Just fitted Michelin Power 5s and scintered/organic pads to my K7

[SA14]

Yeah, well, as for the pad wear & calipers sticking, you'll get that if she's been left laid up.  Stripping & cleaning them isn't difficult & saves ending up with the pic's above.  There are good tutorials on here  regarding the caliper cleaning.

But, glad you've got it sorted & you're now wiser on the brake front. 

Yeah, I don't blame them for the stick pistons but I'll definitely hold them responsible for butchering the pads while trying to force them instead of recognising that there was a problem. No excuse for that from a bike shop that's been in business since last century.

If they don't refund me the cost of the butchered pads I'll be way less than impressed. I was actually watching the kid shove the big screwdriver I. There and wrestle with it but in my ignorance I didn't know enough to stop him. I did think it was weird and a bit rough. Figured they knew what they were doing.

Big mistake as a wise man once said "assumption is the mother of all fuck ups" I'll only be letting a proper mechanic touch it from now on. And yeah, as soon as I saw him cleaning and lubricating the pistons I thought "that's exactly like was documented on the .org.

Luckily the only damage was to my wallet. While I was at it I took out my new gumtree micrometer and all three measured about 5.25mm. Hope to keep them that way. I know it's s wearing part but he showed me a racing disc that used the same type of pad and it was still in great condition after 16 years of racing. I feel confident.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Re tyres: are you racing ? No
Re bike - is it a 200+hp moto gp machine : (sadly) no

Re shop: take your hard earned somewhere else.

You are not racing, your tyre choice is absolutely ok and the GSX1400 is forgiving.  You will not ride it anywhere near its limits so nothing to worry about.

Glad you got the brakes sorted, thats a real confidence booster. A good upgrade is braided stainless steel lines, the rubber hose gets a bit soft with age and expands too much.

[grog]

Whoever fitted pads. just a major stuff up. Calipers on a sitting/corroded bike, shouldve been off and fixed. Braided hose, each to their own. Theres a lot of high braking cars/bikes that use rubber.

[SA14]

Re tyres: are you racing ? No
Re bike - is it a 200+hp moto gp machine : (sadly) no

Re shop: take your hard earned somewhere else.

You are not racing, your tyre choice is absolutely ok and the GSX1400 is forgiving.  You will not ride it anywhere near its limits so nothing to worry about.

Glad you got the brakes sorted, thats a real confidence booster. A good upgrade is braided stainless steel lines, the rubber hose gets a bit soft with age and expands too much.

Yep I'll be keeping the tyres - especially after all you guys are saying the same thing. Actually they also mentioned some braided lines for extra feel. They're on the list.

Whoever fitted pads. just a major stuff up. Calipers on a sitting/corroded bike, should've been off and fixed. Braided hose, each to their own. There's a lot of high braking cars/bikes that use rubber.

I agree but in my noobness/ignorance they felt like they worked ok although super touchy (now we know why) so I figured they we're ok. I did read the new bike owner's check list and was aware that it was a good thing to do. But now that I know how good the front bakes can and should be I can feel a massive difference as mentioned.

Hopefully the other shop will do the right thing and refund me at least the cost of their pads. These new pads were cheaper too ($190 fitted) and they cleaned my calipers and freed my pistons...and they de-greased, steam cleaned and re-waxed my chain which was gold under all the dirt! I like this new mob - even if they did give me a slight scare with the tyres but I'm lucky they didn't like those pads or else I wouldn't have discovered the damage and stuck pistons so is all well that ends well?

I'll be honest, with the touchy brakes I wasn't enjoying it anywhere near as much as I di on the ride home today. I was in half a mood to just keep riding past my house and keep chasing the horizon and now I can't wait to get out there for a really decent multi hundred km ride...for the first time with full confidence. I'll leave my cockiness in the shed though. Still cautious but now I love this bike so much it's hard to be very upset. The good far outweighs the bad and this bike just keeps on getting better and I did buy it pretty cheap so by the time I get to normal retail value I'll have a fantastic bike with new tyres, brakes, shocks and springs front and back. Hopefully a new seat and I think I'm done.