i have a 2001 R6 and i am wondering which brake pads are good to purchase. what do you think about stock pads?

any aftermarket pad is going to outperform the stock pads.
I personally have Ferodo sinter road's. going from stock to these was even more noticable than going from stock rubber lines to braided stainless lines.

I've heard that the EBC HH's are the bomb. Mr. Cycle has them as a deal if you talk to Brad at Mr Cycle he can hook you up. Tell him that you are from the forum, or that Jon who bought pads and rotor bolts on monday sent you...1-800-359-0567 ex.124 or just ask for Brad

Never used this site, but a summary on them:

http://www.cyclebrakes.com/html/ebc_brake_pads.html

what is the avarege life of the brake pads

that would depend on how the bike is ridden etc...
I got about 11,500 on the stock pads, the bike currently has 28k. so the ferodo's are at 16,500 and are not even 1/2 way gone.

and I've actually heard from the mouths of guys who do a bunch of track days and races that EBC is not all that good.
my brother put some EBC pads on his cruiser and they were gone after 9k. :yuk:
Ferodo is what Graves Yamaha is using on their bikes. ;)

ive got 7k on mine so they still have life i was wondering because after a had ride in the weekend they started skeaking, but im prety sure it was the constant braking