Need New Brake Pads: MG V11 Sport

[Greg Field]

Good for you, Todd! I always seem to warp discs before I wear 'em out.

[RacerX]

Good for you, Todd! I always seem to warp discs before I wear 'em out.

You won't warp these 5.5mm true full-floaters, and they have user replaceable friction disks; http://www.guzzitech.com/store/Brembo-55FFRotors.html

[Tony C]

I am not sure that I buy the "increased breaking" power simply by changing the pads. By my physics, the only real way to increase braking power, i.e. stopping distance, is by increasing the brake area. That is getting bigger rotors and caliper/pads. The pad compound is relevent only to the amount of fade, that is, temperature resistance that the pad has. Therefore the need for various compounds if one is racing on the track. On the street a stock type of pad is the best solution all things being equal.

In my experience with cars, some of the "high performance" or "racing" pads do not work very well on the street. They will require higher temps to effective, higher pressure to be effective and higher wear of the disks, all for poor street performance.

The stock pads on my '04 V11 seem to work very well and I will replace with those when the time comes. Not sure why I would want to go with something different, at least in compounds.

Tony C

[Greg Field]

If you're happy with your brakes as is, certainly there is no reason to change pads. Nevertheless, there are differences in the coefficient of friction of various pads. On my dual-disc Eldo, for example, with Brembo pads, it takes a handful of squeeze to approach locking the brakes. With the HH pads, it takes two fingertips. The difference is not that dramatic on a bike with already-good brakes like a V11 Sport. But if you do not think they can be improved upon, ride a bike with top-shelf brakes sometime and see how there's definite room for improvement. Pads are a cheaper way to improve them than changing to radial master cylinders and radial 4-pad calipers.

[dlaing]

I got the four pad calipers and they sure do work better.

A little more power and a lot better feel.

http://www.guzzitech.com/Brembo-4padcal-Todd_E.html

The next upgrade may be the 5.5mm full floaters that Todd mentioned, but I am concerned they may require warm up time.

Is the concern warranted? Or is warm up time more dependent on the pads?

[Greg Field]

When my stock discs warped, I replaced 'em with Braking Wave rotors, like Guzzi now fits to the 1200 Sport and Aprilia fits to the SXV motard bike. I know some say the wave thing is just fashion. Maybe it is, but they do work extremely well and as a side benefit, that annoying "zing" sound I always got on the stock brakes went away. I'm guessing these won't warp, either. If they were prone to it, we'd've had to replace rotors on some hard-raced SXVs, and we haven't had to.

[RacerX]

I got the four pad calipers and they sure do work better. A little more power and a lot better feel.

http://www.guzzitech.com/Brembo-4padcal-Todd_E.html

The next upgrade may be the 5.5mm full floaters that Todd mentioned, but I am concerned they may require warm up time. Is the concern warranted? Or is warm up time more dependent on the pads?

 

Thanks David. No, there is no "warm up time" needed on the 5.5s. They work equally as well (arguably considerably better) then stock immediately, and they are engineered for the pads that are in your 4-pad calipers.