What would you recommend for my street bike, 03' 750 GSXR? I do ride street quite often, and yes I'll admit to "going faster" than I should at times. My stock front pads are almost gone and wanted the best for it. I was just courious to why some are marked "for race use only".
Pads are marked race only for a couple reasons. Some pads require heat to work properly. Stret riding does not generate anough heat. Some race pads have higher coefficients of friction. The brakes can require an experts hand to keep out of trouble. High coefficients of friction are not always desireable on the street.
So they may work TO well and I'll be doing rolling stoppies at every light then? :o
That is one possibility. On my street bike I use the regular EBC HH pads. They work well at all temps, are easy on rotors (my rotors lasted 60,000 mi), work well in the rain, last a long time, cheap, and easy to find.
The racetrack has you brake regularly, in the same spots, and near the same speeds for the same durations at each of the spots you hit...
The street doesn't. Often, the street needs you to brake when the pads/rotor is relatively cold. Some riders need/prefer to brake lots, and so the pads must work well when hot, too.
Progressive action on a streetbike would scare the shit (this word was edited by the bb software!) out of most riders. This is when the brakes grab harder the longer they're applied without moving the lever.
Most riders on the street - and many on the track - prefer linear action - more brake is dialed by squeezing more on the lever.
So, for the street you probably want a linear pad that works just as well both hot and cold, with good stopping power. This pretty much describes an HH pad.
Race pads can need more heat to start to work - the dual-carbon types, for example. Some pads work better with different rotor types (e.g. cast iron vs stainless).
The general consensus is to ride street (and occaisional trackdays) with HH pads.
Track-dedicated bikes can put more race-oreiented pads on (duh...).
My trackbike is shod with Vesrah RJLs.
I agree, but have race pads on a street legal track bike, and they just require more pressure when cold (most of the time)