Click on pictures to
see larger image
see larger image
Brake Pads
Find the right brake pads is like finding the right woman: you gotta try out a lot
first. And I have. In terms of brake pads, what I've found is sintered metal is most
economical for rear brakes, and the softer, "stickier" pads are best on the front
brakes. As with most choices, there are trade-offs. Softer pad materials are
generally more responsive and will stop you quicker. The downside is they don't
last as long, especially if you ride in wet conditions where mud, grit, and grime
will turn your brake rotors into grinding wheels. Back in 2002, the first time I rode
my KTM 300MXC the rear pads were worn down to metal (it was a bit wet that
day, however). Sintered metal pads are designed to better survive those muddy
days. They last a lot longer, but aren't as sticky and won't stop you as quick.
My choice of "sticky" pads in the front and sintered metal pads on the rear has
everything to do with my riding style. I prefer an intensely sensitive front brake,
but am less so concerned with the rear. Sintered metal pads just don't give me
the kind of front brake response that I want. And since the front brake does most
of the work anyway, I want instant response with a quick one-finger pull on the
brake lever. Softer-material front pads don't last as long as sintered metal, but
that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
On the other hand, the rear brake performs less braking power and is therefore
of lesser concern to me for brake response. When stopping quickly, the rear
wheel is basically dragged along for the ride, so it requires far less force on the
brake pads to lock up the wheel. Therefore, I'm not as concerned with rear brake
action and am willing to use a pad with less "stick" and longer life.
Even though the softer-material pads don't last as long, the front brakes see
less of the mud than the rear brakes and I often get about the same life out of
the front pads as I do the rears. I do think the new "wave" style brake rotors have
helped prolong pad life, even though at first I thought it was a total style gimmick.
On past bikes, I changed to solid rear rotors in an attempt to lengthen pad life,
but I'm getting almost the same life out of the pads on my KTM 250XC (with its
"wave" style rotor) as I did with the solid rear rotors on past bikes. Guess those
engineers knew what they were doing.
As far as specific brands, I like the EBC sintered metal rear brake pads and
stock front pads. EBC's are reasonably priced and are long-lasting. Stock front
pads are generally more expensive, but usually have more grip <rant on>
because that's what all the manufacturers want the dirt bike magazines to rave
about in their reviews because they know the magazines will only test them for a
short while and therefore won't be able to complain that the pads don't last very
long and even if they don't last long, the magazines don't care because they get
everything for free and don't give a rat's ass about how long things last <rant
off>. In 2010 I tried out Galfer semi-metallic front pads and am very happy with
their performance. I think it does help that Brembo finally produced a strong front
brake system (see continuing rant below - Nissin master cylinder conversion),
so maybe pad selection is less of an issue with the later-model Brembo's.
Solid Brake Rotors
Back in my days of continued searching for all things cheap, I went on a crusade
of longer lasting brake pads. To prolong pad life, I bought solid front and rear
brake rotors at various times for various bikes. Typical off-road brake rotors have
holes and notches carved out to help with cooling. This is nice, but mud tends to
collect in those holes and notches. Mud is usually abrasive, so chunks of mud
packed into the holes and notches will act as an abrasive, which is not good for
brake pad life. Thus, the King of Cheap experimented with solid brake rotors. No
holes or notches should equal longer brake pad life, correct?
Correct. Solid rotors also retain more heat, which can eventually cause brake
fluid to boil and result in your braking ability being reduced to zero. I tend to be a
rear brake-dragger, so in certain races my rear brake would fade. I don't abuse
the front brake as much, so I never had that problem with solid front rotors. On
the rear, switching to a more expensive brake fluid with a higher boiling point
helped quite a bit.
I experimented with solid rotors on my KTM 300EXC, partly because the stock
rotors were pretty weak and tended to bend in the rocks of Missouri. Part of
KTM's problem back then was the stylish design it chose for the rotors, which I
am convinced made them more prone to bending (never had this problem with
my Kawasaki's). In 1999, the rear rotor bent so badly (despite a rotor guard) that
it broke off a piece of the stock hub.
