More fun in the garage!

After my silver bike passed its MOT (annual safety test) I noticed a ‘click’ from the front brake when braking at low speed. Just as I pulled the lever, I would feel a slight ‘click’ just before the brake started biting. I had thought that it was one of the pistons becoming a bit sticky, so I rode the bike to work and back for the rest of the week and planned to strip the caliper and clean it out yesterday.

I removed the caliper to work on it at the bench, and as I was taking the pads out, the friction material from one fell out!!!

As you can see, the pads aren’t that worn, (I fitted them for the bike’s last MOT a year ago), but the backing plate behind the friction material is completely rusty.

I can’t remember which make these were as I tend to buy pads on Ebay when they turn up cheaply and keep them in the garage until they are needed. I have 3 bikes that use the same pads, so it pays to keep a stock. Brands I have bought recently are: EBC, SBS, Brembo, and Carbone Lorraine.

Looking at the back of the pad, the ‘2247 SBK3’ points towards Carbone Lorraine, 2247 is their code for pads for Brembo calipers. However, more worrying is the ‘04/1’ mark – does this mean they were made in January 2004? That would mean they were 11 years old when I fitted them last year, plenty of time for the glue to go ‘off’.

I’ve no doubt that Carbone Lorraine make very good pads and I would buy them again, but it might be worth checking the manufacturing date on pads you’ve bought. Anyone know how long they should last?