Brake Upgrade

[Bladesman]

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.

[KiwiCol]

Can't help with the brakes, but tyres, well, downunder way we're getting great results from Angels & Road5's.

[Bladesman]

Thanks Col, will try and do some research.

[Andre]

Love my OEM calipers and master cylinder! Braided hoses, good pads, good rotors, well maintained - one finger brakes

Also love the road 5! Had to get different foot pegs for more clearance as the old ones were scraping the tarmac too often.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

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.

[Bladesman]

Thanks Eric and Andre. I'll look at a clean, strip and different pads and lines before going down a more expensive route.

[VladTepes]

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   )

[Bladesman]

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 😊

[Hooli]

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.

[Bladesman]

Thanks Hooli and tip of the hat from a former Donny boy 👍

[Andre]

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

[grog]

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.

[Wilson]

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.

[KoZi]

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 

[mlivkovich]

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)