Fading brakes when wet?

[oregonjake]

For the first time recently I had to ride in the rain. Pretty hard, constant rain for about 30 minutes. I immediately noticed that both front and rear brakes lost more than half their stopping power. The pads have plenty of meat, rotors are not scored or worn past factory specs. I have had many bikes with disc brakes but Miss Bugly is the first where I was concerned about being able to stop in the rain. After about another 30 minutes of riding in dry weather the brakes came back to what I consider normal.

Should I change the pads? Is there anything that would cause this that is easily fixable, or is this just endemic in my old girl?

[steve murdoch]

Are the rotors drilled or grooved?
An old adage but it is supposed to help disperse the water off the rotors.

[oregonjake]

All three rotors are drilled, that is another reason I am puzzled. They felt like an old drum brake that was soaked with water.

[bwringer]

Assuming the rotors and/or pads aren't contaminated with fork oil, you may simply have ancient or low-quality brake pads. Install a set of quality modern "organic" brake pads (EBC or Galfer pads are excellent and easily available) and you should have fine braking in the wet.

Avoid the cheap Chinese brake pads infesting fleaBay -- stick to a good name brand.

[oregonjake]

Ah yes, I had not thought that the pads could be quite old as they looked in good shape. I was not planning to replace them just yet, but now I believe I should do that jyust so I know the pads are new. Is there a preference as to EBC or Galfer? Is one better (or cheaper) than the other? What about OEM pads?

[bwringer]

OEM pads tend to be harder and biased toward long life. They're pretty good, but there's no real reason to use them either. I'm not entirely sure Suzuki still lists OEM GS pads, actually. In any case, original pads on a GS definitely don't work that well -- they've had 30+ years to harden.

Galfer and EBC are pretty equivalent, although some people have their preferences. EBC organic brake pads are usually just a little cheaper and they're much easier to find, so that's usually what I go with. Just about every bike shoppe has an EBC display with pads for your bike.

There are other brands that are also top-of-the-line, like Vesrah, Ferodo, SBS, etc. but it can be difficult to find them, some are discontinued, and they can be expensive.

[oregonjake]

I will check my local parts house, I believe they have EBC pads for most makes, as you pointed out. Thanks for the sage advice. And as I am going on a local overnight trip and ride in two weeks, I have to replace them in the next week or so as there may be rain during the ride, and I would hate to crash because I didn't do the needed safety service.

[Brendan W]

If this was 1980 and it wasn't a Kawasaki, you have just described a new bike and what passed for wet brakes back then. Pads.

[salty_monk]

I would go for EBC over Galfer but that is only because I had some KLR Galfer's that didn't fit right & made my brake bind.. (A common fault with aftermarket on the KLR 2nd series). I have used Galfer on the Suzuki before (with the Kawi Twinpot Calipers). Not as potent as the stock Tokico ones for that caliper. More organic than sintered I would guess.

[hannibal]

I couldn't find EBC sintered brake pads for the early model round pads, only EBC organic pads.

[bwringer]

I couldn't find EBC sintered brake pads for the early model round pads, only EBC organic pads.

That's because sintered pads are not appropriate for vintage rotors. They're not making any more GS rotors, so use pads that cause less wear.

The organics work better in the rain anyway.

[hannibal]

Makes sense. Thanks for the info.