Radial forks/brakes

[chris99]

I have a 2002 748s and would really love radial brakes because i like the way they look. Im sure i have seen some where that you can just replace the bottom of the fork and get new calipers. How much do you all think it would cost and where can i get these from? Would it be better to use the forks from a different bike (RSV-R, Duke999,GSXRK4 ZX6R R1 ETC......)

thanks for your help
Chris

[JPM]

You're talking big...BIG money here..

Billet fork bottoms from someone like JHP will set you back at least a grand, then you need the calipers and pads, no idea how much the stock brembo radial calipers are, but I can/could get hold of some GP calipers for about £800 second hand, so you'd be looking at over 2k easily for this.

Might be cheaper to just buy a set of 05 999s Ohlins and calipers

[Dibble]

we have a member here who has the most awesome Radial AP set up on his Ohlins front end .. all put together by JHP on his 996R .. but boy, the costs are scary ..... I reckon the first figures a 3 .. so £3??? .. fill in the blanks yourself ....

[Felix]

There is HUGE difference between the stuff racers use and what comes on road bikes. Unless you want to spend the kind of money that's already been mentioned, you're best of buying second hand road gear from someone who's upgraded.

[chris99]

Ouch - That hurts!!!

There are some normal mont fork bottoms on the Tecmoto site that are only £261.00. Why are the radial ones SO much more????

[Festa748]

i have a friend who ive spoken to about this a few time and who is prepared to machine some on a cnc machine.
He will design them and make them so that the tokio calipers off a kawi636rr the radial ones will fit at a fraction of the price of the kits out there too

[Simon Reed]

Chris like these do yah mean ???i've gorram on mi R1 !

:sing:

[rcgbob44]

Thats a very nice set up. Just to satisfy my own curiosity, how are the radial adaptors secured to the fork tubes or for that matter the normal fork bottoms on Showas to the fork tube/

[andyb]

Inside the fork. It would mean taking the fork to pieces!

[chris99]

Originally posted by Simon Reed
Chris like these do yah mean ???i've gorram on mi R1 !

:sing:


Tw*t:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

That looks ace. Lucky lucky git:o

[Desmondo]

Jon is the man to talk to :)

[Rob B]

Alan at AJR also lists a kit on his website.

Rgds, Rob

[sharpo]

Does anyone know why radial brakes work better cos I can't see how they would.

I personally don't like the look of em either.

:puzzled:

[Lee1980]

Main reason i believe is the fact that the caliper is bolted rigidly at each end so the caliper flexes less under braking:D

[Jools]

For what it's worth, road testers in nearly every rag reckon that radial brakes offer no great advantage over conventional ones. Just like every other braking set up there's good and bad in terms of power and feel and a good conventional setup is better than a mediocre radial one.

If you had a top notch Brembo radial setup against a top notch Brembo conventional set up I doubt that any one of us would be able to notice the difference because we can't use what we've already got to it's limits anyway.

So IMHO radials are just bling. Very nice bling, but a very expensive 'upgrade' if you only want the look.

[Pete A]

Back in 2001 when the Reve Racing team first put radial brakes on their bikes I had a chat with John Reynolds and asked him what he thought, his response was that he couldn't feel any difference and his lap times were near enough identical, although it was early days and they had more testing to do. But, the main benefit to the team was being able to quickly switch front wheels with different diameter discs, just by adding or removing the spacers between the caliper and fork bottom.
Incidentally in the recent MCN test of various 600's the bike with the best stopping distance was the only one without radial brakes - it was the Triumph complete with own brand conventional caliper set up!

[Simon Reed]

jon is the man to talk to


i sold im those Ap's,to make way for the brembo's !!

:sing:

[Edited on 3-3-2005 by Simon Reed]

[chris99]

But they look SO so so gooooooooooood:D

[Ray]

I can't see how you would need anything more than the 4 pad "normal" type ( P34??) brakes on a road bike or even a road bike used on the track.

I love the look of the radial set ups but not enough to splash that much cash!!!

Ray.

[Nattyboy]

Brembo do a radial conversion kit for dukes which utilises adaptors..ill leave it to you guys to make comments but suffice to say, I think it a) looks bloody stupid, and b) defeats the (alleged!) object of having radials in the first place...:puzzled:

Nat

[Felix]

Fully agree with both points, Nat. Is this really a Brembo part?? How naff!!

[Nattyboy]

Certainly is Felix..and they'll happily relieve you of £830 if youve had a good taste bypass..:lol:
Cheers
Nat

[Felix]

Gobsmacked!:o

[Jon]

You can get a radial fork bottom from AJR or JHP that will take the 100mm radial brake caliper. Expect to pay in the region of £1500 for the pleasure. For me and a few others that "like a nice bit of kit" with the engineering and materials used. Its got to be the race radial setup, £3000 upwards. The calipers are 108 mm and the two will not mix. Also the JHP fork bottom allows you to upgrade your fork internals to suite. Is there a difference. For me yes. Brakes do take a while to work from cold. They don't grab like P4's, but then again they don't tend to fade either. Since having them fitted, I just haven't had a good day to try them out with the same confidence of recent. I've just crashed again for the 3rd time in 9 months and demon braking isn't a priority.

P.S. Chris, if like suggested you opt for the 999s/r forks, I think you will need the front fender also, because it has a different mountings. There might also be a issue with the offset of the calipers?

[Edited on 4-3-2005 by Jon]

[chris99]

Yeah i have seen those!! What a sh*t idea. They must **** themselves every time some fool orders one of those

[deej]

chris if your doing it for the looks its going to be costly and if your doing it for the performance again it aint worth the money, ive never ridden with radials but ive spoken to some impressive people on this

last month my mate won the hm plant replica cbr6 demonstration bike and he had to collect from the hrc factory at louth so off we all went, the bike is pictured in the back of the free hein gericke catalogue with this months bike amg if anyones interested

we got to talking to karl harris and michael rutters technicians and they said radials added no beneficial gains to their racing machines, they told the riders it aided them, they then rave about them, we then spend a small fortune trying to have the same equipment as them when we dont really need to, admittedly this isnt on ducatis but on honda's, hrc's top spec firebaldes no less

opinions please???

its all in the mind mate, for the extra 3 grand and your bike you could buy a 996r which you would never need to modify

i will be putting the few photos of the cbr on my website when i get time

[skidlids]

Originally posted by sharpo
Does anyone know why radial brakes work better cos I can't see how they would.

I personally don't like the look of em either.

:puzzled:

My mate fitted AP radial callipers to his 996RS last year using adapter plates, these replaced the 6-pot APs that were already on the bike Mark Buldock that was racing the bike told me they were a big improvement. He then went on to win the North Glos SoT championship as well as the Open and Powerbike championships so if he says they are a improvement I tend to believe him.

[Mr_S]

Originally posted by deej
you could buy a 996r which you would never need to modify


Oh I don't know, there's always room for change :)

[Simon Reed]

All depends what you are replacing them from,and to !!!,speaking from experience,i've now got brembo race spec radials,but had brembo monoblocks before !!,and the differance from them isn't that much,but !!,going from conventional road brakes to full blown race spec,whether conventional or radial is a major step,ask yeti,he did it amongst a few others !!

:lol:

[rcgbob44]

whats wrong with a good drum brake and Dunphy AM4 linings!:roll: