How much meat before you change your front pads ?

Just taking the wheels off to have the Whitewalls fitted so thought it may be an idea to change the pads if they're getting anywhere near close.  I'd say there's about 4mm of pad left on them, the wear grooves are clearly visible.  This is the first time I've look at them, so I have no idea how much was on them when I first picked it up, ie. how much meat I've scrubbed off in 2000 miles, therefore, how long 4mm will last.  Most of my riding is around town, so the brakes see plenty of use.

Being a tight, lazy arse, I don't want to shell out for a new pair of pads, only to find out that I'd get another season out of these.  How much material is on a new pair?  Any brand recommendations - I was looking at EBC (anyone use "organic" as opposed to "HH sintered") or Brembo - 'cos their's are Carbon Ceramic which has to be good !!!!

Depends on what pads are fitted, if they are cheap ones I would change them anyway. When I bought my VX800 I was not happy with the breaks (had Goldfren fitted and were crap) so I fitted EBC HH pads, boy what a difference, they are well worth the money, also while you are at it change the break fluid and if you can stretch to it fit new braided lines (such as Hel, Goodridge, Cobra etc - avoid the cheap ones for the usual reasons), How long have you had the bike as I think Suzuki recommend changing the rubber lines every couple of years anyway.

Oh yeah - forgot to mention that I'm changing the hose as well !!   Asked Goodridge at the show but they didn't have a fitment for the '01 Volusia.  Gave me number to phone at their head office & if I'm happy to send mine in, they'll do one for £20 inc delivery - so it's now in a plastic bag waiting to be posted off.

Guess it may be sensible to change 'em for the £20 they'll cost - just whether to go for organic or sintered - any recommendations on that would be gratefully recieved

Sintered without question, the 800's are heavy bikes and need as much help as they can get when stopping in a hurry. I think read somewhere that the sintered ones give about 20% more stopping power, so that has to be good right. The carbon ones are for track use as they need heat to make them work properly and I do not think they work very well in the wet.
Also before you send your line off, try giving these a shout https://www.facebook.com/cobraperformancebrakelines as I used them on my GS650GT and I was very happy with the service and price.

Thanks for that - I'll check them out later.

Just got the rear wheel off - reckon I may changing the rears as well !!

Good advice Andrew 

I was told to fit standard pads as opposed to sintered because they wear your dics a lot quicker!! dont know if this is right or not!

Scan of EBC's catalogue:

smart wrote:

I was told to fit standard pads as opposed to sintered because they wear your dics a lot quicker!! dont know if this is right or not!

Bugger - just ordered a pair of EBC sintered HH's !!!!

I was also told if I ride a bike I would kill myself


Not sure the EBC HH pads would wear out the discs any quicker than any other pads to be honest, EBC list HH pads for my VX, that's good enough for me, I can find no warning about them buggering up the discs on the site but I had heard that some can cause more wear. The difference in breaking performance over the ones that were fitted was very noticeable as well as the feel, if they wear the disc a bit more, that's fine by me as I only do a few thousand miles a year and will probably have changed the bike before it becomes a problem. If it means I have to buy a new disc 20000 mile sooner due to the wear then I think it is worth it in my opinion it only needs to save my neck just once and they are justified. I know my next bike will have twin front discs as well as rear disc and if I can afford it ABS.
The two things on my bike I do not skimp on are tyres and brakes.

And I was told marriage was forever - that was three wives back !!!!

Good points made there Andrew.My new ride has all three points 3discs and abs.