Raven’s Rides
Raven's Rides Motorcycle Blog

This is my first ever technical article. Be nice. ;)

I recently changed the front and rear brake pads on my Intruder. I also changed the rear pads back in February, which is when all these pictures were taken. The brake pads on the rear are covered by a little plastic cover that pops off with a screwdriver or other pointy tool. The front is similar, only this time you have to unfasten two screws with a Phillips screwdriver.

The uncovered brake pads await, quivering.

First come the cotter pins. These stop the brake pads falling out (a Bad Thing) and can be extracted using needlenose pliers. For the technically challenged (like me), the long side is the one which is pushed through the hole in the rods from which they’re extracted.

This photograph is poor. Where the arrow is pointing indicates the end of one of two holding rods (through which the cotter pins are pushed). You grab the rod with the pliers (or Leatherman) and wiggle it until enough sticks out to grasp. Then you pull it out. At this stage the clips that hold everything together ping off.

Here are the rods and clips. You can see that the clips fit over the rods and that there’s a hole in the rods for the cotter pins.

Now we can pull out the brake pads. All my pictures of the brake pads were too blurry to be useful so I leave you…the hole.

Great! Time for nice new brake pads.

The brake pads won’t fit. This is because the brake calipers (the round thing that the arrow is pointing to) are sticking out too much. Two large screwdrivers and some brute force later, the calipers are flush with the sides again and the pads can go in. It’s a tight fit.

So tight, in fact, that the shims that normally go in with the pads won’t fit. This reduces the life of the brake pads a little but isn’t otherwise terrible.

Okay, this is the really hateful part–getting all the planets to align.

1. You push this rod in first. Note that it has to pass through the brake pad, flimsy little shims, and into the hole at the far side, meaning that there’s a lot of wiggling to make it just do this.

2. Then you put the near-side clip in. It tucks under at the left, tucks over in the center, and then you have to start the second rod to go over it.

3. The second rod goes in. That first hole, on the left, isn’t hard. Before you go all the way, though, you have to tuck the second clip under the first rod, over the second pad, and under the second rod, which isn’t even seated yet.

4. Then you have to seat the rod in the far hole, which is an exercise in frustration and wiggling until you finally get it right.

We’re done! We stick in the cotter pins, and pop the cover back on. Now, all we need to do is pump the brake pedal until the brake starts working, make sure the brakes don’t get too hot until they wear in a bit (about 50 miles, say) and we’re all set!

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