Hi Guys,
Still getting use to ABS brakes,and an extra 100 kilo's in weight !
I have a 2012 ZZR1400 and love it,even though I am 66 years old.
My other bike is a Honda FireBlade,and the brakes are fantastic.
What Brake pads are the best for my 14 ??
And is it worth fitting Stainless or kevlar brake lines.

Cheers TTPAUL.

Stainless lines will give you improved feel the stock pads are just fine....just replace the lines and try your brakes and I think you will be satisfied with what they can do...

NINJA

I have found that changing the fluid and going to a race pad compound makes a great improvement

JMHO, unless you are an extraordinary track rider who works the brakes hard setting up for corners, I doubt you can outride the brakes on the Gen1. The Gen2 has same brakes, I am sure --or better.

The 14 was always known for extraordinary brakes. I have never squeezed my front brake to the grip. NOt even close. Easy enough to lock the front at 70mph with me a 200 lb rider.

That being said, (<<writer is about to refute everything he has just spent 5 minutes of his life trying to convice you of:) I changed the Goodridge Kevlar brake lines. Also went to HH sintered pads. The brakes did not seem to improve at all and my OEM lines were 3 years old and had at least 25000 miles.

I think you are just used to a lighter bike, TTPAUL. This one will stop as good as a big bike can.

Front brakes are fine, rears are just aweful on the zx 14r

^^^^yes the rear sucks but if you really brake, the assend is gonna come up anyway. I use my rear break for very slow speed braking ....but it helps noticeable for high speed...just if you hit them hard, the rear does nothing off the ground or barely touching.

Miss the brakes on my fireblade. I had steel lines on it but the big thing is the weight. Now if mother Kaw could just come up with the comfort and torque of our 14Rs and the weight of a fireblade........

I feather the rear at low speed maneuvers and that's about it, perhaps I might use on rain or gravel, but in this situations we all brake carefully. But rooks right, that rear just wants to lock up!

Like rook said, EBC HH pads MIGHT help

JMO...

Why I need pipe and I'll go faster.
Why I need a pig so I can go faster.
Why I need pads so I can stop faster.

What happens with those 3 lines?

Why I just go beat buy a stocker.
Why I better go on line for a better map.
Why I just was out-broke by a fat fuck on a stocker.

Why did I buy a pipe? Because the stocker out pee forum'd is piss away the reach around?
Why did I need a pig if I'm more on line looking for a map and not riding the OE I'm getting old.
Why did I change pads if my 100% cotton briefs are not even close to filling I reach for a handful.

Dough Nut BRAKE!

Just thought I'd chime in on this. I too have noticed that the back brakes are really crap. Even when you want to use them to pull up at lights occasionally, they do close to f-all. Previously when replacing brake pads, I was told that the rears were the same as the fronts. Just a different part number and compound, hence the soft feel at the back, to save us from locking them up. Personally, I'd prefer to have the grip and let my foot or the ABS decide how much. Does anyone know if that is the case with the ZX14R pads? or am I thinking of another previous bike?
I've also changed to Goodridge braided lines on my 07 with Motul RF600 racing brake fluid. It made the lever much firmer and more precise on a 15,000 km or so bike.

Said budget has me using stock brakes, so call me wolfman rearbrake lightfoot!

Do anyone else's front brakes drag a little bit? Like, spin the front wheel by hand and the brakes drag enough to stop it.

HUB- Google translate doesn't recognize the context in which you are using pig.

+1 on new lines. I replaced mine and about killed my damnself :)

I have no brake drag.

* Last updated by: omega2k on 7/30/2013 @ 8:45 PM *

No brake drag. That sounds like fun Omega!

Wolfman, I too thought the rear brake was awful. At least until I really started using it and got the pad bedded in. It was so weak (at first) that it wouldn't lock the rear tire. (not that I want that, but just giving an example).

I made a post before about it. IIRC it took almost 1K miles for it to start being effective. It was several hundred before I even noticed it wasn't working much. THEN I started making a concentrated effort to use it every time I stopped. quite hard, even. and after a bunch of stops, it works like it should.

