You are riding down a crowded road in Faisalabad. Suddenly, a rickshaw pulls out right in front of you. You press the brake pedal hard to avoid a crash, but your bike just keeps sliding forward. Your heart drops as you realize your brakes are completely failing you.
This terrifying scenario happens every single day. The biggest culprit? Cheap, unbranded Local Non-Asbestos Brake Shoes.
When you ride in heavy city traffic, your brakes are your only lifeline. You can ride a bike with a broken indicator or a torn seat, but you can never compromise on your stopping power. While modern non-asbestos materials are excellent for the environment, the local Pakistani market is flooded with dangerous, low-quality copies.
Mechanics often push these cheap CD70 brake shoes to make a quick profit. They tell you they work just as well. This is a complete lie. Using these cheap copies will drastically increase your chances of an accident and permanently destroy your expensive brake drums. Let me explain exactly why these cheap parts are so dangerous.
What Exactly Are “Local” Non-Asbestos Brake Shoes?
Years ago, brake shoes were made using asbestos. It was a soft material that handled heat very well. However, asbestos was banned globally because breathing its dust causes severe health problems.
Manufacturers switched to Non-Asbestos Organic (NAO) materials. High-quality brands use a safe, soft mixture of rubber, glass fiber, and Kevlar resins to create a friction pad that grips tight and handles high heat.
The problem lies with the “local” unbranded copies. To keep prices incredibly low, local manufacturers do not use high-quality organic materials. Instead, they press together cheap industrial waste, hard metallic shavings, and low-grade glue.
When you buy these Local Non-Asbestos Brake Shoes, you are essentially installing blocks of hard metal and cheap glue into your wheels. This completely destroys the braking physics of your motorcycle. It creates a terrifying risk of sudden motorcycle brake failure when you need your brakes the most.
4 Hidden Dangers of Cheap Brake Shoes
When you choose a cheap part over genuine Atlas Honda brake shoes, you invite four major disasters to your motorcycle. Here is what happens behind the scenes.
Causes of Brake Failure in Traffic
Hard, unbranded brake shoes are the leading cause of sudden braking loss in daily city traffic.
1. Destroying Your Expensive Brake Drum
Your motorcycle’s wheel hub (the brake drum) is made of soft aluminum. Proper brake shoes are designed to be softer than the drum so they wear down over time, not the metal hub.
Cheap Local Non-Asbestos Brake Shoes are full of hard steel and brass shavings. Every time you press the pedal, these hard shavings act like a carving knife. They cut deep grooves directly into your aluminum wheel hub. You might save Rs. 200 on the shoes, but you will soon have to spend Rs. 3,000+ to buy a completely new wheel hub.
2. The “Brake Fade” Nightmare
Brake fade is when your brakes get hot and stop working entirely. Cheap brake shoes use terrible glue to hold the friction material together.
Imagine riding down a steep bridge or braking continuously in heavy traffic. The heat builds up fast. The cheap glue on local shoes melts under this heat. The friction surface becomes slippery like glass. This leads to immediate motorcycle brake failure, leaving you with zero stopping power.
3. Terrible Stopping Distance
Safety is all about how fast you can stop. Because local shoes use hard, cheap materials, they do not “bite” into the drum.
This severely ruins your CG125 stopping distance. If a child runs into the street, a bike with cheap shoes will slide several meters further than a bike with genuine parts. Those extra meters are the difference between life and death.
4. The Annoying Squealing Noise
Do you hear a loud, high-pitched squeaking noise every time you stop? That is the sound of hard metal scraping against metal. Cheap shoes lack the soft organic compounds that absorb vibration. If your brakes sound like a screaming train, your wheel hub is actively taking damage.
The Stopping Distance Test: Genuine vs. Local
Physics does not lie. When you are traveling at moderate city speeds, the quality of your friction material dictates your safety.
Emergency Stopping Distance
Speed: 60km/h (Measured in Meters)
Cheap local brakes double your emergency stopping distance. They simply lack the
required grip to halt the momentum of a fast-moving bike.
Your CG125 stopping distance relies completely on soft friction. A hard, glazed local brake shoe will just slide against the spinning metal hub, pushing you directly into danger.
Best Safe Alternatives: Genuine, ISH, and CRLF
You do not have to empty your wallet to stay safe. If you want factory-level perfection, you must install genuine Atlas Honda brake shoes. They are perfectly calibrated for your exact wheel hub and provide the softest, most reliable grip available.
However, if you are on a budget, you do not have to resort to dangerous local copies. You simply must buy a trusted, premium aftermarket brand.
This is where ISH brake shoes and CRLF brake parts shine. These brands use proper Non-Asbestos Organic materials. They provide excellent stopping power without shredding your aluminum drum. ISH brake shoes are famous for their strong bite in heavy traffic, making them perfect for your daily commute.
If you carry heavy loads or ride a larger bike, CRLF brake parts offer incredible heat resistance. They prevent the terrifying brake fade issue completely.
Signs It’s Time to Throw Away Your Local Brakes
How do you know if your current brakes are putting your life at risk? Check this quick list today:
- The Pedal Travels Too Far: If you have to press your foot pedal all the way down to the exhaust pipe to stop, your shoes are worn out or glazed.
- Grinding Noises: Any metal-to-metal scraping or loud squealing means the friction material is gone or is too hard.
- The Brake Cam Arrow: Look at the brake arm on your wheel. If the little arrow points outside the marked safe range on the drum, the shoes are dangerously thin.
FAQ – Motorcycle Brake Shoes Answered
Q1: Why do my new local brake shoes make a whistling sound? Cheap Local Non-Asbestos Brake Shoes contain hard metal shavings instead of soft organic fibers. The whistling or squealing sound is literally those hard metals scraping and cutting into your brake drum.
Q2: Are ISH brake shoes safe for my CG125? Yes, absolutely. They are highly rated to handle the extra speed and weight of 125cc motorcycles, providing excellent grip without the risk of heat fade.
Q3: Can I fix a deeply grooved brake drum? Sometimes a mechanic can use a lathe machine (Kharadiya) to smooth out the drum. However, this makes the drum thinner and weaker. If cheap brakes ruined your hub, replacing the entire wheel hub is always the safer choice.
Q4: How long should genuine CD70 brake shoes last? It depends on your traffic conditions, but high-quality CD70 brake shoes usually last between 8,000 to 10,000+ kilometers before needing a replacement.
Q5: Do you sell original brake parts online? Yes. We strictly stock genuine Atlas Honda brake shoes and premium alternatives. We provide fast, secure, Pakistan-wide delivery so you never have to rely on cheap market copies again.
Ride Safe, Stop Fast
Your life, and the lives of those around you, are worth far more than saving a few rupees on unbranded brakes. The next time you are in heavy traffic, you need absolute confidence that your motorcycle will stop exactly when you tell it to.
Never risk a total motorcycle brake failure. If you suspect a local mechanic installed cheap, hard plates in your bike, change them immediately. Switch to Genuine, ISH, or CRLF to protect your wheel hub and guarantee your safety on the road.
If your cheap brakes have already destroyed your wheel hub, do not panic. We have the parts to fix it.
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