TOPIC:

Hey there, I have a 1980 KZ750/4 LTD I am renewing. That’s the 4-cylinder one. Twin discs in front, one disc in rear. Riding to be just for fun, not too fast, mostly around town and occasional highway jaunts through the mountains and past the seashore. 

Requesting advice new brake pads. From what I’ve read, the original pads, even when new, were kind of wooden feeling and not all that inspiring. Add to that they are now over 60 years old (gasp!) and it’s clearly time for renewal.

So what kind to get? Organic or sintered? Any particular maker, such as EBC?

All advice most appreciated!

Welcome to  KZR!  

Organic pads won't tear up the rotors, unlike sintered will, since they have metal in them.  Newer type brake discs, designed for sintered pads, are harder than those on our old KZs.  

My favorite pads are Ferodo Platinum compound.  Search eBay for FDB299P (front) and FDB298P (rear).  There are sets available on eBay for excellent prices. 

EBC organic compound are common, and popular.  Wooden?  Maybe.  Not sure how to judge that.  

BTW, this listing on Amazon seems too good to be true.  Someone should shoot the gap and see if the deal goes through, though.  If nobody here orders these, I might...
www.amazon.com/80-83-KAWASAKI-KZ750H-Pla...rganic/dp/B003I3CSAG

Oh, and be sure to clean out all the grunge inside the calipers, and replace the brake lines during your rehab project.  It's amazing how much crap accumulates over 40 years.
 

Copy that. Good to know that organic is the way to go, never thought of that but it makes sense. I reckon I’ll go with EBC.

Modern bicycle discs are the same way: organic for the regular bikes, sintered only for higher end ones. I was a bicycle mechanic recently, so got to know that.

Good point too about the brake hoses - I’ll have to renew those. too.

Thx!

And your bike is only 42 years old, not 60!

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Copy that. Good to know that organic is the way to go, never thought of that but it makes sense. I reckon I’ll go with EBC.

Modern bicycle discs are the same way: organic for the regular bikes, sintered only for higher end ones. I was a bicycle mechanic recently, so got to know that.

Good point too about the brake hoses - I’ll have to renew those. too.

Thx!

Don't be afraid to pop out the caliper pistons and inspect everything.  On my 750 restore, all three pistons were pitted and had to be replaced.  Dot 3/4 brake fluid absobrs water, which is good, however, water in the system will eat into the pistons and damage them.  At the same time, replacing the seals with new OEM seals is cheap insurance.  Don't buy K&L brake caliper parts, get OEM only...unless they are not available anymore.

We use brakecrafters.com for almost all of our bikes brake needs. I just got all 3 stainless caliper pistons from them for my 77' KZ 1000 LTD along with everything but a rear master cylinder rebuild kit. All our brake lines come from apexbrakes.com for a while now.

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We use brakecrafters.com for almost all of our bikes brake needs. I just got all 3 stainless caliper pistons from them for my 77' KZ 1000 LTD along with everything but a rear master cylinder rebuild kit. All our brake lines come from apexbrakes.com for a while now.

I used brakecrafters as well, parts seem to be of high quality and everything fit correctly for a total rebuild.  Also replaced all of the brake lines with SS, Galfer kits that fit perfectly.  

On the pads I called EBC as I used to think the organic were the best to use.  I was advised to use the semi-sintered pads, this is on a 1982 GPz 550.  I had some 25-year-old EBC organic pads that were thick and looked good on the rear.  He said as long as they were not exposed to a lot of moisture to go ahead and use them.

I agree with the suggestions on rebuilding - people get worried because it's the brakes and you don't want to do it wrong, but really it is a very simple system and well within the reach of someone who hasn't done it before.

It's not just water in the hydraulic system that can cause corrosion - water can get between the dust seal and piston seal, and once trapped there it can rust out the piston (it can cause pitting on the caliper too, but this doesn't matter so much in this area. So be sure to closely inspect the dust seals too.

If you're going to the effort of changing out the caliper pistons, be sure to change the lines, and at least inspect the master cylinder. You can take out the master cylinder piston very easily to inspect the seals and bore - you may be surprised (horrified?) at how much crud can be built up in there.

But to answer the original question - I use EBC organic pads, mostly because they can be had very cheap and do work well. If I were seeking best performance I might try other options - but here in Australia most other options required shipping that cost more than the pads. I've had mixed results with OEM on older bikes - it's generally great, but you can get NOS parts that have not been stored well - I have seen NOS OEM pads where the braking material was coming away from the backing material, probably related to poor storage. It's not that this can't happen with aftermarket parts, it's just more likely with older parts.