EBC's V-Pad

[Chinto]

I will be changing my brake pads as part of my spring maintenance. I was planning on replacing them with the organic EBC pads (currently use organic EBC pads) but while at the EBC website I discovered EBC's new for 2012 V-pad. See link below for more specifics. Apparently it is a semi sinistered pad????? Longer life, quieter etc etc. I have not figured out if they cost about the same as organic or are they made of gold.

 

Anyone have any experience with these or an opinion about putting V-Pads on my 06 RSV. I have had not problems with my current brakes but always like to enhance performance and useful life of stuff like this. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

 

 

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/motorcycle_brake/ebc_v_pads/index.shtml

[RandyR]

Thanks. I hadn't seen these V pads before.

 

I just ordered a set of EBC FA organic pads but will keep an eye on this thread to see how people like these new pads.

[Condor]

I will be changing my brake pads as part of my spring maintenance. I was planning on replacing them with the organic EBC pads (currently use organic EBC pads) but while at the EBC website I discovered EBC's new for 2012 V-pad. See link below for more specifics. Apparently it is a semi sinistered pad????? Longer life, quieter etc etc. I have not figured out if they cost about the same as organic or are they made of gold.

 

Anyone have any experience with these or an opinion about putting V-Pads on my 06 RSV. I have had not problems with my current brakes but always like to enhance performance and useful life of stuff like this. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

 

 

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/motorcycle_brake/ebc_v_pads/index.shtml

 

It might be a little early to get any feedback on these. Most go with the HH pads for better braking. As long as you are messing with the brakes you might try installing R1 or R6 calipers. They are a plug and play. I haven't done mine just yet, but a friend just did and it was an OMG moment. He can't say enough about the improvement to the 2ndGen braking system. I have a set of R1's, with stainless lines and HH pads, that I plan on installing later this spring.

[ragtop69gs]

It might be a little early to get any feedback on these. Most go with the HH pads for better braking. As long as you are messing with the brakes you might try installing R1 or R6 calipers. They are a plug and play. I haven't done mine just yet, but a friend just did and it was an OMG moment. He can't say enough about the improvement to the 2ndGen braking system. I have a set of R1's, with stainless lines and HH pads, that I plan on installing later this spring.

 

Is this a plug and play upgrade? If not what needs doing ? What year R1 or R6 calipers will work ? Is this a front and rear conversion ? I'd love to solve the locking rear tire problem. What are the differences between the R1 & 6 , do I need the mounting bracket also? I know, lots of questions.... sorry.

[Condor]

Is this a plug and play upgrade? If not what needs doing ? What year R1 or R6 calipers will work ? Is this a front and rear conversion ? I'd love to solve the locking rear tire problem. What are the differences between the R1 & 6 , do I need the mounting bracket also? I know, lots of questions.... sorry.

 

If you do a search on Ebay for or you'll get two styles. You want the type that takes the bolts from the side. The type that take the bolts from the top and look kinda boxy are the newer style and take a different type fork. See the attached pics. Don't mess with the rear, it doesn't need any help. Like I originally wrote it's plug and play, but bleed them first before taking a ride.... Also I usually pick up clean sets on Ebay for around 40-50 bucks, and they will ship in a USPS Priority medium flat rate box for $10-$11. If they want to charge a higher shipping then ask them if they'll ship USPS. If they won't go on to another auction. These calipers are on Ebay all the time... BTW the colored dot on the side comes in blue...pictured... or gold. Blues seem to be more common.

[Rick Butler]

Jay,

 

I have a solution for your rear brake that really works and several of the guys here have it installed on their RSV or RSTD. Search on "Proportioning Valve" and you will find several conversations on this problem. I have been building and selling this solution since 2008, but have lost my Classified ad and just haven't put it back out there. I guess at the current time I sell 4 or 5 kits a year when folks get with me to see if I'm still putting them together. Here is a post where I finished my proof of concept project and decided to sell them to you guys:

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18846

 

I originally sold this kit for $140 but recently I have found a better source for the valve and now sell them for $120, which includes Priority Mail shipping to anywhere in the US.

 

Let me know if I can help you out,

 

Rick

 

Is this a plug and play upgrade? If not what needs doing ? What year R1 or R6 calipers will work ? Is this a front and rear conversion ? I'd love to solve the locking rear tire problem. What are the differences between the R1 & 6 , do I need the mounting bracket also? I know, lots of questions.... sorry.

