THE STREET PAD

EBC FA447 HH

£29.22 per pair 1m 14.451 seconds

I nearly choked on my own saliva when Gary told me how little the entry-level HH pads cost. They’re targeted at everyday road riders, who want performance in all climates, on roads that are wet or dry, right from the first squeeze of the lever. He stopped short of telling me they’d set my world alight, but hoped I’d feel a similar level of performance to the standard GSX-R pads that’d come with my bike. So out came the race pads I’d become accustomed to, and in went these sintered counterparts. I was optimistic, but also anxious, and made to worry even more when a gentle squeeze on the brakes offered little encouragement of stopping my Gixer before leaving the pit lane. It was early days, and I was asked to give the pads two whole laps of light, progressive braking to ensure they didn’t cook, and had chance to bed properly against my used, standard Brembo discs. I did just that and slowly began increasing my pace and the pressure on the brake lever. The thing that hit me was the lack of initial grab when anchoring on; sure, the bike was slowing, but nowhere near as quickly as I wanted it to. The squeeze-to-stop ratio was much lesser than I’d expected, and this was highlighted on several occasions when braking hard into the hairpin off the back straight. I went off the track on one occasion, and came close to t-boning riders a few other times. The pads freaked me out to the extent that my whole riding performance took a steep nose dive; they offered very little feel and just as little stopping performance. Brakes and tyre grip are the two things that matter most on track – take either one away and you’re never going to go fast or stay safe. The HHs weren’t my cup of tea for fast track riding, they simply didn’t deliver. I was pretty glad when my sessions were over.