I put 2,000mi on EBC FA129 pads and this is how they look. Rotor is also the same age but looks very good. The pad on the left looks like it wore evenly and still has some meat on it but not much. The pad on the right however has barely any left, the gap in the middle is completely gone too. In one section it got so thin it started rubbing on the rotor. I took apart the caliper and cleaned off the gunk. Pots were a little dirty but they cleaned up well. Seals had gunk on them but otherwise cleaned up fine. I reassembled everything back together and flushed the old fluid out thoroughly. If this was an issue with the caliper sticking, time will tell I guess. I'm curious though, how long do pads usually last on a bike?


click for high-res

I'm using the organic EBC's as well. Both are wearing at the same rate, and it's probalby gonna last not more than 4000miles (I have now 3000miles on them and they both are like your left side one). What I consider too little. I'm managing to put EBC's sintered next and see what'll happen.

Mine is a '97, tough. Different pads and caliper....

I don't know; but I want to say not long after the caliper gets stuck. 

My oem set lasted about 7000 miles of hard in-town driving

My front pads have lasted 2900 to 24,600 miles except for the present Emgo front pads that have lasted 34,000 miles so far with quite a bit to go.  My rear pads have lasted 3300 to 14,000 miles.  This is for 80k miles on the 97 GS and 81k miles so far on my current 02 GS.  Here's the whole record:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GS500_brakes_chains.jpg

The front EBC pads that only went 2900 miles on the 02 GS were due to sticking pin sliders.  Better clean yours up and lube them with brake lube when you put it back together.  I did that just before I put the Emgo front pads on and they look like they will outlive me.   

I've used EBC Organic, EBC HH, and Emgo pads besides the oem ones that came on the bikes.

It depends on how you use them. I have a tendency to break GS braking components. In the past 6 months, I've gone through...

2 brake calipers.
3 brake rotors
5 sets of brake pads.

I've had pads that wore out one one side but not the other, pads that have worn down in a day of use taking the rotor with it, pads that I replaced to try to work around caliper problems, pads that I replaced for something better, and pads that warped.

The braking system is definitely a weak point on this bike.

By the way... You might want to consider upgrading to the 1996+ brake caliper. It's a much better part than the earlier models.

I have the stock tokiko hh pads from the factory, they have 10000ish hard miled on them and they look like they will last another 10000. I take the calipers off and lubricate the pins once a year to keep them moving free.

Hopefully the caliper will be happy with the attention it got today. It's all cleaned up, lubed, and got fresh pads. The 96+ caliper sounds like it'd be my next step if this set suffers the same fate. Any issues with running it with a pre-96 master cylinder? Stock setup feels like mush already. I could get some braided lines but that wouldn't help if the newer caliper is bigger.

braided lines area plus no matter the setup, I thought the brakes felt good when stock but the braided lines made it awesome. better control, modulation, feel, and more braking power.

23,500kms on the OEM pads, so far. I won't bother looking again until I hit 30,000. I don't Heavy Brake.

Michael

Quote from: black and silver twin on July 06, 2010, 10:54:24 PM
braided lines area plus no matter the setup, I thought the brakes felt good when stock but the braided lines made it awesome. better control, modulation, feel, and more braking power.

+1

Stainless steel brake lines and fresh oil are pretty much the first things I do when I buy a bike.

Quote from: gsJack on July 06, 2010, 09:49:36 PM
  My rear pads have lasted 3300 to 14,000 miles. 

Word. I got less than 15,000 out of my fronts but I'm at 18 right now and my rears still look like they have TONS of pad left, like at least 3-4mm. Do you use the rear brake a lot? I don't really use mine except for holding myself at a stop, maybe that's why?

Quote from: ivany on July 07, 2010, 11:52:55 AM

Quote from: gsJack on July 06, 2010, 09:49:36 PM
  My rear pads have lasted 3300 to 14,000 miles. 

Word. I got less than 15,000 out of my fronts but I'm at 18 right now and my rears still look like they have TONS of pad left, like at least 3-4mm. Do you use the rear brake a lot? I don't really use mine except for holding myself at a stop, maybe that's why?

Use it a lot, I always say use all three brakes all the time; front, rear, and engine.  My GS has dual discs, one in the front and one in the back.   

Not saying braided lines aren't useful. What I meant is they won't fix a mushy brake feel it is due to a MC not moving enough fluid for a bigger caliper. I had a car that I swapped in much larger brakes up front and kept the stock MC. I did get much better stopping power and fade resistance but I didn't like the pedal feel. If I can swap to 96+ caliper without have to change the whole brake system I'm down...or if the complete brake system is cheap enough. I'd like a MC with a sight glass I can see through.

The 96+ caliper has about the same piston area as the old caliper. However, it's significantly stiffer, it's easier to service, and has better pad availability. AFAIK, the master cylinder is the same on the 96 and newer bikes.