Fresh fluid would be the first thing,Motul rbf 600 is a popular choice

 

different pad choice??

 

That's quite a nice setup, especially for a slow/mid I pace. There are lots of people going way faster with much less. Personally I wouldn't waste any money on upgrades.

Maybe a little maintainance is in order? I'd start with rbf600 and maybe freshen up the calipers with new seals if it's been a while.

 

That set up should have insane stopping power. I have almost the same setup except I have a brembo 19x20MC

There might be an issue with the MC or you might have air in there somewhere.

FYI, I've seen people have a lot of problems with ASV levers. I'm not saying that's the issue but I've seen them where they make the ft brakes drag so much that one of my buds had his lock up and he tucked the front on the highway.

 

Unless you are boiling your fluid, that sounds like your rotors might be contaminated and not properly allowing the pads to deposit their bedding layer.

http://www.braketech.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=100

I'd try honing the rotors down to fresh metal and re-bedding the pads. This should restore proper stopping and fade resistance....barring a fluid problem as mentioned above.

 

yeah, de-glaze the rotors and pads...

 

The guys above do sound like they hit the nail on the head. If your rotors are glazed then intstalling new pads won't help. You need fresh metal on their and then get new pads so that everything has a new surface. If you want the next upgrade, I will be selling an aftermarket set of EBC rotors. They have served me well and I have insane braking power. I have somewhat the same set up that you do. SS lines lines, Gsxr front, Brembo 19x20 MC and vesrah pads. I usually just brake with one finger most of the time. I have learned that 2 fingers is just too much and I wind up braking to hard. Other than that you will always have brake fade but that's on extreme cases and usually only on endurance. If you are getting that feeling of spongyness, then you definately have an issue with 1 your fluid and 2 rotors. Like I said mine will be on sale soon. PM if interested. Here is a photo of the rotors.

 

Thanks for all the advice, guys. Is there a way to tell if the rotors are glazed by looking at them, or do I just have to have them honed and see if it makes a difference?

The brake fluid was changed to a full synthetic (not sure on type) recently after the reservoir got ripped off in a bit of a whoopsie I had where I lost the front going into a turn. I was able to bodge it back on but had lost most of the fluid, so the suspension guy at the track flushed out the system and replaced it with a synthetic. Besides, if the brake fluid boils, doesn't that usually lead to OMFG NO BRAKES?

 

When it boils its not a total failure so you won't just lose brakes but your lever will begin to hit your lever. Its boiling the fluid creating gas within the lines and making it very spongy. Also you mentioned that you crashed, have you checked to see that your rotors are not warped??? Believe it or not you can have a warped rotor and not really notice and that may be your entire problem. The reason I have all these aftermarket goodies is because I was chasing the same kinda problem but the braking would be good on second then a couple laps later would be horrible. The rotors were slightly warped and this would push my pads back into the caliper everytime I squeezed. I chased the problem by throwing parts at it until a mechanic took the front wheel off and put it on a stand and spun it and it was barely visiable to your eye but when he put a gauge on it to see how much run out it was you could see the needle moving back and forth. As you can imagine my jaw hit the ground after buying different SS lines, pads, and a brembo MC just to find out it was the rotors the whole time. What you can do to is use a scotch pad on the rotors too, just to clean them up a bit. If they are glazed you are going to need them to be ground on a lathe I would think. But try cleaning them and see if you feel a difference.

 

To expand on the rotor de-glazing thing: Modern brakes operate using two principals....friction and adhesion. The friction part is pretty obvious when the pad rubs on the rotor it transfers kinetic energy into heat. But....the adhesion part is where your problem may lie.

When the pad/rotor reaches its' critical temperature, the pads actually bond a layer of themselves on the rotor.....and then when they reach that same high temperature in the future they tend to stick to the layer that was them. It is this attraction that creates the force where friction won't work anymore.

If you have a different composition pad than the layer that is deposited on the rotor...the high temperature adhesion properties won't work properly. You've got to get ALL the old pad off the rotor....so your current pads can lay that layer of themselves down.

This bonded layer doesn't last forever, and can wear off with normal use or corrosion on a street bike.....which requires re-bedding at the extreme temperatures where this happens. If your street bike brakes seem to be going away, you might try re-bedding them to restore the bonded layer. Brakes are pretty neat now a days!

 

Thanks for all the great advice, guys! I'll get the rotors honed and get some new pads, and see what that does.

 

Sorry to ask, but, I have an identical set up and I just wanted to know what ss lines are you using, particularly the brand and if their particular to the forks or calipers??? Or are they custom?

 

The brake lines were custom. The bike has risers and handlebars instead of clipons, so none of the pre-made lines were the right length.

 

I hear synthetic fluid is not hot ticket.