[Bob H]

The stock FZ07 brake pads are junk. Both front and rear. If you ride pretty aggressively you're about to notice the bike taking longer and longer to slow down. Brakes feel spongy until eventually it gets dangerous trying to stop fast from high speed. I can't imagine it's just my bike that has bad brakes...and re bleeding the brakes does not fix it. The pads don't look glazed at all so my opinion is that the pad material Yamaha chose is just cheap.

I changed the pads to EBC and now it's 80% better....and stops way better than it did when new. Keep an eye on your brakes.

 

[YZEtc]

On my FZ-07, I have never had any problem with spongy-feeling brakes.

I did realize, though, after I bought the bike and spent a couple of days riding it and getting used to it, that the stock brake pads are what I call "conservative".
Conservative = beginner-friendly and ease-of-use friendly, not sporting-friendly and not the best for stopping power.
Sure, the brakes worked, but not to my satisfaction - I knew those monoblock calipers that are of the same design as the original YZF-R1 could deliver more.

The very first mod I did to my FZ-07 was to swap the stock front brake pads to EBC HH pads.
I did this within the first week of ownership.
This was MUCH more like it, and the brakes feel much stronger.
Now, the brake are to my satisfaction with this one change.

 

[awittygamertag]

On my FZ-07, I have never had any problem with spongy-feeling brakes.

I did realize, though, after I bought the bike and spent a couple of days riding it and getting used to it, that the stock brake pads are what I call "conservative".
Conservative = beginner-friendly and ease-of-use friendly, not sporting-friendly and not the best for stopping power.
Sure, the brakes worked, but not to my satisfaction - I knew those monoblock calipers that are of the same design as the original YZF-R1 could deliver more.

The very first mod I did to my FZ-07 was to swap the stock front brake pads to EBC HH pads.
I did this within the first week of ownership.
This was MUCH more like it, and the brakes feel much stronger.
Now, the brake are to my satisfaction with this one change.

Where did you get your Double H pads from? I looked online and can't seem to find a website that lists one available for the FZ.

EDIT: Found them at least for the front

http://www.solomotoparts.com/EBC-HH...etdnAM_bIdo1EOABj2gdxvsFqSWGpqrrtehoCq5nw_wcB

 

[YZEtc]

They use the same front pads as 1998-2003 YZF-R1s.
A lot of on-line application listings probably don't show the FZ-07, yet.

 

[crescentwrench]

Was it easy enough to swap them out? Any special tools required?

 

[Bob H]

It's easy if you have experience working on bikes. If you don't..then it's best to buy a FZ07 service manual and read how to do it.