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[Manzanita]

So back a couple months ago I swapped out the OEM semi-metallic HH pads on my 2014 Zero S to organic pads, and it greatly improved the braking modulation; with the OEM pads the bike had very abrupt braking, almost an on-off switch. So I was singing the praises of organic brake pads until this thursday when they suddenly lost 70% power while I was passing a car into a steep downhill going into a hairpin turn. I made it out the other side without going down, but this happened without warning. I had overtaken the car and was pointed downhill facing the hairpin and I swear pulling on the brake as hard as I could felt like I was getting barely any braking.

If there is a lesson to learn as far as my riding, it's that I have gotten so out of practice at using my rear brake that I didn't want to risk it in the second I had to react; it's actually a slight left going into a hairpin right, and I didn't want to slide the rear with the bike leaned over. I am now practicing using my rear brake. On the other hand, my trackday experience definitely gave me the confidence to quickly throw down the bike into the hairpin at a speed I would never consider doing intentionally on the street. The tires stuck, the turn was banked and I didn't even scrape the peg. Two minutes later the brakes were back to normal...

This spot is near the bottom of a 2000 foot windy downhill, so I was heating up the brakes going down, and the final stress that threw my brakes over the edge was definitely the fact that before passing the vehicle, I had to do a full-on emergency brake on my first attempt at passing this guy, as he went into the oncoming passing lane to block me! This is a very safe passing spot, and I pass cars every week on my normal morning commute on this section of road (this is Kings Mountain Road, for those in the area...).  I have gone over 2 months with this brake pad setup and have never noticed any fading on the street. But I think I had the OEM pads on for my trackday...

Anyways, I did want to post this here as I previously recommended organic brake pads as a good solution. I definitely take that back: it was one second they were fine, and the next time I pulled them, they had stopped working--in a very bad situation. There has to be a semi-metallic pad that has both better modulation and does not suddenly fade like this. So I will be experimenting with that and will report back here.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Was this road going from Alice's Restaurant down into Redwood City? I'm in the East Bay and make it over there often enough. I want to try Hecker Pass with the DS but haven't quite made it that far. I'd definitely crank up regen for these.

I found some front-set Honda pad replacements (45105-MY6-415) which perform better than stock. I'm using the stock pads for the 14 J Juan rear brakes so don't have anything to share there.

[Manzanita]

Hey brian, so by "better" do you mean a more gradual bite? Have some pads on order but thinking I will have to try a few. Hwy 84 is the direct route down from Alices, kings mtn is about 5 miles north on skyline before it drops down but both end up in woodside.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Yes, it feels more gradual to me.

Excuse my sketchy road descriptions: I've only been in the area for a couple of months and am at a remote conference

[Richard230]

I had my first crash on Kings Mountain Road in 1962.  I was heading downhill on my Vespa motor scooter and dropped it on a tight corner. I ended up on the hillside in the opposite lane.  Fortunately, in those days there was very little traffic on that road and no bicycles (which now seem to own the road). So it was just me and the asphalt.