind i'm contemplating using them on my XR400, but only if I can sell on my part worn EBC discs from the XR.

Well, I hope that this is some worthwhile feedback. I rate OEM pads, shoes & discs on Hondas, as well as the Yamahas that I have experienced. I think that Motorcycle Mechanics were quite brave a few years ago in testing a handful of pads. I don't remember fully about which ones worked & which ones didn't, but I do remember them recommending Ferodo products, which underlines my suggestion as well.

[K2-K6]

Hi I like these kinds of discussion as it turns up some good valid experience for others to use. My intention was to give a logical path to allow a realistic assesment to take place, having done that you'd have to change direction if you found that they where of no use.

Some of the issues need separating out I feel.

The initial process of a bit of light mileage is just to serve the purpose of getting the pads to match the disc surface in a mechanical sense.

The heat cycle part has a different aim in that it should drive out resins / chemical component from the manufacturing process (I know this is possibly not applicable for all specs, but shouldn't hurt) as it is these products that I understand cause glazing at which point the pads will feel as if they are made of mahogany!! and won't improve by further lever pressure.

Fading results from an inability to generate friction when the braking system has gone over temperature and is really scary from high speed, but glazed pads will produce this affect even if they have the ability to operate at a higher temp (the glazing simply stops enough friction builing up)

Older disc material would have been specced? when pads had asbestos as a principal part, so some experimentation with modern pads will be inevitable.

Enduro / MX kit will inevitably be used in high abrasive environments so will have a considerably different characteristic to essentially much cleaner running road use stuff.

Agree with Ferodo products, always good.

[rigwit]

Cant say to much about EBC pads or drum lineings for bikes  as been away for a number of years  but the 2 cars  (last and currant) were/is fitted with ebc greenstuff the stopping power these produce id phenominal over oem parts but the caveate is  they have to be WARM  to get the best results,,ohhh  thinking back to the 70s, when disk brakes on bikes were more of a novelty than a nessisaty, in the wet you would grab a handfull of front brake lever---------- nothing happens  increase force  next thing  the disk/pads would have dried off and front wheel lockup skiddies  wheeeeeeeeeee,,,,  was a pig on the kettle i had until id had enough and scribed out and drilled both disks..... how did i test it  100mph on what is known as ansty straight grab the lever and pull..... worked a treat.. even better when i countersunk the drilling holes one thing i will always do if not changeing a rotor as they now call a disk  is to 400 grit wet.dry and lightly brak the mirror finnish on the disk/rotor in a circaling motion.......... by time id finnished  the front spokes of the kettle had bent like a bannana  so had to get it re-spoked and was wary of ultra fast stops.....................  ferodo replacements for oem  if not already the oem make  cant usualy go wrong  but fitting any pad to  a used rotor id score pad as well as rotor..........