I have the bad-day-at-the-office Brembos. The 4 piston upgrade kit is on my list, but I'm not sure when my budget will allow them.
CA CycleWorks recommends the Ferodos for a sufficient bite. It says they are "Racing", but nothing about the materials used. Haven't received a reply on that question yet. Racing pads usually don't work off the track and/or in colder climates, if I got that part right.
I need better brakes, but require that they work when cold. There's also concern if these pads will generate so much heat that the fluids might boil (?).
Are these pads a good idea?
http://www.ca-cycleworks.com/shop/catalog/ducati/brake_pads.htmlHi,
Great questions... (as well as those also sent to us in the e-mail) I'm glad Canned Ice pointed this thread out to me, or I would only have replied to the e-mail.
Did you see the chart on the braking page you linked to? The rows with the green back ground are organic/semi-metallic and the gold colored rows are sintered metallic pads. Maybe I need to move the "legend" to the top?? I'm kinda bummed actually, as after putting up that chart, our brake sales went down.
Previously, we had that big matrix of pads vs the calipers they fit, so we had all kinds of calls about which pads are for which bike. In the new catalog generator tool, we did away with the "parts matrix" and stuck to line items.
The Ferodo XR are sintered metallic. The pads are designed to handle the greater amount of heat, and do not boil your brake fluid. They do work great when cold. As far as track day performance, these will be the same as any other pads: if you brake hard with enough frequency, I'm sure it is possible to boil fluid. I rode an S2R800 with standard brakes + XR pads quite aggressively and had no issues, but it wasn't particularly intense. Streets of Willow, Fontana, or Button Willow would be a better test, but I'd never intentionally go to one of those tracks with the stock brakes. Interestingly enough, the "Sport Classics" appear to be the same, but they are larger. As the media says they like the sports classic's brakes, I wish Ducati would have at least used those calipers on the S2R...
With the XR pads, the braking performance is about matched to the acceleration of a 620. Having those brakes on anything else in Ducati's lineup is a situation I would consider dangerous. In my mind, I need the brakes to be at least equal to the acceleration. When the distance to casually decelerate from 40 mph is 20 to 30 feet more than the distance required to casually accelerate to 40 mph, I tend to run into the back of cars. Thankfully, quick thinking and my panic stopping saved me from that fate.
On a different S2R800, I was riding in the canyons 2-up. The road was Sunrise Hwy down here in San Diego county. S1 is a really sweet road. Curvy and flowing, so you go through sweepers 60 to 70 mph without drama. Unless you're 2-up on an S2R800 with stock brakes. As we were about to enter a turn, I wanted to remove just a little bit of speed, as I was trying to be as smooth as possible for my passenger. 2 fingers + gentle pull ... nothing. Hmm. 2 fingers + max pull and I could feel there is a change (as in something starting to happen with the brakes) but it's not enough. At this point, we're entering the double apex sweeper, so I go full hand with medium to strong pressure and then was able to shave off 5 or so mph but ended up almost on the centerline and with more lean angle than I was wanting to use. From that moment forward on the ride, I basically doubled my normal margin for error and tried to remember what it was like trying to stop a 54 Ford I had when I was a kid...
At the other end of the spectrum, do try to avoid the popular "4 pad" calipers. They're overkill on air cooled monsters and the heavier 749 -- just too easy to lock the front wheel. They are more suitable on a 999 or S4Rs, as they actually can go hella fast, but then at sane speeds, you have to pay close attention to what your fingers do on the lever.
Chris
