DONT BOTHER they are shite , on my way home from work at the weekend and front brake was making horrid noise, had a check when i got home after giving her a wash, wipped out the pads from the front left caliper and they were worn to the backing plate, these pads were new 5 weeks ago both pads in both calipers down to about 2mm id say they lasted 500 miles max if that, id never used them before and never will again,

You sure your brakes aint binding? saying that i wouldnt expect them to be great pads

that was my first thought, but wacked the bike up on the paddocks and spun the front wheel and she spins fine , has a tiny zing of contact at one point in rotation but really nothing mental, pads i took out had been in there since i bought the bike around a year ago so im sure its not binding prob, just crummy pads, i would of thought as armstrong discs aint that cheap so i assume there good quality, i kinda thought there pads would be fairly good too, lesson learnt i guess

I had the same - they are shite.

I was given some with my Stealth wavy rotors...used them a few weeks and then binned them as I might as well have used wooden pads.

Cheers for the warning..

Maybe you need specific discs for them?

Sorry to go against the agreements but i put new seals into the front calipers of my 400, braided lines and HH Armstrong pads onto discs which had done 71000km the brakes are unbelievably good

I really couldn't ask for better performance from pads at all.

Its not wise nor clever but I can come into corners with the back end off the floor and control it.

I have some HH Armstrong pads for another bike (yet to fit) and was thinking of getting some for my Versys as the standard ones are c**p.

Hmm.. Interesting discussion here.

Well from my personal experiences.

Kyoto / Armstrong et al all fall into what I call 'Budget Pads'

I've found these pads wear down very very quickly if your hard on the brakes.. i've seen people who think their hard on the brakes when they actually press them hard, but don't use them hard.

For clarification I don't mean pressing them hard after you've coasted down to 10mph.. I mean long hard late braking from 70mph+ > 30mph, such as track-days.. spirited (insane) country rides etc.

I have no quarms about using them on 'commuters' bikes that only go around the town and thru the traffic. I've got a set of £9.00 kyoto pads that are fine for this purpose.. they've lasted over 8,000 miles and still look pretty good and have a nice bite. But they don't get heavy use.

I did manage to waste a set in a just over a month using them in a more spirited fashion

Honda OE (Nissin) Pads, EBC etc are what I call 'premium pads'

Nission OE pads are my pads of choice, with standard discs too. They last ages, have ooodles of stopping power and provide a good lever-feel.

I cannot really fault them, apart from they are not cheap! But you do get what you pay for.

I think that to get better braking performance would require bigger calipers, but there more than I need as stock anyway.

I've tried some EBC greenstuff pads, which were of a similar price, they might have been slightly cheaper, but I rated them slightly worse than Honda pads when cold as they didn't have the same inital bite, i think they were aimed more at the track-day market. I know several people who use Nissin pads on the track and dont have a problem with them.

Blimey Neosophist you got through a set in a month!!!!!! I only did 1500 miles on my 400 last year as it was a rebuild from ground up job and finish in July. Im going keep an eye on their wear as it will be getting some proper use this year

Im not sure whether to get some for my Versys now if they wear like that! Might go for a set of EBC's now as they are always good.

Back to the Armstrong HH pads:

100mph + braking they are really good with a nice amount of feel and loads of bite. Compared to my brothers 400 with Galfers and EBC HH's they're not quite as good but thats not surprising with my discs having done 71000kms +

Slow speed when cold the Armstrong pads are almost too strong. They're not progressive. Its like shoving a log through the front wheel. I wouldn't want to be caught out in the wet by surprise.

Usually the softer the pad material the more likely they are to have a better amount of braking power - this is probably the case as Neosophist says about their lack of life

armstrong = recycled lino.
for value for money and good stopping power i hate to say - but genuine pads everytime.

CRM wrote:armstrong = recycled lino.
for value for money and good stopping power i hate to say - but genuine pads everytime.

i think i got the only decent pair made by the sounds of it