The reason I was bummed about the rear brake not working well, is that I like to coast up to stoplights (signs) and stopped traffic with just the rear brake. Gives me a time to rest my throttle hand and downshift as I roll to a stop. Plus if the light changes, I can still be slowly rolling; rather than sitting in a line. Also, I had hand surgery, and if I can give it some rest, it helps.

Before I got the rear working well, the bike just would not stop from a 15mph roll; coasting up to a stop.
After using it a bunch, I can lock the rear at will. Its that much better. Just took me a long time to figure it out, since I hadn't ridden in 7 years, and was concentrating on front braking only. working off the rust until I got some skills back.

Maybe that will help?

I've got Spiegler braided steel lines and EBC HH pads on my '13- the bikes stops on a dime (which comes in handy as you never know what's gonna a pop out in front of you in Thailand).

* Last updated by: gobrian77 on 7/31/2013 @ 12:44 AM *

Nice! but looks pricey.

stock is good enough,is that pedal on the right not just a foot rest?

* Last updated by: motero on 7/31/2013 @ 4:10 AM *

Rod, I use my rear brake a lot too. It is somewhat part of the ill programming of rider safety courses in the 80's, ie low speed stand up, and slick riding. Every ride I use the rears in some capacity. I am developing a "relationship" with them, but as compared to the many bikes I've owned, I agree with you, they are an "acquired taste!"

If TT is going to stay on the street, all this brake business is overkill. This is my 3rd 14 and the first time I've used the brakes at the rear. Not many stabs, but yes, there is no back brake. Back brake is for very low speed stops and I mean quick stops with both brakes. Low speed is 25mph and under.

Back brake is for dead stopping on an incline. That's if you need assistance to leave from there. Back brake is for dragging&stabbing with feet still up, you are still creeping up to the light, traffic is slow, etc. Who said bake wheel goes light? Because the mass is a front weight transfer bias. Last thing you want is a rear wheel skid setting in... one applying the rear brake way too much to lock it up on the weight bias move.

Slow isn't really the front brakes all about grabbing those to the bitter end... Sans 20mph give or take? We are not braking all this time still on the rear after how many years you've been swinging a leg? And who said these are some of the best brakes to match the bike?

So the question is fatsix, you some kind of Yourgee Rossea caliber you need to tool up with the good stuff? Couldn't take a set of rears an shoe the front horse sorta speak? Set of racing soft pads? And a set of balls? No disc, no line, no pad is going to help you can't ball the stockers. Get it?

Do anyone else's front brakes drag a little bit? Like, spin the front wheel by hand and the brakes drag enough to stop it.

fat, when was the last time you changed brake fluid? How do you setup your front end when changing tires, or watching someone change your tires? There are a few tricks locking down the axle to forks to calipers to brake pads.

No, not good when it drags to a stop as you described.

Do anyone else's front brakes drag a little bit? Like, spin the front wheel by hand and the brakes drag enough to stop it.

Mine do a little but I do not have stock rims or rotors.

The pads skim the rotors. I agree with Hub but I would say that a little friction between the rotor and the pad(s) might not be too hard to fix. My CZ front pads were dragging the rotors so bad they left scrapes in the fresh rustproof surface on the outside of the rotor. Spin the wheel and it WOULD stop in the same place every time. It was pretty hard to get the wheel to spin more than 1.5 - 2 x full revolution.

Problem was BRAND NEW rotors, BRAND NEW pads=decrease in space between contact points of brake system.....less space=system requires less fluid than it did before the new parts install. Took my brake fluid cap off and the rubber diaphram was all squashed up. Brake fluid was WAY overful. That's what happens when you change to new brakes parts. You need to remove the excess fluid or the parts will over-pressurized. CAn be a disaster if you get the fluid hot. Brakes lock

check your fluid level should be just below FULL.....def not a smidgen over FULL.

Helped mine alot.

Mine still drag a bit sometimes, sometimes not at all. I have floating rotors which may be the reason why.

* Last updated by: Rook on 7/31/2013 @ 4:11 PM *