Track Riding and Brakes

Hi guys, I'm still getting used to riding on the track. I now ride only on the track, I'm slowly converting my 2013 base ABS beast in to a track only bike. I never realized how hard you have to (and are able to) hit the brakes. Also, never realized how hard I have to squeeze my inner thighs when braking. Ouch! Crazy I say. Any how, I have a couple questions:

1. Since I ride on track only, any recommendations on brake pad/rotor combos I should upgrade to?

2. Should I just keep my stock rotors and upgrade just my pads OR do both?

I changed my pads once to EBC somethings, I forget which ones. They were a slight upgrade from stock. But I'm looking a track specifics ones. And possibly rotors.

Any feedback or recommendations would be awesome.

PS, I never touch my rear brake.

Thanks!!!!!

At the end of last season I switched to EBC EPFA double H brakes. I do about 4-5 track days a year and spirited back roads rides. These are a considerable upgrade from stock, but not exactly RACE type. I like for the brakes to set in gradually, where I can apply brakes as I'm down shifting but having most of the stopping come at the end, and these do exactly that. Comparing videos from last year and this year, I can see a huge improvement braking in the straights.

I didn't change my rotors, as I feel for a non-racer the stock does just fine.

wolf1121 said:

Hi guys, I'm still getting used to riding on the track. I now ride only on the track, I'm slowly converting my 2013 base ABS beast in to a track only bike. I never realized how hard you have to (and are able to) hit the brakes. Also, never realized how hard I have to squeeze my inner thighs when braking. Ouch! Crazy I say. Any how, I have a couple questions:

1. Since I ride on track only, any recommendations on brake pad/rotor combos I should upgrade to?

2. Should I just keep my stock rotors and upgrade just my pads OR do both?

I changed my pads once to EBC somethings, I forget which ones. They were a slight upgrade from stock. But I'm looking a track specifics ones. And possibly rotors.

Any feedback or recommendations would be awesome.

PS, I never touch my rear brake.

Thanks!!!!!

Click to expand...

The stock system is actually quite capable and unless you're getting issues with brake fade, you won't need to look into track specific ones until then.

The other issue with track/race pads is that they need heat. If you're new to the track and you're not riding around fast enough, you won't build up the necessary heat into the pads to make them effective. This will result in worse braking performance than if you stuck to the stock pads.

Stock brakes are really good, but:

1. Upgrade your brake fluid to something like Castrol SRF
2. As you are already doing, replace brake pads with track specific pads. I really like the Galfer 1375 race ceramic white pads; others like Vesrah's, or Carbone Lorraine CL59's/60's.

Brake pads are a REALLY personal preference. Some like really hard initial bite, others (like me) want progressive, where how hard you squeeze the lever is how hard you brake. In all likelihood, you will end up trying 3 or 4 pads, before you settle on what really works for your braking style.

Cheers.

I use motul rbf600, which I've tested not to have any issues running fast pace for 20 minutes or more in last years endurance race.
I tried motul rbf660, whicj gave similar performance for trackday pace but at the cost of going bad very quickly, unlike rbf600 which can last for weeks or couple of months before need to be bled.

For pads, i tried EBC HH but found, while very cost effective, the initial bite is too strong and affected the suspension a bit, causing it to bottom out. It then became impossiblr for me to avoid bottoming out while maintaining the travel that I wanted. Maybe it is because of the track too.
So I went back to Brembo SA pads, which is a bit more expensive but gives that softer initial bite, allowing me to avoid bottoming out and able to brake harder overall, even way into the corners.
Ive also tried SC compound which is even better, if your bike is track only. For the road, I found SA compound to be a lot nicer,especially if a bit cold. Since my bike is track/road, I keep it on SA.

Other components of the braking system is standard, and I run ABS 1 on track.
I don't use my rear brake on track, and rarely on the road (i don't have enough brain capacity).

For reference, I am running midpack in fast group in slo-med-fas trackday grouping arrangement, with laptimes around the back end of national superbike race grid at my local track. I am not a racer though, and the bike is with lights and warts and all.
And by national I mean New Zealand, not US. But we do have Andrew Stroud at the front of the grid.

I bought Brembo Series ORO rotors for my new wheels. Mostly because I got them cheaper, but now I've seen them I'll probably continue getting them. Twice as many floaters as the standard ones, and a little bit thicker, should resist warping better

I'm on brembo Z04's with stock rotors and at the fast tracks I'm getting quite a bit of chatter on the front end in the hard braking zones. I've got about 5mm of fork tube left so I don't think I'm bottoming out. They felt like a very progressive change over stock. Don't have the initial nasty bite and I have no trouble with braking for the little street riding I do.


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I run RBF600, EBC GPFAX pads, and stock rotors.

Similar to Marmoot I've been having problems with bottoming out since I changed pads. It's not to the extent where the bike dives on the brakes or I feel it hit a bump stop or mechanical bottom but sure enough whenever I come in my zip tie is sitting just above the caliper casting.

Weather permitting I will be working with the local suspension tuner Sunday to try and sort it out.

Otherwise on a tight 1.8 mile track without any real high speed braking zones (so I don't know how they perform in that situation) I like the pads and you can't beat 60 bucks a pair.

Galfer Superbike wave rotors with Galfer pads and brake lines.

They look great but handle even better. The Galfer superbike wave rotors never fade and always have ton of feel with the constant leading edge of the cutout. The best upgrade I have made on my 1098R, by far!

If you don't have any fade, the brakes don't need an upgrade. Just keep it bled and flushed.

Awesome advice guys, thanks a lot. I'll let know the result of me experimenting.

Corey
San Marcos, CA

I've been switching guys over to the SBS RS pads when they're ready for an upgrade over stock from the track, and have had great results. They have more bite than the stock pads, but not enough to make them "touchy" and they don't require a ton of heat. Most people don't need rotor or caliper upgrades, and some are fine with the stock master as well. I'd recommend this order of upgrades: 1) Pads, 2) Master, 3) Calipers, 4) Rotors.

I'm running the SBS DS pads on mine, and they have a ton of initial bike which I like, but others think they're too powerful/touchy. I'm getting 1.1g braking force from about 7bar of brake pressure.

jarelj said:

I'm getting 1.1g braking force from about 7bar of brake pressure.

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perks of That Magneti Marelli telemetry

BTrain5489 said:

Similar to Marmoot I've been having problems with bottoming out since I changed pads. It's not to the extent where the bike dives on the brakes or I feel it hit a bump stop or mechanical bottom but sure enough whenever I come in my zip tie is sitting just above the caliper casting..

Click to expand...

If you find my channel on YouTube, i made a simple suspension (front only) logger for 20 bucks that showed me where I'm bottoming out

For everyone's reference, brembo SA pads are the same as what came with the bike.

chouse34 said:

perks of That Magneti Marelli telemetry

Click to expand...

It does come in pretty handy! Mostly for seeing how bad I suck compared to a pro rider.