I also used solid rear rotors on my KX250's, with pretty good results. Solid rotors
are available from Moose Racing and Enduro Engineering.
Oversized Brake Rotors
Back when I owned my 2003 KX250, I found a Braking oversized front rotor on
eBay for about $60 delivered to my door, so I gave it a try. It came with the
oversized rotor and a bracket that replaced the KX's stock caliper carrier. The
bracket used the stock slider bolt and the little rubber booties. The bottom line
is, it will stop you in a hurry. However, I can't say it was a huge improvement over
the stock front brake, because the KX's brake was pretty good to begin with. For
$60, compared to around $300 new, it was a good upgrade but I probably
wouldn't buy one of these brand new. The only real downside is that these larger
rotors aren't always compatible with rotor guards.
Scotts Performance "Shark Fin" Rear Brake Rotor Guard
Back when I first began riding off-road, I outfitted my bikes with various rear
brake rotor guards. Most were simply steel or aluminum "fins" which bolted into
the caliper carrier. Their moderate prices were commensurate with their
moderate protective abilities. Eventually these guards all take impacts heavy
enough to crack off their mounting points on the caliper carrier. The guards
themselves usually survive this just fine, but the caliper carriers will never again
hold another guard. Some manufacturers won't sell caliper carriers separately
from the whole caliper assembly, which makes them hugely expensive to
replace.
Enter Scotts Performance, who was the first to mass market a brake rotor guard
fully integrated into the caliper. In fact, it actually replaced the stock caliper
carrier. The beauty of the design is that the rear axle goes through the guard,
meaning the mounting point of the guard is probably not ever going to break
unless you do something very, very bad (which you probably won't remember
anyway).
I first began using these on my 2003 Kawasaki KX250, after I tried a bolt-on
model from Topar Racing. The Topar guard was built beefy enough, but its
weakness was the same as similar guards. Eventually the caliper carrier
mounting tabs broke off. At that point, I really had no better option than the Scotts
guard. It was a whole lot more money, but I never had to worry about it again.
The guard got pretty dinged up over the years, but it did its job. It's been part of
every bike I've owned since.
Enduro Engineering Rear Rotor Guard - Complete Carrier
This pretty, high-priced rotor protector was a replacement for one those
aforementioned cheap "fin" style guards that mount to the caliper carrier. In 2003
I broke off the caliper carrier tabs on my KTM 300MXC. The carrier could not be
bought separately through KTM, so I ordered up an Enduro Engineering model
that set me back $150 (they're now a bit less expensive). At the time, the Scotts
Performance "Shark Fin" guards were available for a little less money, but I liked
the idea of the replaceable "fin" on the Enduro Engineering version that could be
purchased separately for $50.
My initial impression of the guard was that it was very beautifully manufactured. A
solid block of aluminum, carved into a guard...so shiny and pretty. However, the
integration of the "fin" into the carrier had a questionable design. The fin slid into
the carrier and was held in place by a single, very small set screw that passed
through the fin and recessed into the carrier. What concerned me most was this
tiny set screw, which was the only thing tkeeping the fin from sliding off. I feared
that a few solid impacts with rocks could snap it in two and let my $50 fin slide
out onto the trail. That's exactly what happened in July 2007 when the fin finally
broke off somewhere in Colorado.
I also had problems with the holes in the carrier where the caliper pins slide
back and forth as the caliper grabs onto the brake rotor. The holes eventually got
out of shape, so much that the caliper was able to shift around enough that the
brake rotor made contact with the brake pad pin. By the time I discovered this,
the rotor had ground about halfway through the brake pad pin. I wanted to junk
the whole thing, but stupid me...I had already sold the original caliper carrier on
eBay years earlier, thinking I'd never need it again. Had I known of this peculiar
design, I would have chosen the Scotts guard.
