Your mileage may vary...

[eddd]

I'll be needing new brake pads soon. Does 20,000-25,000 miles seem about "normal"...(what ever that means.)

[ProductUser]

My rear pads were done at 55k miles; my original front pads are well within limits.

 

ProductUser

[Reddog900]

Got about 9K on my rear the first time, that was shortly after I purchased the bike. I now have 11K on them and they don't seem to be half gone.

Mileage with brake life will vary just as MPG will vary, depending upon how you ride. I have a fellow BMW rider that never uses his brakes to stop and in fact very seldom touches a foot down at a stop light. He is very concious of this and will probably have 70K on his brakes before he changes them.

It's all about how you ride. If you downshift and use your engine to slow down, you save on your brakes and depending upon how smooth you are on your down shifting, won't wear your clutch down either.

Ride Safe.

[AndyS]

I'll be needing new brake pads soon. Does 20,000-25,000 miles seem about "normal"...(what ever that means.)

Front or rear?

Makes a big difference.

Are you a rider that rides the back brake when going through a bend to give the bike stability - this will affect things.

Either way your milage looks much better than mine...but I am guilty of ragging them quite a bit

Andy

[T__]

I'll be needing new brake pads soon. Does 20,000-25,000 miles seem about "normal"...(what ever that means.)

 

Ed, if you ride all highway with little to no braking that mileage would be low.. If you ride all short trip city with lots of stop & go that mileage would be high.. If you fit in the middle somewhere then, possibly about right..

 

 

Brake & tire mileage is very dependent on type of riding,, the rider,, how much weight carried.. Basically how many times you use the brakes & how hard you apply them… If you ride a lot of dirt roads or wet gritty roads the brake wear will be accelerated somewhat..

 

Every time you us them (the brakes) you are wearing them..

 

Twisty

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I'll be needing new brake pads soon. Does 20,000-25,000 miles seem about "normal"...(what ever that means.)

 

As you're finding out, brake pad life varies widely. 20-25K is certainly within that wide "normal" range.

[Bob Palin]

Since I'm about to head out for a 7000 mile trip I just checked my front pads, at 49K they are about half done. The rears are pretty new, the last set were replaced after 68K miles.

 

p.s. I do not intentionally use the engine for braking - engine = Go, brakes = Stop

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Yup, I'll downshift to keep in the proper gear relative to my speed but braking is reserved for brakes.

 

On most of my trips, since I am time/destination bound, I just run along the freeway system so brake usage is minimal. Once every couple hundred miles to stop for gas doesn't make for much wear.

[eddd]

Thanks for the input so far. I ride to work daily now that summer vacation is over, and use the brakes there...On my long summer trip, I used all secondary roads, so I had many little towns...and lots of brake usage. And the first 8,000 to 10,000 miles on this current set were put on by the previous owner...so I don't know about his braking style.

[Bob Palin]

This is going to drive the "why do you track your miles?" crowd wild, but here is the explanation for my brake service

 

Year ............2003...2004...2005...2006...2007

Days Ridden ....160*....84.....47......73.......13

Miles per day...232....270...257.....286.....228

Total ..........37082. 22660 12073. 20867. 2964

 

*from April 22 on - didn't keep daily records before that but my total RT mileage for the year was 44,885

 

So obviously when I ride the RT I tend to ride a long way which makes sense since I mostly ride it on trips which means less brake use.

 

(I'm supposed to be packing to leave for the Un but I HATE packing...)