THE FAST ROAD/ TRACK PAD

EBC FA447 EP HH

£55.36 per pair 1m 12.111 seconds

I was quite excited to get the road pads out and put these ‘Extreme Performance’, track-capable ones in. To place them in the market they’re designed for those that ride fast on the road, but will also do a few track days. The big difference between these and a full-blown track pad is the durability, which Gary said was to prove more favourable… in return for a little less stopping power. Having been bitten by the road pads, I was still a little sceptical when the time came to test these unfamiliar goods, but they impressed me from the get-go. First off, I could feel that they were purchasing without the need to squeeze the lever with both of my hands. The bite wasn’t overly aggressive, but I was able to add pressure and feel the pressure translate from the lever to my rate of slowing. They still lacked when hauling me up at the ned of the back straight, but they were predictable and consistent, which meant I could get my head around them and learn what I could or couldn’t get away with. The thing I liked most about them was that they were quite telling, which helped me trail into corners, tightening my lines or scrubbing my pace with a reasonable level of exactness. Into the slower corners, the pads worked just great. They seemed more adept at slowing my bike from sub-100mph speeds than they did on the wide-open sections. To help place them, they felt very similar to the standard Suzuki road pads that had come with my bike. I raced on those for a couple of rounds and I felt these would do a similarly equal job if asked to perform. They were good, but the best was yet to come.