Enduro Engineering has since improved the design of how the replaceable fin
integrates into the caliper carrier. Looks like the fin should stay put.
Acerbis front brake rotor guards
This is a product I used for awhile on my 1999 KTM 300EXC but eventually quit
using. Quality was fine and it served its purpose of keeping grass and leaves
and sticks out of the brake caliper, but the guard got in the way of front wheel
installation. The guard was attached by way of the axle bolt and zip ties (it
doubled as a lower fork tube guard), and eventually the plastic around the axle
bolt wore away because of the tightening and un-tightening of the bolt. When the
plastic finally gave way, the guard flopped around until I could yank it the rest of
the way off.
I tried a similar Acerbis guard on my 2003 KX250, which did not use the axle bolt
as a mounting point. Instead, the guard used a special brake caliper bolt and
one of the brake line guard mounting holes. Even so, the disc guard had to
come off before the wheel could be removed, which was still kind of a pain. The
guard also had to be removed to access the compression clicker on the bottom
of the fork leg. Still, it provided decent protection and I never had any brake fading
because of foreign objects working their way into the caliper and pads. It should
be noted that some mail order catalogs are indicating that the Acerbis guard for
the '03 KX250 also fits the '04 KX250. This is not correct. Because the brake
line routing is different on the '04 KX250, the mounting of the disc guard is
different and the '03 guard will not fit.
In the mid-2000s, Acerbis released a nice front rotor guard for most later-model
dirt bikes that (finally) did not interfere with front wheel removal. It came in two
pieces: the plastic guard and a metal mounting device that actually replaces the
stock wheel spacer. The plastic guard stays very close to the rotor, which keeps
out plenty of trail junk and doesn't make the front end any wider than stock, which
can be helpful when navigating deep ruts. I used this on my 2004 KX250 and
liked it. One advantage is the plastic guard can be replaced if it cracks or needs
to be replaced. A disadvantage is that the metal mounting part uses its own
wheel spacer. All wheel spacers eventually end up with grooves which reduce
the ability for seals to separate the dirt and grit from the wheel bearings. I ended
up selling the KX250 before the grooves became an issue (although they were
becoming evident), so I'm not sure what could be done if the wheel spacer
needed to be replaced. It was pretty much integrated into the metal mounting
device.
Brembo to Nissin Front Brake Conversion
in 2002, I was one of those unfortunate souls who got stuck with a Brembo front
brake that was just plain lousy. On my 300MXC, I attempted every fix known to
man, but it didn't help. It was getting to the point where I couldn't ride as
aggressively for fear of not being able to stop in time. One day a guy on an
Internet discussion group mentioned that he had swapped his Brembo master
cylinder with a Nissin unit from a Honda CRF450. I was desperate at that point,
so I bought a complete master cylinder kit from Service Honda. When I first
installed the Nissin, it leaked at the banjo bolt. I was using the Brembo brake
line with the Honda banjo bolt (required), which is a slightly different length. The
hole in the banjo bolt needed to be centered in the end of the brake line, so I
added a washer on one side and put on some teflon tape for good measure.
Did it work? The answer is yes...but I tried a lot harder to remove every last
bubble from the brake line and master cylinder. I'm not sure that the same effort
wouldn't have improved the feel of the Brembo. I also replaced the seals in the
caliper, just to be sure there was no problem there. It still was never as firm as
my KX250's and my 2009 250XC, but definitely an improvement.
Brake Snake
Don't buy it...mine didn't survive its first ride. This is a product designed to keep
trail junk from wedging between the brake pedal and the clutch cover. Not sure if
I installed it wrong or what, but a couple strands of safety wire work just as well
and cost about 1% of the brake snake.
Find the right brake pads is like finding the right woman: you gotta try out a lot
first. And I have. In terms of brake pads, what I've found is sintered metal is most
economical for rear brakes, and the softer, "stickier" pads are best on the front
brakes. As with most choices, there are trade-offs. Softer pad materials are
generally more responsive and will stop you quicker. The downside is they don't
last as long, especially if you ride in wet conditions where mud, grit, and grime
will turn your brake rotors into grinding wheels. Back in 2002, the first time I rode
my KTM 300MXC the rear pads were worn down to metal (it was a bit wet that
day, however). Sintered metal pads are designed to better survive those muddy
days. They last a lot longer, but aren't as sticky and won't stop you as quick.
My choice of "sticky" pads in the front and sintered metal pads on the rear has
everything to do with my riding style. I prefer an intensely sensitive front brake,
but am less so concerned with the rear. Sintered metal pads just don't give me
the kind of front brake response that I want. And since the front brake does most
of the work anyway, I want instant response with a quick one-finger pull on the
brake lever. Softer-material front pads don't last as long as sintered metal, but
that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
On the other hand, the rear brake performs less braking power and is therefore
of lesser concern to me for brake response. When stopping quickly, the rear
wheel is basically dragged along for the ride, so it requires far less force on the
brake pads to lock up the wheel. Therefore, I'm not as concerned with rear brake
action and am willing to use a pad with less "stick" and longer life.
Even though the softer-material pads don't last as long, the front brakes see
less of the mud than the rear brakes and I often get about the same life out of
the front pads as I do the rears. I do think the new "wave" style brake rotors have
helped prolong pad life, even though at first I thought it was a total style gimmick.
On past bikes, I changed to solid rear rotors in an attempt to lengthen pad life,
but I'm getting almost the same life out of the pads on my KTM 250XC (with its
"wave" style rotor) as I did with the solid rear rotors on past bikes. Guess those
engineers knew what they were doing.
As far as specific brands, I like the EBC sintered metal rear brake pads and
stock front pads. EBC's are reasonably priced and are long-lasting. Stock front
pads are generally more expensive, but usually have more grip <rant on>
because that's what all the manufacturers want the dirt bike magazines to rave
about in their reviews because they know the magazines will only test them for a
short while and therefore won't be able to complain that the pads don't last very
long and even if they don't last long, the magazines don't care because they get
everything for free and don't give a rat's ass about how long things last <rant
off>. In 2010 I tried out Galfer semi-metallic front pads and am very happy with
their performance. I think it does help that Brembo finally produced a strong front
brake system (see continuing rant below - Nissin master cylinder conversion),
so maybe pad selection is less of an issue with the later-model Brembo's.
Solid Brake Rotors
Back in my days of continued searching for all things cheap, I went on a crusade
of longer lasting brake pads. To prolong pad life, I bought solid front and rear
brake rotors at various times for various bikes. Typical off-road brake rotors have
holes and notches carved out to help with cooling. This is nice, but mud tends to
collect in those holes and notches. Mud is usually abrasive, so chunks of mud
packed into the holes and notches will act as an abrasive, which is not good for
brake pad life. Thus, the King of Cheap experimented with solid brake rotors. No
holes or notches should equal longer brake pad life, correct?
Correct. Solid rotors also retain more heat, which can eventually cause brake
fluid to boil and result in your braking ability being reduced to zero. I tend to be a
rear brake-dragger, so in certain races my rear brake would fade. I don't abuse
the front brake as much, so I never had that problem with solid front rotors. On
the rear, switching to a more expensive brake fluid with a higher boiling point
helped quite a bit.
I experimented with solid rotors on my KTM 300EXC, partly because the stock
rotors were pretty weak and tended to bend in the rocks of Missouri. Part of
KTM's problem back then was the stylish design it chose for the rotors, which I
am convinced made them more prone to bending (never had this problem with
my Kawasaki's). In 1999, the rear rotor bent so badly (despite a rotor guard) that
it broke off a piece of the stock hub.
I also used solid rear rotors on my KX250's, with pretty good results. Solid rotors
are available from Moose Racing and Enduro Engineering.
