Rotor life

[Morcs]

Just wondering, how many k's do a set of front brakes last on modern bikes?

I know there are a lot of factors like what kind of riding has been done etc...

but my RR has 40,000kms and wondering how long before I have to fork out for some disks.

It seems not that many sportsbikes these days reach as high as 40ks as they written off...

Being a Honda also, their disks are thinner to begin with... they look fine and seem in an ok condition btw.

[Cajun]

can depend on how it was riden and also what pads where run on it

aka running some race HH pads will eat the discs quicker than sticking with OEM pads for that time.

my bike sitting on 50,000kms i have run ebc HH pads from early in its life, discs are still tons of life on them. even tho EBC HH pads are meant to eat discs more than others

All you can do is measure them and compare that to the minimum and work from there

[vifferman]

I've never got a bike to the point where the mileage is high enough to know. My FahrtSturm was mid 70's km, and the brake discs were original, and looked like they'd do a few more years. My current bike has about 80k km, two original discs, and they're fine. (I think the other may have been bent in an accident and replaced.)
However, a previous bike (VF500) had around the same sort of mileage, and the discs were toast. I suspect poor maintenance has a lot to do with it.

Modern bike discs are manufactured with very little meat - probably just enough to last about five years. I don't think the manufacturers (esp. Japanese) care too much if things wear out after that.

Here's summat fukt: my wife's car had to have the discs reskimmed at 20-summat thousand km. In the end, I got the dealer (CCS) to agree that that wasn't normal wear'n'tear, and should be covered by warranty.
I found out later that someone in the engineering/design department decided it was a good idea to have soft discs and hard pads, rather than vice-versa.

[Morcs]

I spose its suck it and see eh.

I severly bent the discs on my TL within a month of owning it :whistle:

[Taz]

Measure with micrometer and when under the min thickness then replace them.

[imdying]

Shit, just user vernier calipers.

[bsasuper]

Ive had to replace front rotors of a from new bike(honda VFR) i owned at 80,000kms.Only used street pads, but was a lot of hard braking(used as courier bike).

[vifferman]

Ive had to replace front rotors of a from new bike(honda VFR) i owned at 80,000kms.Only used street pads, but was a lot of hard braking(used as courier bike).
Well there you go.
I guess if you pootled around gently everywhere (like Morcs does, of course :rolleyes:) the brakes would last forever. If you're racing, then they could be chewed out in no time.

[steelestring]

I needed a new set, 2 front and a rear at 26,000 for the zxr. Depends on what pads you are running:shutup: how fat you are,:apint: how hard you ride them,:headbang: draging the rear too much:rolleyes:, etc etc.... dang not cheap.

Different makes have different wear tolerances even between cc size and are using the same rotor.:blink:

If ya pads look down replace them asap. Pads are cheap rotors will make you cry...:crybaby:

[JimO]

i have a bent rotor on my raptor, just waiting on triumph NZ to honour their warranty the bikes only done 3000 miles

[MarkW]

Rotor wear depends very much on hard a pad is used and how hard you use the brakes.

My Honda NTV600 had only one front rotor (the same rotor that the ST1100 has 2 of) and it lasted just over 210,000km before being below the serviceable limit. The wear may not be easy to measure with a straight set of verniers. Many worn rotors have an outside edge where the pads don't touch the rotor at all so you end up with a noticeable 'lip' on the outside edge of the rotor. This can make measuring the remaing thickness of the rotor more difficult.

Most disc rotors have a minimum thickness stamped on them somewhere.

Many early KR250 Kawasakis had softish rotors and when road racers fitted hard pads the discs wore at an alarming rate - I saw a couple of bikes that needed new rotors at around 30,000km.

Some Fiat cars seem to have the same engineering - but I have heard that these rotors are relatively cheap to replace.

The Hondas rotor to replace new was going to be over $1200 so I found a second hand replacement in Australia and bought that instead - landed here in NZ at less than $NZ200.

[imdying]

You would be unlikely to buy a set of verniers that don't have sufficient back cut on the jaws to be able to go over any lip that a disc may have... given that any lip larger than that denotes an unserviceable disc in any case (typically a bike rotor has 1mm of tolerance, a car, 2mm).

[klyong82]

An OEM front rotors lasted almost 60,000km on a previous Fireblade. But as most of the others guys have mentioned rotor life depends on how it was used plus the type of pads it has. Just keep riding your bike because you will know when the rotors have reached its useful life....you will feel pulsation when you pull the brake lever.

[Morcs]

Measure with micrometer and when under the min thickness then replace them.


Shit, just user vernier calipers.


You would be unlikely to buy a set of verniers that don't have sufficient back cut on the jaws to be able to go over any lip that a disc may have... given that any lip larger than that denotes an unserviceable disc in any case (typically a bike rotor has 1mm of tolerance, a car, 2mm).

being a Quality manager I just happen to have a top of the line digital vernier, and a digital micrometer. Mituyuto of course. I brough the RR in to work so ill have a measure at lunch :bleh:

[imdying]

Just look at the chamfered edge of the disc... if it's gone, the disc is fucked. 95% of the time I can pick a fucked disc without even measuring it.

[Max Preload]

...I just happen to have a top of the line digital vernier...

Isn't it weird how they're still referred to as a vernier yet they don't even have a vernier on them...

[Morcs]

Isn't it weird how they're still referred to as a vernier yet they don't even have a vernier on them...

It is. But I refer to mine as 'my measuring stick'

[Oakie]

Mrs Oakie's CB250FM (with 23,000km) has something odd going on in the braking department which I've assumed is a less than flat rotor. Using the front brake gives a jerking sensation like there is more grip on on part of the rotor than on the rest of it. As you slow down, the interval between the increased grip patch increases indicating that it is something to do with the rotating stuff rather than the brake pads. I haven't been able to isolate the part or observe anything untoward either looking at the shape of or the actual surface of the rotor. Does this sound like a warped rotor or could it be something else.

(How the heck do you warp a rotor on a lightweight 40HP bike in 23,000km anyway?!)