[Fixed] Brakes: The 1000$ mistake!

Just looking over your pics, I'll tell you what I would do. I would shim the disk out as close to the fork leg as possible. Then I would make an offset caliper bracket to move the caliper out away from the wheel to match your new disk location. Then, if there was still some interference, I would machine a small amount off the ribs on the wheel spokes to clear your calipers. That's just what I would do if I had to make it work without adding or changing any main parts Maybe not the best way, or the right way, but a way nontheless.

I would shim the disk out as close to the fork leg as possible.

Sure! but take a look at this picture

you see that damn speedometer cable ? it's in the way grrrrrr (less than 3-4 mm of clearance)!


I'm still looking for a thinner caliper. Someone told me that i must look for 6 piston calipers because they are thinner... spread on the length instead on the thickness the piston force...

hen, if there was still some interference, I would machine a small amount off the ribs on the wheel spokes to clear your calipers. That's just what I would do if I had to make it work without adding or changing any main parts Maybe not the best way, or the right way, but a way nontheless.

Seriously, i don't want to say your idea is a bad one but for me ... for safety concern i don't want to mess with the rim and it wont pass the mandatory governmental mechanical inspection.

Ditch the speedo drive then and replace it with a solid spacer. If you realy want to keep those disks, forks and wheel, you'll have to give up something. Since any 600cc and up bike is going to run calipers of comparable size to what you already have, any salvation in smaller/narrower calipers will have to come from smaller bore bikes. I can't help there bud

I have measured the 6 piston YZF750 calipers(sumitomo), the 4 piston YZF600, R6, and R1 calipers (sumitomo), and the 6 piston ZX6r calipers (nissin) and they are about 40mm deep. So now you know why your bike came stock with 1 piston slide-pin calipers.

Honda CBR600 F2 calipers should work. They are only about 26mm form the centerline of the disc slot to the inside surface of the caliper. These are very good calipers, and there are a bunch of them on eBay for very little $. I think these are the calipers that Fish uses for his projects.

He's right about the F2 calipers they are not that deep, they are not an opposed piston design. There are some other early to mid nineties calipers that may work.
I'll still measure the Grimecas for you, they are used on spoked wheels so they are beveled in the back for extra clearance.

Just looking over your pics, I'll tell you what I would do. I would shim the disk out as close to the fork leg as possible. Then I would make an offset caliper bracket to move the caliper out away from the wheel to match your new disk location. Then, if there was still some interference, I would machine a small amount off the ribs on the wheel spokes to clear your calipers. That's just what I would do if I had to make it work without adding or changing any main parts Maybe not the best way, or the right way, but a way nontheless.
thats what i would do ditch the speedo drive you can machine some off the back of the caliper and if you still need some more taking a mm off the rim wont hurt anything. and if you dont tell anyone they wont know.thats the only way you can do it. you may be able to remove some from the slot too not much but a little here and there will add up.

Use calipers that aren't opposed 4 or 6 piston. Most OEM 4 and 6 piston caliper have similar dimensions. Using higher quality after market calipers could give you a little more room to work with, but they are usually pretty darned expensive and buying them would be a shot in the dark that may or may not work.

Using a set of calipers that don't have pistons on the inside should give you more clearance than you have now. I can't say for sure what will or won't work as I haven't made any kits for that style GPZ front end.

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I'm not trying to insult,be-little or anything else of the sort, but I've said it many times before....

Sometimes, people get it stuck in their head that they want this caliper,that disc,on that front end, etc. and it doesn't always work or fit.

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According to the pics that have been posted here and in the email, there's no way to get that caliper on that front end with those discs. Moving the discs out as far as you can still won't get the needed clearance that the caliper needs to clear the wheel. Sure, you could machine some of the wheel away to get the needed clearance, but I wouldn't feel safe with that approach, as you would need to "clearance" on both sides of the wheel and it could leave you with a "compromised" wheel. You could even machine some of the back of the calipers away, but I think it would probably cut into the "pots" for the pistons and make your calipers useless.

The basic summary is with the current set up,disc, caliper,front end and wheel won't work together. Something in the current "equation" needs to be changed. The calipers seam to be the big stumbling block on your kit and that is the first part of your current "equation" that I would address.

ELCouz wrote:

Hi,

I don't know how to say this but I'm feeling that I'm wasting my motorcycle season and money on this vintage restoration project.

Not trying to bust your chops, but it would appear that you're not actually doing a restoration; instead you're doing a modification. If you were restoring the bike you would be using parts that meet the original specs and by now you would probably be on the road. Modifications can lead down a winding path where one change requires another, then another, etc. (been there / done that). This can be very expensive, time consuming, and frustrating. Best bet if you like to ride is to have one unmodified bike for riding and one that is your ongoing project. Peace. Ed

thank you guys for your reply.

I've emailed two factory that make custom caliper with a cnc i'm still waiting the quotation. (should be around 800$)

Now i'm looking for the last solution i knew that floating caliper work i just want to check if there not a 4 pots or 6 pots solution that would work first.


I'm still looking on ebay.

I think these floaters look very thin at the back more than the cbr600.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...em&item=290219121496

I will be back later.

Have a nice day !

btw, you know there's one thing i forget to check when i bought the nissin 4 pots from Z1000.... The disc are not straight they are floating type and they have an extension to the outside of the wheel... i think this is the missing key but anyway its too late and no disc are made for my model like The Fish use (dont fit on hub).

ELCouz wrote:

I'm still looking on ebay.

I think these floaters look very thin at the back more than the cbr600.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...em&item=290219121496

I will be back later.

Do a lot of research on anything before shelling out the bucks for another item that won't work.

The calipers in the link above seam to be the 3 piston calipers that were used on a few Honda models, most of the 3 pistons (if not all,IIRC-at least all that I have seen) of them had linked brakes (front brakes linked to the rear brake). Notice the 2 hose fittings on this caliper.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1995-HONDA-CBR10...&hash=item518d27b44b


Also notice that the 2 calipers in the link that you posted are also missing the mount that would be needed to mount these calipers to the fork lugs (shown on the caliper that I posted a link to). Those calipers are useless unless you also buy the mounts to mount them up with (and you would still have the linked brakes to deal with).

Do research, then do more and when you are finished doing research, do more research.

Make sure you know what you are getting before you get it.

Do research, then do more and when you are finished doing research, do more research.

Ok i promise... i knew it was too good to be true!

I keep looking for calipers because i don't want to flush down the toilet the 600$ custom made disc from UK. I will start to look for floaters since counter piston solution is too thick ... but float style calipers introduce a new problem about the slide mount.

The Fish, if a customer go to your garage with the same problem do you recommend trowing everything to thrash and start from scratch or he still have chance to get something fit ?