Hi all, apologies for the lazy posting (too much work on to search the forum) but I'm hoping somebody has already asked/answered this and you can point me in the right direction. I recently bought a K7, which looks the dogs, but the braking doesn't inspire me (I used to have a fireblade with Billet callipers and they were fantastic). I appreciate it's comparing apples with pears, but has anyone done similar on the GSX? And did it improve it? And does this affect insurance, i.e would it be classified as a modified bike? Finally, any recommendations for grippy tyres (using it as a dry weather toy). Again, appreciate it's not a sports bike, but just need to feel safe.
Can't help with the brakes, but tyres, well, downunder way we're getting great results from Angels & Road5's.
Thanks Col, will try and do some research.
Love my OEM calipers and master cylinder! Braided hoses, good pads, good rotors, well maintained - one finger brakes :onya:
Also love the road 5! Had to get different foot pegs for more clearance as the old ones were scraping the tarmac too often.
What Andre said. I run oem calipers, hel braided lines and Dot4 std fluid with goldfren pads on metalgear semi floating discs and standard levers. Look after the master cylinder as the seals need replacing. At the moment on Bridgestone BT30 tyres.
Thanks Eric and Andre. I'll look at a clean, strip and different pads and lines before going down a more expensive route.
I've done the reasonably common 'upgrade' from 6 pot to 4 pot calipers.
Do I think the braking is better? No, not really.
Its worth doing to keep costs down in future if your 6 pots need rebuilding - because the smaller pot on each caliper can be problematic - and obviously it costs more to rebuild a 6 pot than 4 pot. But as far as a brake upgrade goes - no not worth doing for that if 6 pot is working for you.
DEFINITELY go for braided lines.
Eric and bladesmans advice is solid. (as are other peoples for that matter :) )
Thanks. It's probably my unrealistic expectations that are at fault rather than the bike, which seems to be in fine fettle. I'll try braided lines and new pads first, as if that works it's a nice cheap fix. Might be fun to give her a run out on a track day then 😊
Strip clean & rebuild the calipers first. Mine's got the original (2001) rubber lines & the brakes are as good as I could want. With GG pads (I don't like sintered) I can thrash it up & down the Alps without running out of brakes.
As for tyres, personal choice really. I rate Angels, currently running Roadtec-01s that I can't fault & won't touch Michelin after I had one delaminate and the customer service was dire.
Thanks Hooli and tip of the hat from a former Donny boy 👍
Quote from: Hooli on Tuesday, 02 June 2020, 02:53 AM
won't touch Michelin after I had one delaminate and the customer service was dire.
And I thought you don't like them because they are from France :grin:
Strangely enough, i had a brand new Pirelli car tyre fly to pieces. They didnt want to know about it. Said it had been damaged fitting. Fitted by me, only been fitting car tyres for 48 yrs, wasnt the fitting. I still use Pirelli bike tyres, never a problem.
The 6 pots can easily stop the bike, especially when good maintained and fitted with braided lines and sintered pads.
But.... My experiences are that the 4 pots brake a tad better if everything else is the same.
And most off all give a much better brake feel / feedback, making them easier to dose when braking close to the limit.
Thumps up to Road 5 from here as well. Perfect road tire, and an occasionally trip to the track once or twice a year.
I have 4 pot calipers from SV1000 and BKing master cylinder - braking is very good right now a lot better that my mates OEM set up :onya:
I tried six pots then swapped for four pots from TL (i think they are same as SV1000 calipers instead of bolts spacing) but best upgrade was nissin four pots from bandit 1200-gsxr750/1100. Nissin calipers with oem master cylinder work best for me (i can mount them on my usd fork, 90mm spacing) :cheers:
Quote from: Andre on Tuesday, 02 June 2020, 03:36 AM
Quote from: Hooli on Tuesday, 02 June 2020, 02:53 AM
won't touch Michelin after I had one delaminate and the customer service was dire.
And I thought you don't like them because they are from France :grin:
Well that too.... :whistling:
Quote from: Andre on Monday, 01 June 2020, 09:29 AM
Love my OEM calipers and master cylinder! Braided hoses, good pads, good rotors, well maintained - one finger brakes :onya:
Also love the road 5! Had to get different foot pegs for more clearance as the old ones were scraping the tarmac too often.
Agree Andre, never had braking issues with OEM brakes. Couple of times l've had to stop in a hurry, both times with the missus on the back, one of those times we were loaded up after a month away, was hoping l didnt lock the front up. It stopped quick.
