Any consensus on brake pads

[mayhem8]

Just a quick glance and it's looking like new aftermarket rotors are close to $200 each, so about $400 for the 2 fronts.

I can get an organic pad set for around $20. The organic pads are soft and will wear more quickly and throw off more brake dust, but will be a lot easier on the way more expensive rotors.

On cars I generally went for semi-metallic pads, which I think are what are referred to as sintered pads for the bike. Most of the car rotors I've replaced though cost me less for a set than a single rotor would be for my bike. For example, I just did the wife's Lincoln MKX with drilled/slotted performance rotors and ceramic pads for $120 a set, so no biggy if the rotors are toast when it comes time to replace the pads.

Ceramic pads are super hard and very low dust. I don't find that they grab any better though, at least not on the car.

My thought is that with the minimal driving I do, a set of organics will last me years and when they do go, it's maybe a 1 hour job to replace them. The sintered are about twice the cost of the organics and may be a better middle of the road choice. I'm leaning against the ceramics, not so much because of the cost of the pads, but because of their potential to be that much harder on the rotors.

Would be interested to hear people's thoughts on brake pad choices, and why.

[Conrad]

I've had good luck with ebc pads, ussually just go with the organic pads. I look at the ceramic and sintered pads as designed for racing and high performance riding, and pretty unnecessary for regular street riding.

[GrandpaDenny]

I use EBC pads. I tend to alternate between sintered and organic - after 50000 miles and at least four sets of brake pads I haven't made up my mind. Sintered are noisy, but I'm not sure there's really that much of a difference in real-world braking performance or wear life. Now bear in mind I live in a big city, so I use my brakes a lot, like every block there's a stop sign or a traffic light. I ride every day, both commuting and for pleasure. I also like to ride up in the mountains chasing a friend and his wife on their Concours 1400. So my brakes get a workout every time I ride. I will say that ceramics are designed for track use, needing to get up to a high temperature to be effective. Kind of like race compound tires - sounds like a great idea for best performance, but at the temperatures they run on the street they are less than optimal. I also haven't noticed any appreciable difference in rotor wear, to be honest. That doesn't mean there isn't, it just means I haven't noticed any. The only time I've noticed any wear on the rotors was when I let the front pads wear down to the metal.