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Brake Maintenance

ironmark

Junior Member
I just changed my rear brake pads on Tuesday because I am going on a bike ride for a few weeks & I also believe in preventive maintenance. I have a 08 RG that just turned over 10,000 miles . I know everyone has different riding habit & conditions , I use the rear brake alot for my controlled stops & all the brakes for the quicker stops . my rear brake pads were about 2/3 gone so I would be lucky to get another 5,000 miles out of them with the last 2,000 to be a little shakey . I would like to remind everyone to make sure to check their brakes before getting the bike out for the season or at least every 10,000 miles & to remember that replaceing your brake pads is easy to do & replacing your brake pads before they are worn out will save you money & give you peace of mind . IMO it is more important to stop then to go :s
Ride Safe
 
Actually replacing the pads before they get down to the wear indicators is a good thing. The additional material distributes the heat over more material directily into the backing so there will be less brake fade on long downhill descent or heavy use and less chance of "scarring" the rotors if you wait for the scraping sound which sometimes never does until too late!

Remember working on disc brakes and actually had cager customers who had worn their ventilated disk rotors completely to the inner ribs, effectively halving their braking and would have kept going if not for the "crunching" sound and vibration!
 
Most people take the brakes for granted & will not fix them until there is a obvious problem . It is to bad that they put put themselves in a unsafe condition no matter if you are in a car or on bike . You may want to consider that you are not only making yourself unsafe but you are making your passanger unsafe along with everyone that is around you . Also if you buy a used car or bike the dealer will not put new brakes on for you unless you request it !! The dealer thinks if they can pass the product out the door with the least amount of cost the more money they will make . And HD dealers think that way to !!!!!
 
Was that a rhetorical statement or a question...? Yep, we use 'em on occasion, some a lot less like Hobbit, with a lot more right wrist...but that would be an "off the record type call"... :D
 
I change my rotors when doing brake jobs on my trucks, but what about the bikes? Do you replace the rotors when changing the pads?
 
I change my rotors when doing brake jobs on my trucks, but what about the bikes? Do you replace the rotors when changing the pads?

What type of truck are you talking about?If you are talking pick-up trucks I find it unnecessary to replace the rotors except in severe duty circumstances ie hauling heavy weight or off road construction use.Bikes on the other hand won't build up the heat as a heavy truck.In normal street use I have never had to replace the rotors on any of my bikes
 
King Heritage,

Thanks for the response. To answer your question, the truck I have had the most required rotor replacement is a Jeep Grand Cherokee. They had issues with heat- checking their rotors.
 
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