Upgrading front brakes on 82 Suzuki GS1100

[pete376403]

Anyone know of any twin pot calipers (or better) that would bolt on to GS1100 fork legs? The standard single pot calipers were pretty mediocre when the thing was last on the road (about 10 years ago) and I'm guessing they haven't got any better in the interim. The standard flexy rubber hoses have already been replaced with braided stainless covered Teflon ones.

[Grumph]

The standard swap for pre 82 racing is usually Brembo F08 calipers. Big two pots. Used with a 14mm M/C they're pretty good.

But you don't have to abide by pre 82 rules....

Have a look on the GSResources Forum - there's a chap offers the bits needed for a conversion using Honda calipers.

[husaberg]

I seen a conversion that by the look of it uses kawaski 4 pots and Honda cbr600 discs it was for the 750 or 1000 but they looked the same original discs

[pete376403]

Grump, Husa - I was directed to salty monk on thegsresources.com. As you say Kawasaki (or lots of others) callipers on CBR disks with custom brackets. Looks quite doable. Thanks

[husaberg]

https://rbitter.home.xs4all.nl/GS1000_front-brake-upgrade.html

[F5 Dave]

On my GS11 i put on CBR600 sliding calipers with custom brackets. With the std master cylinder they were well matched and a considerable improvement. Did many ks before selling it.

But these days you would need an LVV certificate at maybe $400 but been a while since I got one.

[MarkW]

Just a cautionary note when mixing and matching calipers and rotors –in my past life I had to investigate how one of a racers front brake pads was found on the ground a long way before the corner on which he crashed and suffered a serious injury. The conclusion – the front pads were almost completely worn out and the upgraded multi-piston caliper from one manufacturer was designed for a rotor that was far thicker than the standard one fitted to the racers machine which was from a different manufacturer. And the rotor on the front wheel was also almost worn out. Clearances had simply got too big and the pad fell out leading to not a lot of front brake available for the next corner.
The caliper upgrade was a good one but not with completely worn out pads [at the end of a days racing] and a worn out thinner rotor than the caliper was designed to be used with .

[pete376403]

Mark, thanks for the note of caution. I believe that I am astute enough to take into consideration a worn disk / worm pads combo, but again, thanks. The "salty monk" conversion is well documented and has been around long enough that any shortcomings when using parts that are within the manufacturers spec would have been uncovered.