How do I know when pads are worn out?

[Cubist]

so did mine. and my beemer.

what mk was your lemon?

You had to ask? MkII, red and black V regger!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

You had to ask? MkII, red and black V regger!

sir knap! 'cept mine was on a W plate. MK II was the best sort I reckon. I don't have it any more but see her on the roads around Worthing and Dorking from time to time. No more motor bikies for me since b-i-l had a huge accident on his.

 

[Cubist]

Sold mine when the insurers wanted £1500 from me in the late eighties, and had to drop down to a 500cc. Mind you, the little Kwak I got then performed as well as the Guzzi and the Japs had finally got the idea of going round corners by then! (edit, and I could shave my beard off and wear a full face helmet as well!)

I eventually got totalled on a ZXR750 back in 1993. Lucky to keep my leg, and Mrs Cube pointed out that she'd like kids before I killed myself completely, so it was time to move on

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Sold mine when the insurers wanted £1500 from me in the late eighties, and had to drop down to a 500cc. Mind you, the little Kwak I got then performed as well as the Guzzi and the Japs had finally got the idea of going round corners by then! (edit, and I could shave my beard off and wear a full face helmet as well!)

I eventually got totalled on a ZXR750 back in 1993. Lucky to keep my leg, and Mrs Cube pointed out that she'd like kids before I killed myself completely, so it was time to move on

had a Guzzi V50MkII, great bike, before the lemon and owned the Monza variant some years later. Don't really know why, given the hugely superior technology of Japanese bikes from the mid 80's onwards, but having passed my test in '77 on a Honda CB200 I never owned another riceburner. Worst bike I ever had was a Meriden-era Bonneville which broke down on the way home from the dealership...

 

[Cubist]

I had a V50 Mk II as well. Lovely bike, superb handling, sold it to a girl in Leeds who had it stolen a week later.

There was a definite shift in bike handling from the Japanese stuff around the time I had the Lemon. My mate had a Duke 900 SS Desmo. A lot of the guys in the village had big Jap muscle things like Kettles, a Honda 900, a CBX etc yawn, yawn, but we used to blow them all into the weeds as soon as the roads got twisty.

That all changed with the Ninjas and Katanas etc. My last bike was a ZXR 750, an unashamed hooligan tool. It broke the speed limit on the sidestand, and just used to whisper "cane me, cane me". It did absolutely ridiculous speeds, and was a scratcher's dream. Ironically I was written off the day I stayed behind a pick up truck doing 60 in a 60 limit!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I rode a CBR600 for a bit, company pool bike, back in the early 90's, and almost bought a Pan-European (ironically the type of bike b-i-l nearly died on as a 'bike paramedic) shortly after but went for an pre-owned R100RS instead - I was commuting the entire length of the M4 every weekend. And a mate leant me his VFR750 for a weekend on my RGS Jota.

Jap bikes are hugely HUGELY competent but a teeny bit soulless imo. Bit like Shimano vs Campag maybe

All a bit academic now; I drive a cinquecento anti-car now when I'm not cycling.

 

[Bodhbh]

Related question: How do you know when the discs themselves are worn out? I imagine as they wear down too much there is a chance of mechanical failure on them?

 

[arallsopp]

Related question: How do you know when the discs themselves are worn out? I imagine as they wear down too much there is a chance of mechanical failure on them?

The rule I follow is that if there's something noticeably wrong with the rotor, you should replace it. Is it drumming under braking? Deep gouges in it? Scored all the way round? Concaved? Pitted? Near impossible to adjust the pads to?

Rotors do go out of true, and the application of a strong pair of thumbs (a fork, or (if you're into it) the two pronged park rotor tool equivalent) will restore them. I tune mine maybe twice before discarding them. Maybe once every 5000 miles or so, on a road bike.