The main problem I think is the small bore of the standard brake master cylinder..change it for a brembo radial, and with some good pad material youll notice a huge difference..

Nat

what pads do you think. dave.

I know what you mean, when I got my T8 the brakes were the first thing I wanted to update after a couple of "Oh my gawd the lever is back to the bar and I ain't slowing down much" moments.

Don't go down the P34 caliper route. P34's are later Brembo brakes with a brake pad for each of the 4 pistons in the caliper. I'm not knocking them, I have them on my ST2 and they are without doubt awesome. In fact my ST has the best stopppers of any bike I tried at the recent Cadwell trackday. Trouble is that for a T8 they are just plain wrong. Because they have 65mm spacing on the mounting holes you can only fit them to the earlier 40mm spacing forks on a T8 with an adaptor plate. It works, and you'll have fabulous brakes but it will look awkward and clumsy (not to say plain ugly).

I would go for the Brembo radial caliper and the GP billet brake mod, either one or both in any order. You'll have to be pretty flush to buy both straight away...I got the GP billets first because they're pornographic, but they do need the master cylinder uprated as well to get the best from them.

where can i see these objects i lust after. cheers.

Hmmmm
I,m more than happy with the standard set up on the 851 though I will admit to never having taken it on a track day so couldnt comment on there absolute stopping power but for fast (for me :D) road use they have been fine and even managed to haul the bike down quite well in France the other week when a Gendarme stepped into the road and indicated I should pull in for a chat about my eeeer excessive speed :rolleyes:, I think we where both quite relieved that Ducati,s have decent brakes :D

Even racing mine I have found the standard setup adequate.
However you must have SS lines and decent pads, I have always used Ferodo Platinum.
Also make sure that the fluid is bubble free, a small bubble can get stuck and make you think the setup is too spongy. The best way is to take the m/c off the bar and hold it an angle overnight so that any small bubbles can escape. Alternatively crack open the banjo bolt on the m/c, pull the brake lever and nip it up when fluid appears. Or get a banjo bolt with a bleed screw.

I have a radial m/cylinder,used to have P34's with adaptor plate,awesome brakes,but look so wrong on the SP5.I changed them for the P4's now they are truly awesome.Costly mind you.

The p4 caliper looks awsome, where did you get them from, how much etc, have you a pic of the m/cylinder. cheers dave.

I think there must be a small problem with my std set up, must get it checked out by someone who knows t8s, any recommendations, i live in walton on thames, surrey. cheersdave.

Sorry Jasp, posting a pic of my caliper is going to cost you dearly - maybe a radial master cylinder ;)

In all seriousness - changing to the P34's is by far the best upgrade I've done even with braided hoses, ZX9r cylinder and softer pads.

Frank