What are the best brake pads for Surron Ultra Bee?
Today we are here to settle the debate about the best brake pad composition for the Surron Ultra Bee. Whether you own an Ultra Bee and want better stopping performance, or you have Ultra Bee brakes on your Talaria or Light Bee, upgrading the brake pads can go a long way to improve safety and maneuverability.
Before we discuss which brake pads are right for you, we should first consider the different types of materials available:
Organic:
Commonly made from resin and silica, organic pads are generally only suitable for bicycles and cannot stand up to the demands of motorcycle brakes. Although they have superior braking noise reduction and great stopping power, they are simply not durable enough for larger e-motos and can easily overheat. Shimano H03C brake pads are some of the best you can get for the stock light bee brakes. For the purposes of this article, we will not be further discussing organic pads because they are not available for the Ultra Bee... and for good reason. They cannot stand up to the heat generated by moto brakes.
Semi-Metallic:
The go-to choice of OEM manufacturers. Composed of metal particles pressed into an organic brake pad base, semi-metallic pads offer effective stopping power and durability for a reasonable price. Although not as quiet as purely organic pads and not as performance-focused as pure metallic pads (sintered), they strike a good balance between affordability and performance. The metallic particles allow for increased heat resistance and stopping power while the organic resin provides a sufficiently durable base.
In our experience, the main drawback of semi-metallic OEM pads is the noise. Have you ever hit the brakes (especially on a rainy day) and heard the loud SHRIEK of your brakes? Its the best way to turn heads at a stop light. Your OEM semi-metallic brake pads are likely to blame for this. Other brake pad formulations can also squeal but this is the default state of semi-metallic pads. For those who prioritize quiet braking, stay away from semi-metallic pads.
Sintered:
The go-to choice for racing and stunt riding. Sintered pads are composed of metal particles (iron, brass, and copper) mixed with graphite as a binding agent. These pads are known for their excellent stopping power, durability, and heat resistance. The superior heat resistance of sintered brake pads make them ideal for demanding conditions such as racing and stunt riding. If you have ever experienced glazed brake pads, you will understand why sintered material is the choice of professional riders.
Although sintered materials offer great performance, they can only accomplish this when hot. For this reason, it is necessary to warm up the pads before peak stopping performance is achieved. Sintered brake pads are also known to be somewhat noisy, especially when cold or wet. But if performance is your number one goal, who cares about a bit of noise?
Ceramic:
The select choice for street riders and commuters who demand consistent performance and silent braking. Ceramic pads are made from clay compounds and offer great stopping power and unmatched durability. They are also cause much less wear on your brake rotor compared to semi-metallic and sintered materials. The lifespan of a ceramic brake pad is often much longer than other material types, making is a cost-effective upgrade on the long run.
The true charm of ceramic brake pads becomes clear when you ride on a rainy day. It is extremely difficult to get ceramic brake pads to squeal when stopping. Ceramic brake pads are able to achieve near-silent operation because the noise they produce is outside of the range of the human ear. We highly recommend this material for street riders who desire quiet braking and top performance in all conditions. With the added bonus of less brake pad dust.
Carbon Fiber:
Mainly used as a sales gimmick. We have been noticing a surge of carbon fiber brake pads for the ultra bee hitting the market. Have you ever wondered why they don't make carbon fiber brake pads for cars? Because carbon fiber is not a very good friction material for brake pads. Carbon fiber is light and strong, but when it comes to brake pads, durable and conductive materials perform best. Carbon fiber simply is not suitable for Ultra Bee brake pads. We suspect most of the carbon fiber pads on the market are using a sintered formula with only a very small token amount of carbon fiber added to the mixture. At best, the carbon fiber will do nothing, at worst it will weaken the brake pad.
For this reason, we recommend avoiding carbon fiber brake pads for your ultra bee. They only exist because some people will buy anything with the words "carbon fiber" on it. The actual performance of carbon fiber as a brake pad material is unimpressive.
The first question many people have is What brake pad material is the best?
Unfortunately, this question does not have a straightforward answer. The right brake pad for you is going to depend on your riding style and needs.
Copper:
The forbidden material. California and many EU countries have banned copper brake pads due to their environmental impact. Despite this, copper is an excellent brake pad material because of its high thermal conductivity. Typically, copper brake pads are semi-metallic or sintered construction but use only copper instead of a mixture of iron, brass, and copper. This provides excellent braking power while also wicking heat away from the pads to prevent overheating. Pure copper pads are generally much quieter than their sintered or semi-metallic counterparts as well.
If you can get your hands on it, copper brake pads are a decent option for thermal performance, but we would generally recommend going with one of the more commonly available brake pad options such as sintered or ceramic. If you are looking for the most environmentally friendly pad, ceramic is the way to go.
How to Decide Which Pad is Right for You
Picking a brake pad material is a deeply personal choice. The first factor is where do you most often ride? Street or dirt? For avid street riders, ceramic is the clear choice due to its impressive performance and silent braking. For hard enduro racers, sintered material is often more attractive. For the cost effective budget shopper, semi-metallic pads are the most affordable.
If you care about reducing brake noise, nothing compared to ceramic brake pads. For the stealthy rider, ceramic is a no-brainer.
Our Personal Brake Pad Picks:
For riders upgrading brake pads for their ultra bee, we recommend the MBZ Moto Sintered Brake Pads for their impressive stopping ability and durability. We have tested these brake pads in some of the most demanding conditions and they always come out on top.
If you have Ultra Bee brakes installed on your Surron Light Bee or Talaria, we recommend the MBZ Moto Ceramic brake pad formula for its silent stopping and hassle-free installation. Ultra Bee brakes already provide more than enough stopping power for the average mid-sized e-moto with any brake pad composition. For this application, ceramic material provides silent and reliable stopping power with no hassle.
At MBZ Moto, we have tested a variety of Ultra Bee brake pads. Using what we learned, we worked directly with a brake pad manufacturer to deliver brake pads optimized for the Ultra Bee. We are proud to offer our own line of both sintered and ceramic Ultra Bee brake pads. Our sintered formula uses a custom metal blend which balances the heat dissipation of copper with the durability of iron. All professionally bonded to a solid copper back-plate for peak thermal performance. The ceramic pads use an industry-leading blend of ceramics to deliver silent braking without compromising stopping power. By taking the lessons learned from decades of brake technology advancements from the automotive industry, we have applied it to Ultra Bee braking system to deliver two truly superior brake pad formulations. Only available from MBZ Moto on our website, Ebay, and Amazon. Look for the MBZ honeycomb logo.