Couple of things..... with serviced rear brake lever and pivots, new rotor, new EBC GG pads and new fluid rear has a nice feel to it. It was a bit manky. Would like to put some braided lines on as the originals are over 10 years old now and l think it would be a good idea.
Nothing wrong in throwing the old rubber away.
Quote from: mlivkovich on Wednesday, 03 June 2020, 12:19 AM
I tried six pots then swapped for four pots from TL (i think they are same as SV1000 calipers instead of bolts spacing) but best upgrade was nissin four pots from bandit 1200-gsxr750/1100. Nissin calipers with oem master cylinder work best for me (i can mount them on my usd fork, 90mm spacing) :cheers:
I have a Bandit 1200 with Nissan and braided lines, my 1400 is totally stock and I can't say the brakes on the Bandit are better than the 14, maybe the master cylinders are different.
everyone wants braided lines. they sure look nice. how many on here swapped their old rubber hoses on your cars?
Quote from: Irish in Oz on Saturday, 06 June 2020, 06:18 PM
Quote from: mlivkovich on Wednesday, 03 June 2020, 12:19 AM
I tried six pots then swapped for four pots from TL (i think they are same as SV1000 calipers instead of bolts spacing) but best upgrade was nissin four pots from bandit 1200-gsxr750/1100. Nissin calipers with oem master cylinder work best for me (i can mount them on my usd fork, 90mm spacing) :cheers:
I have a Bandit 1200 with Nissan and braided lines, my 1400 is totally stock and I can't say the brakes on the Bandit are better than the 14, maybe the master cylinders are different.
The guy who does work on my 14 doesn't have a road bike - he says its too dangerous !! however he races bikes most weekends and has 3 Suzukis - he reckons the 6 pots on these are excellent but let down by the crap Suzuki master cylinders - he told me to just change to a Brembo master cylinder and the difference is amazing :)
Notty, find out the Brembo part number please. :hat:
Quote from: grog on Saturday, 06 June 2020, 06:36 PM
everyone wants braided lines. they sure look nice. how many on here swapped their old rubber hoses on your cars?
Now what would be the point in that Grog, you can't see them.
Quote from: grog on Saturday, 06 June 2020, 06:47 PM
Notty, find out the Brembo part number please. :hat:
Emailed him to ask :)
@grog
Quote from: Irish in Oz on Saturday, 06 June 2020, 06:48 PM
Quote from: grog on Saturday, 06 June 2020, 06:36 PM
everyone wants braided lines. they sure look nice. how many on here swapped their old rubber hoses on your cars?
Now what would be the point in that Grog, you can't see them.
Well the MOT guys see them :) My mate just failed MOT this week on his Mercedes because they were porous. :doh:
I've changed flexis on cars & bikes to sort issues, but I've always put rubber ones back on. Rubber hoses are internally braided anyway, so the only difference is the ones you lot like don't have a rubber coating to protect them from corrosion & are shiney.
The braided hoses that are on my Bandit have a clear plastic coating over them.
That's sensible, I've not seen it on the few braided hoses I've worked with.
Mine have black coating. Non-coated one were not an option to me - no, not because of the looks.
Rubber brake hoses are internally braided but there is a huge difference (in general) in the braiding compared to braided ss lines.
I can't say riding 14s with braided lines back to back with mine I could tell any difference.
Quote from: Hooli on Saturday, 06 June 2020, 09:05 PM
I can't say riding 14s with braided lines back to back with mine I could tell any difference.
I did. To be fair the rubbers had probably been on for 15 years.
Not everyone feels the difference - same with tyres, suspension etc. and a lot of other things in life.
One other thing not often mentioned: quality braided are priced much lower than stealer OEM.
Quote from: Hooli on Saturday, 06 June 2020, 08:39 PM
That's sensible, I've not seen it on the few braided hoses I've worked with.
I only noticed it recently as I didn't put them on, my Katana didn't have a coating from memory, Snapey could probably confirm that, I found the brake feel a lot firmer on it compared to other 80's model bike's with rubber hoses.
For those that want to upgrade to Brembo brakes on the 14 the following brackets are on this japanese site, this one is for the p4 34/34 65mm which is the four piston four pad caliper fitted to the Ducati 749r and 999s, probably the best caliper they made before going radial.
https://www.japan-webike.ie/products/20015586.html
This is the 65mm caliper,
https://www.japan-webike.ie/products/21161946.html
This is the bracket for the 40mm with unequal size pistons and two pads, it's the p4 30/34 40mm
https://www.japan-webike.ie/products/20015587.html
And the caliper,
https://www.japan-webike.ie/products/21161940.html
This is for those that want to go the whole hog and fit radials.
https://www.japan-webike.ie/products/21115828.html