| Author | Message | ||
     Crazyhawk99 |
I know this isn't a 1125 post (still awaiting delivery of my new CR in frigid Germany), but I figured with the wealth of knowledge on this site, surely someone would know a good source. I recently picked up some ZX-14 calibers for my 04 ZX10R and am trying to find a good place to order some Vesrah RJL pads for it. My internet searching has left me with no luck. Suggestions more than welcome and let the darts fly for my ZX post in the 1125 forum. | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
I've purchased Vesrah pads from www.kurveygirl.com. They're the only Vesrah vendor that I've found on the internet. (Presumably there are some dealers who stock Vesrah pads, but I don't know they are.) | ||
| Strongbad |
http://www.vesrahsuzuki.com/Products.aspx | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
BTW, I've run ZX-14 Nissin calipers on, well, my ZX-14; and I really like the Galfer 1370 compound sintered pads. EBCs had great bite but not great feel; Ferodos didn't have the grip I wanted cold. The stock Kawasaki pads were also very good for street use. Didn't try Vesrahs though. KeS | ||
| Crazyhawk99 |
Kevin, Thanks for the info. I will consider the Galfer pads also. The 14 binders I picked up on ebay had the OEM pads with and I would try them, but the seller didn't drain the brake fluid from the binders before packaging and needless to say, the entire package was soaked in brake fluid including the pads. It actually seeped thru the box. I am very surprised the US Post Office delivered it. | ||
| Crazyhawk99 |
Fleshrocket and Strongbad, thanks for the info. I will give them a look! Greg | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
I have a set of the ZX-14 wave rotors if you want them cheap, too. PM me if interested. KeS | ||
| Crazyhawk99 |
Kevin, I haven't heard of any need or advantage to changing the OEM ZX10 rotors, only the weak, mushy binders. I appreciate the offer and will let you know if I decide to go that route. Greg | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Kevin, if you haven't tried the Vesrah SRJL-17 compound pads, you are missing out. I've tried both the Galfer 1370s and the SRJLs on my SV650S and while the 1370s are pretty good, the SRJLs are AMAZING. They are definitely pricier but if you absolutely positively want to have the best pads, they are worth it. Braking performance when cold is great, and when hot, it's even better. Initial bite is strong and they are easy to modulate. On the 650, (which had SV1000 4-pot calipers, steel lines and a CBR F4i master cylinder), the brakes were easily one-finger powerful. The pads don't dust, and they last forever. I know, it sounds impossible, but really the only drawback is the price. Some bikes are $150 for a set for the front and other bikes are $200, at least at kurveygirl.com. The 1370s cost me $70 and I sent them back and replaced them with a $150 set of SRJLs. (Message edited by thefleshrocket on January 08, 2010) | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
Thanks, I'll bear that in mind for the S1000RR. The ZX-14 is being traded in on it.  KeS | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
I checked Kurveygirl.com and they don't list any Vesrah pads for the 1125R. I checked Vesrah's site, and they list the VD9038-JL. The JL compound is a "streetable" pad and isn't even in the same league as the SRJL, so I wouldn't even bother. I didn't see anything more-performance oriented for the 1125R besides the JL. http://catalog.vesrah.co.jp/catalog/shape/VD-9038. html My next recommendation after the Vesrah SRJL compound pads would be the Dunlopad (now just called DP) HH+ compound. On my '91 CBR600F2, I've tried the Vesrah JL compound and the Galfer G1370 compound. Both sucked. Part of the problem is that the bike has small rotors and only two-piston calipers. It needs a grippy pad to have decent stopping power since there's not a great deal of pressure to be applied to the pads. I traded emails with various people and places including Kent Kunitsugu of Sport Rider magazine. He said that the stock Honda compound was highly metallic as well as the SRJL compound and recommended either of those. He said that a pad without a highly-metallic composition wouldn't offer as much bite. Since the SRJL compound isn't available for the F2 and I was leery about spending $100 for a set of stock pads since usually stock pads are not-so-good, I did a little more research. My wife used to ride a '90 Honda CB-1. It's a little 400cc naked bike (actually it's for sale now too) and it only has a single disc front brake. I asked around on the CB-1 mailing list, as I figured if there was a pad that would do a good job of stopping the single-disc CB-1, it ought to do an even better job on the dual-disc F2. The guys there recommended stock or the Dunlopad HH+ compound. Based on my fear of stock pads, I went with the DP HH+ pads. They made a phenomenal improvement in the F2's brakes. I won't say that they are on par with the four-piston-caliper brakes on many modern sportbikes, but they're not far off either. Initial bite is much better, and I can easily lift the back tire off the ground with just two fingers. I checked the DP-brakes.com website and they do list a pad for the 1125R/CR, part number SDP993. http://www.dp-brakes.com/padsearch.php?load=dp_pad _search&level=4&make=534&model=1125R&cc=1125&year= 2008-2009 However, I'm not sure if that's the "sport HH+" compound or the "standard" compound. See here for a comparison: http://www.dp-brakes.com/products.php# When shopping for pads for the F2, I found mention of both the DP110 and the DP110HH pads. I am not sure if those are the exact same pads and some people decided to attach the HH suffix or if they are different. The DP website lists the DP110 for the F2 with no suffix to differentiate pad material. It also lists the SDP110 as the "optional" pad. Perhaps the S denotes "standard"? If so, then the SDP993 listed for the 1125R would be the inferior pad compound. I had to search high and low to find them. I didn't have any luck finding any DP dealers, but I did find a vendor on Amazon.com with enough DP110HH pads to do the front brakes, for about $100. I don't know what kind of compound the stock 1125R pads are, but they do feel pretty good. I'd say that the 1125R's stock front brake is almost as good as my SV1000S's front brake with SRJL pads and steel lines, which is no faint praise. But I can only imagine how much better the 1125R's front brake would be with the DP HH+ compound pads installed. (Message edited by thefleshrocket on January 09, 2010) | ||
