When deciding which brake pads to try on my R6 race bike (see the original article in this series for background), a friend of mine suggested I give Lyndall Racing Brakes’ carbon kevlar brake pads a try. He had been using them for a while, and was very pleased with them.
I took his advice, and gave LRB a call at (800) 400-9490 and ordered up a set. I was sent a set for my application with very detailed instructions for “bedding in” the new pads (ten stops from 20-0 as hard as possible, then ten stops from 40-0 as hard as possible). After installing the new pads, I began bedding in the pads according to the instructions. On about my third stop from 40 mph, I was not prepared for what happened next — I got to 40 mph, proceeded to apply pressure to the brake lever, and easily lifted the rear wheel of the R6 skyward — about to give the R6 an unwanted face lift! On the next stop, I was a little better prepared. The initial bite was incredible, but the brakes were extremely easy to control.
After I got onto the track with this set-up, I began a session of abuse to see what these things would take. For nearly 30 minutes, I worked the brakes as hard as I could, and they felt the same start to finish — strong, linear and easy to use. After three weekends of use, they show no signs of wear on the pads, and do not appear to be affecting the rotors. Brake selection done!