Oversized Brake Rotors
Back when I owned my 2003 KX250, I found a Braking oversized front rotor on
eBay for about $60 delivered to my door, so I gave it a try. It came with the
oversized rotor and a bracket that replaced the KX's stock caliper carrier. The
bracket used the stock slider bolt and the little rubber booties. The bottom line
is, it will stop you in a hurry. However, I can't say it was a huge improvement over
the stock front brake, because the KX's brake was pretty good to begin with. For
$60, compared to around $300 new, it was a good upgrade but I probably
wouldn't buy one of these brand new. The only real downside is that these larger
rotors aren't always compatible with rotor guards.
Scotts Performance "Shark Fin" Rear Brake Rotor Guard
Back when I first began riding off-road, I outfitted my bikes with various rear
brake rotor guards. Most were simply steel or aluminum "fins" which bolted into
the caliper carrier. Their moderate prices were commensurate with their
moderate protective abilities. Eventually these guards all take impacts heavy
enough to crack off their mounting points on the caliper carrier. The guards
themselves usually survive this just fine, but the caliper carriers will never again
hold another guard. Some manufacturers won't sell caliper carriers separately
from the whole caliper assembly, which makes them hugely expensive to
replace.
Enter Scotts Performance, who was the first to mass market a brake rotor guard
fully integrated into the caliper. In fact, it actually replaced the stock caliper
carrier. The beauty of the design is that the rear axle goes through the guard,
meaning the mounting point of the guard is probably not ever going to break
unless you do something very, very bad (which you probably won't remember
anyway).
I first began using these on my 2003 Kawasaki KX250, after I tried a bolt-on
model from Topar Racing. The Topar guard was built beefy enough, but its
weakness was the same as similar guards. Eventually the caliper carrier
mounting tabs broke off. At that point, I really had no better option than the Scotts
guard. It was a whole lot more money, but I never had to worry about it again.
The guard got pretty dinged up over the years, but it did its job. It's been part of
every bike I've owned since.
Enduro Engineering Rear Rotor Guard - Complete Carrier
This pretty, high-priced rotor protector was a replacement for one those
aforementioned cheap "fin" style guards that mount to the caliper carrier. In 2003
I broke off the caliper carrier tabs on my KTM 300MXC. The carrier could not be
bought separately through KTM, so I ordered up an Enduro Engineering model
that set me back $150 (they're now a bit less expensive). At the time, the Scotts
Performance "Shark Fin" guards were available for a little less money, but I liked
the idea of the replaceable "fin" on the Enduro Engineering version that could be
purchased separately for $50.
My initial impression of the guard was that it was very beautifully manufactured. A
solid block of aluminum, carved into a guard...so shiny and pretty. However, the
integration of the "fin" into the carrier had a questionable design. The fin slid into
the carrier and was held in place by a single, very small set screw that passed
through the fin and recessed into the carrier. What concerned me most was this
tiny set screw, which was the only thing tkeeping the fin from sliding off. I feared
that a few solid impacts with rocks could snap it in two and let my $50 fin slide
out onto the trail. That's exactly what happened in July 2007 when the fin finally
broke off somewhere in Colorado.
I also had problems with the holes in the carrier where the caliper pins slide
back and forth as the caliper grabs onto the brake rotor. The holes eventually got
out of shape, so much that the caliper was able to shift around enough that the
brake rotor made contact with the brake pad pin. By the time I discovered this,
the rotor had ground about halfway through the brake pad pin. I wanted to junk
the whole thing, but stupid me...I had already sold the original caliper carrier on
eBay years earlier, thinking I'd never need it again. Had I known of this peculiar
design, I would have chosen the Scotts guard.
Enduro Engineering has since improved the design of how the replaceable fin
integrates into the caliper carrier. Looks like the fin should stay put.
