xs1100 special front brake pad taper

[nezzer]

I recently pulled the front wheel out to get a new tire mounted. Once the wheel was out I was checking my front pads and noticed that all the front pads are wedge shaped which struck me as odd.

After reading the forums it seems that they are indeed supposed to be that shape. One thing I am still not sure on is how to know when they are worn and need replacement. Obviously the wear line is much smaller on the pointy part of the wedge then at the base of the wedge. Which wear indicator should I be looking at and how far down should I let the wear indicator go before replacing the pads?

Just for anyone who is curious here is a picture of one of my front brake pad sets:

[GNEPIG]

.. those pads look brand new, it will take you 15 years to wear that set out

[Ken Talbot]

The groove across the face of the pad is your wear indicator. You need to replace the pads when the groove is just gone at the skinny end. This pad still has a bit of life left in it, but I don't think I'll bother putting it back in just to get a few more miles. I once heard the guy at the boneyard comparing this to putting back on your used underwear....

[nezzer]

Thanks for the quick response. It looks like I dont need to worry about replacing these any time soon.

[fredintoon]

myself, I 'ATE them

or at least I am bewildered.
When I bought my XS11SG amongst the other problems was that the brakes were seized on.
Tore down the front calipers to see the pads were all tapered.
Panicked off to buy two new sets.
Got home, opened the packets and they are built like that!
They are ATE calipers, I'm told.
I suppose they have to be that way because the calipers swivel instead of slide but what total dingbat dreamed up such a strange system?
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[xs650mike]

Swivel calipers, tapered pads?

Supposedly a clever ploy by Yamaha engineers to eliminate brake squeal, Fred. Guess it works, mine haven't squealed yet. My 650s always squeak when cold, once I use them a few times it stops. I never considered it a problem but I guess engineers have to justify their paychecks by answering questions that nobody asked.

[fredintoon]

Dumb & dumber

Hi Mike,
When I bought my XS11SG I'd never even heard of ATE calipers and was unaware of their tapered pads. Had I known I would still have bought the thing because of it's awesome power and accepted the dafty brakes as another idiosyncracy. (I didn't know the engine ran backwards neither)
OK, the ATE calipers seem to stop the bike effectively and I haven't heard mine squeal either.
But the way I see it:-
1) Those tapered pads only wear at the thick edges which means that only the thick edges are working which means they are designed wrong.
Or
2) They have half their working surfaces ground away from new which means that half the pad life is also gone which means they are designed wrong.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[Pat Kelly]

Front brakes on my LG squeal

[xs650mike]

Originally posted by Pat Kelly
Front brakes on my LG squeal

Only when cold or all the time?

[xs650mike]

Squeal?

I eliminated squeal on a car once just by removing pads and thoroughly cleaning out all the brake dust and crud. Reassembled and voila, no squeal.

Another cause of squeal can be the pad material itself. A long time ago I had a bike (drum brakes) which would squeal when cold after I installed hard "competition" linings on the shoes. They didn't work well when cold either but once the brakes were a bit hot they worked very well and didn't squeal either. As I mentioned before my 650s' front brakes squeal when cold, the front brakes are also a bit grabby when cold. Dropped a bike once when the front grabbed on on some dirt.

[SG-Olli]

Re: myself, I 'ATE them

They are ATE calipers, I'm told.

Excuse my french, but you were told B.S.
ATE is a german company that's making brakes and stuff. But they never ever supplied calipers to Yamaha.
Maybe it's because BMW had swivveling calipers once and those were ATE made.

[fredintoon]

dumber & dumberer

Hi Olli,
OK then, "ATE style" calipers.
Which makes BMW foolish for fitting the weird swivelly tapered-pad things and Yamaha even more foolish for copying them.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[Pat Kelly]

The pads on my LG only squeal when I apply them . Dosen't matter if they're cold or warm.
Not a problem tho, I used to be a front-end and brake mechanic (auto) for many, many years. They will be silenced when I get around to taking care of it. I have yet to have brakes squeal that I've replaced.