Need help with Ninja front brake

[cameltoe]

I changed the pads last week, only lasted 8k. pads were down to the metal. bad I no. anywho I ordered some more and replaced the front, couldnt do the back as I didnt have right sized allen key, but did the front no worries put it all back together and did a test. wtf??? I could pull the lever back to the grips. couple days later took into shop adn they didnt really know what was causing it, They bleed the breaks three times, this made it slighty better but still shit, if I want to stop in a hurry(very often occurence) I cant. I also like doing the odd stoppie and I now dont have the break power to do so. anyone have any ideas, im going to take it all out again today to see if there is visually anything wrong and no the shop didnt do this they just bleed the fron breaks, btw the rear is fine.

[Hitcher]

Them's the brakes they bled.

[ElCoyote]

Them's the brakes they bled.

Yup, brake ya heart

[Mully]

How did you only get 8K off a set of pads on a 250 Ninja?

Oh, and where is "No Man's Land"?

[Ripperjon]

Did you put the right pads on?

[Hitcher]

Try using the ones with wings.

[birdhandler]

so the jokes need to improve by a factor of a 1000.
I am sure he would appreciate some helpful advice like look that the seals in the master cylinder and calipers?
You did not say how many K's you had done or talking about your riding style (fraught I would say) either to help point us in the right direction
but cheers anyway

[Duke girl]

He obviously uses his brakes a fair bit to only get 8k out of them. Maybe he needs to back off doing so many stoppies then maybe he will get more than 8k out of them. Would hate to replace them every 8k.

[vtec]

OK, there's many things that can go wrong with brakes, and I've encountered most of them, they look simple enough but very easy to get things wrong.

Firstly when you've worn down your pads heaps before replacing them, the pistons are often right out, and when you push them back in they are coated in brake dust and crap, that can cause the pistons to cease in the calipers, and means that when you apply the brakes, they don't back off after you let the brake off, symptom is that the wheel will be braking a bit all the time. To avoid this you need to thoroughly clean the pistons before pressing them back in...or at least spray brake cleaner fluid all over them.

Secondly, when bleeding brakes it's actually better to put the fluid in from the caliper end with a big syringe, I've never done this. And always have trouble clearing out all the air in my lines. This year when rebuilding a smashed up CBR250RR to race in Aussie, the guys at the wreckers showed me that to get the air out of the master cylinder end, you need to pull in the brake lever and slide your fingers off it so that it whips open at spring pace, this seems to release bubbles into the fluid reservoir from the master cylinder.

Another thing that I've stuffed up, you'll laugh. I accidently got the both the pads on one side of the disc so that the pistons were pressing directly onto the disc, and the back of the second brake pad was pressing onto the other side. Retard. Figured it out before I did any permanent damage.

[cameltoe]

thanks for the smartarse comments guys,

I think its got something to do with the cylinder, coz I can pull the lever back to the bars easily. My riding style can probably be described as.... the street is my racetrack.

[tri boy]

Are the rotors/disks surface uneven?
If there is a ridge that the new pads can hang up on, then the caliper piston will travel further to get the new pads to bite.
This is extra stroke from the master cyclinder.

[El Santos]

yeah tht v-tec dude is right, i had the same problem on my brakes..... the brake lever would touch the bars, but then my mate fixed by bleedin the brakes and gettin all the air out, now they work awesum!!!

[Mully]

thanks for the smartarse comments guys

No worries. Always a pleasure.

Where, again, is "No man's land"? If you are in Auckland, Frosty is a whizz with brakes.

My riding style can probably be described as.... the street is my racetrack.

Skidmark, Jnr. Anyone think?

[cameltoe]

I took pads out this morning and both pads have a crack the depth of the pad and as wide as the pad. pretty shit I rekon but I gave them a wipe and put them back in now theyr mint, still not like original but far better than before. Im taking the pads back to shop to get replacement