My new front pads ( EBC hh ) are beginning to bite very nicely, and have now done 200 miles on them.

According to EBC , I should now perform the " bedding in " process.

warm the pads up, then eight to ten  firm stops from 60 down to 10 , and then let them cool down completely.

Given that my pads are biting well, what advantage will I gain by this bedding in process.

I have never done this when fitting new pads on the car.

It will be difficult to find a road empty enough to do this safely, unless at silly o`clock 

in the morning.

How do you quantify the improvement of " bedding " the pads in, without a visit to your friendly 

mot guy with his rolling brake tester

Perhaps I should do it, and then try the brakes with a twenty stone pillion....

Bob

If you've already done 200 miles on 'em and used your brakes at all in that distance they're good to go, even if you slapped them onto slightly worn discs. They've contoured themselves against the wear marks of the disc surfaces - the friction material is doing its job. I'd more forcefully than usual grab the lever a coupla times when the road surface is dry just for the exercise.

It would be interesting to have absolute proof either way, but unless you have access to a brake load tester,

you are not going to know.

Can you imagine a car or bike dealer, telling a new vehicle owner to stamp on their pads to bed them in?

there would be accidents everywhere, and lawsuits...

Is there anyone on the forum who has " bedded " their pads in , as per EBC requirements, and what was the result

Did they think the braking was better, or did the placebo affect kick in.

 I was really temped to go out late last night and do it, until my better half pointed to the empty

wine glass sitting next to me. whoops  

Perhaps  I could " bed " in the rear pads with the bike on its centre stand , my driveway drops downwards 

from my garage floor, so the rear wheel would be safely off the ground.

Bob

A far better method on spanky new brake pads is to 'drag' the brakes gently. Keep the throttle on and apply the levers very lightly so you can feel the bite. Hold for a hundred yards or so, then release and allow a couple of miles for the brakes to cool. Rinse and repeat; after the sixth or seventh try you feel the pads starting to bite properly on the discs as they take up the shape. 'Conventional wisdom' has it that it takes about twenty-five miles to bed a set of pads in this way but I've found it to be effective to the point of almost full bite after as little as fifteen miles.

Will be interesting to see how you get on. The HH pads are very hard and will wear you discs much faster.

I've been running HHs on a set of cast iron discs for about 40,000 miles. There is a wear patch which you can feel easily enough but it's barely visible. I agree with your assessment that they don't like the original stainless discs; I was forced to swap the rear cast iron disc for an OEM stainless one around 15,000 miles ago and the MOT tester commented about the ridge that was starting to develop. I'm going to have to put something much softer in the rear next time.

audibob wrote:It would be interesting to have absolute proof either way, but unless you have access to a brake load tester

you are not going to know.Can you imagine a car or bike dealer, telling a new vehicle owner to stamp on their pads to bed them in? there would be accidents everywhere, and lawsuits...

You won't need access to a load tester. Even if the rotor didn't have excessive runout and was thoroughly cleaned before pad installation, improperly bedded brake pads can create juddering to one extent or another when applied

Threshold braking—stamp on the pads—is not recommended by EBC. Diligent mechanics—both automotive and motorcycle—often tell customers to avoid hard braking for a couple hundred miles to allow the pads to break-in.

What is being recommended is that the moto be ridden moderately for the first 200–300 miles to avoid stamping on the pads. After that, EBC recommends the brakes be applied at 60mph down to 20mph, allowed to cool and the process repeated 9 times.  This process pad material to the rotor, embedding it by the heating and cooling process. As both TWB and Dai have indicated, there are other effective techniques for bedding in brake pads.

You might be a pioneer in the on the center stand technique; however, it will be difficult to generate the heat needed for a successful bedding in without the load provided by the weight of the moto and its rider in motion.

I've never paid any attention to this bedding stuff.  I just install the new pads and forget about it.  

And I'm still alive!

The trackday aficionados who buy HH (and harder) pads from me do a coupla laps at moderate speed while repeatedly grabbing the front lever, to bed in their pads. Then they let loose, with no worries. The pads in this environment go through heat cycles very quickly. It stands to reason a slower process occurs in use over the road. A former colleague of mine, a mechanic at one of the dealerships, does a dozen trackdays a year while also almost daily commuting on his S1000RR.  He buys SBS HH (the excellent 'Dunlopad' brand is a repackaged SBS, as are Renthal pads) from me, once a year. Many of the trackday bikes are used on the road. They are often stock OEM or basic Galfer, Braking, EBC & etc., aftermarket discs and pads, not the high tech, limited use carbon stuff of MotoGP.

I love the EBC's

I had a problem with my new front brakes pulsing or shuddering.I was told the rotors were warped and all sorts of stuff .I thought about it.The bike had 13000 miles on it at this point. I used it to travel.It wasn't so bad I couldn't ride it so I figured the hell with it.Went on two long trips and now the bike has 19000 on it. Guess what , the brakes are getting better and better . So for what it's worth, they needed to be bedded in and that's exactly what seems to be happening as I use her.

My new front ebc hh pads are now fully "bedded " in.

I did not "bed them in" as per  EBC , just used them more progressively over a few hundred miles.

They are very sharp, and smooth and confidence inspiring.

I removed both discs and used a sander to clean them up before fitting the new pads.

Bob