| Crazyhawk99 |
Fleshrocket, Thanks for the lengthy feedback on your experience with brake pads. It's funny how seemingly easy issues (buy a set of brake pads), leeds us to do so much research ultimately broadening our knowledge-base. Not sure if you realize it, but I wasn't looking for pads for my CR, but for one of my other bikes, per my original post. Turns out Vesrah only makes the SRJL XX for the ZX14 binders. I don't want to lay that much cash out (I don't do track days) so I am going with Galfer 1375. Final answer... for now. Thanks again for the info and taking the time! | ||
| Jng1226 |
I haven't changed the pads out of my 1125R yet, but on my XB9 I went through several pads until I settled on the EBC Extreme Pro. They appear to be marketed for the track rider but are also capable of being used for the street. They made a HUGE difference in feel and power on the 6-pot XB9 caliper, so if it corresponds to the 8-pot then I'll be very happy indeed. I tried the Lyndall pads from Al at American Sport Bike but I actually got a ton of fade on them riding in the Smoky Mountains. Not so at all with the EBC Extreme Pro. Jeff | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Crazyhawk, I recommend you look into the DP HH+ pads if they make them for the ZX14 if you really don't want to spend the extra money for the SRJLs. (I can't imagine that they wouldn't, since I think it uses pretty common calipers.) The SRJL pads are my first choice, but the DP HH+ pads are definitely a close second. Even if you are just a street rider, you'll appreciate the SRJLs (or the DP HH+s) if you do any brisk riding. I haven't done a track day in a couple years and I don't have a very big budget for bike upgrades (my wife gets on my case if I spend very much) but I consider $200 for a set of SRJL pads to be a really good deal and that's what goes on my bikes if they are available. Nothing transforms the stock brakes like a set of great pads. The 1370s (and the 1375s) are good pads, but not great. And if you don't mind me asking, why spend the extra money on the 1375s? They are just the 1370s but with a laser cut backing plate--something that a racer or serious track rider might appreciate but probably not too noticeable for your average rider. (Message edited by thefleshrocket on January 09, 2010) | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
Pads can make a big difference on different bike types and brake setups. On the ZX-14, I *hated* the DP pads. I got them as part of a deal with a Pridmore CLASS school, put them on, took them off within a month. Among other things, they transferred onto the rotors a LOT, giving me pulsing/shuddering. I kind of happened into the 1370s - I wanted the DPs off of there, had a track day coming up with no time to find Ferodo or Vesrahs (the other pad I wanted to try), and someone had the Galfers for 40% off. Love 'em to death. But like tires, it does vary with bike, brake, and rider, so taking opinions is kind of a crapshoot. KeS | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Jeff, I've used EBC HH pads before, on my '03 GSX-R1000 and my '03 Kawasaki Z1000. Both times, they were an improvement over stock. The thing is, I didn't have any basis for comparison--I thought the EBC HH pads were good so I bought them without doing any real research. Later, after I'd had the chance to try several different manufacturers and compounds, compared to the SRJLs, the DP HH+s, or even the G1370s, the EBC HHs suck. Now I've never heard of the EBC Extreme Pro pads much less tried them, so I can't comment on if they are any better than the old HH pads I'd tried. Have you tried any other pads to compare the Extreme Pro pads to? (Message edited by thefleshrocket on January 09, 2010) | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Kevin, I've only had the DP HH+s on my F2 for maybe 500 miles so I can't comment on if there is any transfer to the rotor or not. It's been my experience that most of the time, pad material transfers to the rotor after a hard stop when the driver (or rider) doesn't release brake pressure after coming to a stop. The hot pads, pressed firmly up against the hot rotor, may have a tendency to transfer material. For example, my Chrysler 300C kept getting a pulsing brake. I'd take the car out and do ten hard almost-stops from about 60mph to 10mph. That would clean the pad material off of the rotors. I asked my wife if she'd been letting up on the brake after stopping, and she said she thought she had. But then I explained to her about the pad material transfer, and after she made an effort to release some brake pressure when stopped, the car didn't have any more problems with pad material transfer. | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
Yeah, the DPs transferred on me whenever they got even close to hot; leaving smears basically any time you did a brake use of >40mph (90-40, 70-0, etc.) And while their feel was fine, cold bite wasn't great on the street either. Probably would have been fine as a track-only pad, but for street/track use they were grim on my bike. I got the Galfers, went out and did a dozen hard stops starting 40-0 and progressing to 100-0, rode the bike down the freeway for 15 minutes to let the rotors and pads cool, and never looked back. The first three of those break-in stops still shuddered until the rotor got hot enough to start wiping the DP deposits off; then went away forever. Again, I'm not really criticizing DP pads - they weren't the right choice for *that* bike with *my* use, is all. I could say the same thing about BT-016 tires - they sucked on my ZX-14 and I liked them fine on my Speed Triple. Lighter bike, much less HP, etc. etc. KeS |
