Z250SL rear brake pad change

Nothing too interesting here but again as the owner of probably the most rotten Z250SL ever I feel I should report that I found the rear pads were losing their friction material at 18809 miles! I was innocently replacing the rear tyre (again) and poked the pads to see if they were going to make it through an MOT. Then I saw the gap, and, well..

Humph. Now where did I put those super dooper excellent pads that I bought a while ago.. Ah yes!

I've had some success with Chinese pads in the past, of particular note were the non-name ones I put in the CB250 which were actually excellent if a bit short lived. These were £4.83 a pair on ebay which is reasonable even by my standards.

Eventually the pins were persuaded out of the rear caliper (what a horrible design!) and the true extent of the carnage was revealed:

This bike is yet to see its first MOT. I find the 3 year period absolutely ridiculous because of stuff like this. Anyway, I also couldn't help but notice my brand new AKAs were rusting already..

Oh well, they're still going in. There seems a good amount of copper in the pad material too, always is in these cheapo pads.

Extra pictures of the rotten one for science:

So, basically, if you run a 250SL (or probably any Thai-made Kawasaki) through a salty winter then be sure to check your brake pads aren't falling to bits. AKA pad review coming soon!