Acerbis front brake rotor guards
This is a product I used for awhile on my 1999 KTM 300EXC but eventually quit
using. Quality was fine and it served its purpose of keeping grass and leaves
and sticks out of the brake caliper, but the guard got in the way of front wheel
installation. The guard was attached by way of the axle bolt and zip ties (it
doubled as a lower fork tube guard), and eventually the plastic around the axle
bolt wore away because of the tightening and un-tightening of the bolt. When the
plastic finally gave way, the guard flopped around until I could yank it the rest of
the way off.
I tried a similar Acerbis guard on my 2003 KX250, which did not use the axle bolt
as a mounting point. Instead, the guard used a special brake caliper bolt and
one of the brake line guard mounting holes. Even so, the disc guard had to
come off before the wheel could be removed, which was still kind of a pain. The
guard also had to be removed to access the compression clicker on the bottom
of the fork leg. Still, it provided decent protection and I never had any brake fading
because of foreign objects working their way into the caliper and pads. It should
be noted that some mail order catalogs are indicating that the Acerbis guard for
the '03 KX250 also fits the '04 KX250. This is not correct. Because the brake
line routing is different on the '04 KX250, the mounting of the disc guard is
different and the '03 guard will not fit.
In the mid-2000s, Acerbis released a nice front rotor guard for most later-model
dirt bikes that (finally) did not interfere with front wheel removal. It came in two
pieces: the plastic guard and a metal mounting device that actually replaces the
stock wheel spacer. The plastic guard stays very close to the rotor, which keeps
out plenty of trail junk and doesn't make the front end any wider than stock, which
can be helpful when navigating deep ruts. I used this on my 2004 KX250 and
liked it. One advantage is the plastic guard can be replaced if it cracks or needs
to be replaced. A disadvantage is that the metal mounting part uses its own
wheel spacer. All wheel spacers eventually end up with grooves which reduce
the ability for seals to separate the dirt and grit from the wheel bearings. I ended
up selling the KX250 before the grooves became an issue (although they were
becoming evident), so I'm not sure what could be done if the wheel spacer
needed to be replaced. It was pretty much integrated into the metal mounting
device.
Brembo to Nissin Front Brake Conversion
in 2002, I was one of those unfortunate souls who got stuck with a Brembo front
brake that was just plain lousy. On my 300MXC, I attempted every fix known to
man, but it didn't help. It was getting to the point where I couldn't ride as
aggressively for fear of not being able to stop in time. One day a guy on an
Internet discussion group mentioned that he had swapped his Brembo master
cylinder with a Nissin unit from a Honda CRF450. I was desperate at that point,
so I bought a complete master cylinder kit from Service Honda. When I first
installed the Nissin, it leaked at the banjo bolt. I was using the Brembo brake
line with the Honda banjo bolt (required), which is a slightly different length. The
hole in the banjo bolt needed to be centered in the end of the brake line, so I
added a washer on one side and put on some teflon tape for good measure.
Did it work? The answer is yes...but I tried a lot harder to remove every last
bubble from the brake line and master cylinder. I'm not sure that the same effort
wouldn't have improved the feel of the Brembo. I also replaced the seals in the
caliper, just to be sure there was no problem there. It still was never as firm as
my KX250's and my 2009 250XC, but definitely an improvement.
Brake Snake
Don't buy it...mine didn't survive its first ride. This is a product designed to keep
trail junk from wedging between the brake pedal and the clutch cover. Not sure if
I installed it wrong or what, but a couple strands of safety wire work just as well
and cost about 1% of the brake snake.
| Braking oversize rotor on the KX250 |
| Brakes |
| Scotts "Shark Fin" guard on the 2009 KTM 250XC |
| Enduro Engineering rotor guard on the 2002 KTM 300MXC |
| Acerbis front rotor guards - 1999 KTM 300EXC (top), 2003 KX250 (middle), and 2004 KX250 (bottom) |
| Banjo bolt - Nissin master cylinder |
| Homemade version of a Brake Snake |
| Product Reviews |
 |  |  |