Triumphrat

Hello Trophy Riders:

Getting ready to replace rear pads on '03 Trophy 1200 for the first time.

1) The forwarding of any info regarding tips, protocol, essential tools etc. to ease the "learn as you go" process would be appreciated.

2) Any thoughts on what type and manufacturer of brake pads to buy...long pad life paramount.

3) Is it possible to ascertain remaining pad thickness by inspection prior to disassembly ?

Questions 1) and 3) serve to illustrate how inadequate the manual is...surpassed in futility only by the tool kit !

But a great ride all the same.

Thanks, Steve

gararnett

I would just note that generally, harder pads are required to have a longer pad life, and that generally speaking, that means that longer wearing pad is more damaging to the the rotor, requiring more frequent/greater rotor damage. I would go for a softer compound pad that doesn't last as long, and replace more often. Also, the softer pads usually stop the bike in shorter distances.

Again, this is just a very broad generalization of brake pads and nothing specific to the Trophy. I know many have problems with very short pad life on the rear of the Trophy. I am picking up my Trophy this weekend (if all goes well), so I have no experience on this bike. I have owned and maintained 10-12 other bikes prior. All I'm suggesting is that given that many have a short pad life on the rear of this bike, it appears that from my reading here, everyone wants to go to a longer lasting pad, which MAY cause more problems than it solves.

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stevent

I noticed my rear pads are about done yesterday while I was installing my wheel after getting a new Azaro AV46 mounted.

I got 18.5 K out of the pads, but I don't use the rear brake much. That seems like an acceptable service life to me, I guess I'll replace with stock pads when I'm at the Triumph shop next week. :hammer:

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stevent....."May the Goddess turn the hearts of those who hate us, if not their hearts then turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping..."

You dont use the rear brake to back into the corners like the Superbike riders then Stevent.
Personally I reckon the Triumph originals are ok Just make sure you get all the breakdust and rubbish out of the caliper and clean it with a decent brake cleaner get any rust off pins and bolts most dealers use a copper ease or silicon grease on the back of the pad and bolts to stop future seizing and make it eisier to get apart if your not sure get the Dealer to do it for you as Brakes can be a bit life threatening on a bike

stevent

Strictly speaking it's lack of brakes that get things a little dicey, but I take your point.........Thanks for the tips and advice, I've done the brakes a few times so I should be able to manage ok

On the plus side it was raining on my ride into work this morning so I got to do some pretty cool slides until the mold release compound wore off the tires, now they seem to stick quite well. :lollol: :lollol: :lollol:

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stevent....."May the Goddess turn the hearts of those who hate us, if not their hearts then turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping..."

Its amazing how many people get caught out by new tyres I remember about tenyears ago riding a brand new bike home in snow and slush(It always does it) and got close to ending up on my arse.
What tyres did you go for in the end

[ This message was edited by: Drewtrump on 2004-06-05 11:11 ]

stevent

I got the Avon Azaro AV 45& 46 ST's I've only got about 200 miles on them but they seem to work

I had a set of Dunlop D220's on but I only got 6k miles out of the rear before I was down to the wear bars and I can't afford $300. for tires every other oil change, so I'm done with them.

What's really annoying is the weather here is the same as in England IE; 45 and raining all winter. I put the Dunlops on in January so 6 mo's of cool wet roads and they're already toast.

Just not good enough, mate. :-g

[ This message was edited by: stevent on 2004-06-05 11:58 ]

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stevent....."May the Goddess turn the hearts of those who hate us, if not their hearts then turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping..."

sailfish

Back on the topic of pads, I replaced the original rear pads on a Sprint 900 at 8,400 miles with EBC organic pads (p/n FA215/2). Those lasted 10,000 miles. The next set of EBC organics are at 12,000 miles with at least a couple of thousand left in them (note: the current set has a 9,000 cross country trip on them, extending the mileage some, also, I'm sure that I am rear braking less).

Regarding the supplied tools, even back when bikes came with tools, I never really regarded them as something that I wanted to use on my bike since the quality has always been poor. At least they supply a plug wrench and wrenches to tighten the chain.

[ This message was edited by: sailfish on 2004-06-10 10:19 ]

AndyA

Last week I replaced my rather worn front pads with a set of Carbone Lorraine pads from Hein Gericke, the stopping power is tremendous. May need to change the front discs a tad earlier though

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