[ragtop69gs]

If you do a search on Ebay for or you'll get two styles. You want the type that takes the bolts from the side. The type that take the bolts from the top and look kinda boxy are the newer style and take a different type fork. See the attached pics. Don't mess with the rear, it doesn't need any help. Like I originally wrote it's plug and play, but bleed them first before taking a ride.... Also I usually pick up clean sets on Ebay for around 40-50 bucks, and they will ship in a USPS Priority medium flat rate box for $10-$11. If they want to charge a higher shipping then ask them if they'll ship USPS. If they won't go on to another auction. These calipers are on Ebay all the time... BTW the colored dot on the side comes in blue...pictured... or gold. Blues seem to be more common.

 

Thanks for the info. Looks like I have another project. Any recommendations on SS brake lines?

 

Jay,

 

I have a solution for your rear brake that really works and several of the guys here have it installed on their RSV or RSTD. Search on "Proportioning Valve" and you will find several conversations on this problem. I have been building and selling this solution since 2008, but have lost my Classified ad and just haven't put it back out there. I guess at the current time I sell 4 or 5 kits a year when folks get with me to see if I'm still putting them together. Here is a post where I finished my proof of concept project and decided to sell them to you guys:

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18846

 

I originally sold this kit for $140 but recently I have found a better source for the valve and now sell them for $120, which includes Priority Mail shipping to anywhere in the US.

 

Let me know if I can help you out,

 

Rick

 

Rick, I will be in touch soon to do your upgrade. I have to get mama's trike ready then I'll be doing my rear brake mod.

[RandyR]

Rick

 

What are your thoughts on using a less aggressive pad material like semi-sintered or ceramic (kevlar) instead of the more aggressive HH sintered that so many people like?

[Rick Butler]

Well Randy,

 

After the second time I totaled my 02 Midnight, I finally realized this bike had too much rear brake. Then I started looking around at other big bikes like ours and found that most of them only had a one piston rear caliper. I also found out from some of my racing friends this was not a new problem, where they ground off some of the pad so it would not have the contact surface and trimed some of the brake pedal off so they couldn't get the entire boot on the pedal.

 

So, I decided to put 4-piston calipers on the front and then moved one of the 2-piston calipers off the front on the rear, which would cut the piston power almost in half. But the caliper that was a direct swap, left me with a caliper that had the bleed valve on the lower end and it would not bleed unless I took it off where I could get the valve on top. But I discovered if I could use the caliper bracket from one caliper and the pistons from the other caliper, I could end up with a caliper with the bleed valve on the upper side of the caliper.

 

And I thought this would resolve the rear brake issue.......until a year later when I got into another emeregency braking situation and locked her up again (and totaled my bike for the 3rd time). So this convinced me that I still had too much rear brake and decided to go ahead and give her one more chance where I installed the proportioning valve that I had been working on with some my other close friends. That was in late 2006 and the rest is history.

 

So Randy to answer your question, I don't know of a brake compound that would be less aggressive enough to resolve this issue. The best solution in this area would be to cut the brake pad surface area in half, but that would not resolve the volume of brake fluid used to drive 4 pistons. This is what my proportioning valve does, slow the volume of fluid to the caliper to give you that moment to realize to ease up on the brake pedal.

 

Now I will admit, my problem resulted from riding 1st gen Ventures with linked brake systems for 17 years. I just developed a bad habit of using the rear brake pedal to do the majority of braking because the rear pedal also activated one front caliper. And when I moved to a second gen, my right foot had a mind of it own when it came to emergency braking. And it didn't make matters any better that the RSV had a large forward control brake pedal (kinda like our 4 wheelers) that can not be modulated. So for those of you who have developed better braking techniques, the braking on this bike is not an issue. But for those of us who have ever inadvertenly locked up a rear brake, it is not funny and we find it something we don't ever want to do again.

 

Hope this has helped,

 

Rick

Rick

 

What are your thoughts on using a less aggressive pad material like semi-sintered or ceramic (kevlar) instead of the more aggressive HH sintered that so many people like?

[Chinto]

I called 2 local dealers (listed on EBC website) to see if I could buy the V Pad for my RSV. Well apparently they are not really available until maybe spring according to one dealer. So I guess I will scrape the V Pad idea and simply proceed with the organic pads, especially since I already have them hanging on the wall. Maybe the next time I change the pads the V Pad will now have a history to look at regarding performance and durability.