VTR Brakes

[sandman]

First time poster me , so dunno if this"s gonna work....
I'm on an '03 VTR 1000 , dun 12k's , and one of my front discs has warped..slowing down approaching lights etc. you can feel it grab release grab release ands so on .Has anyone else come across this ?
Sunday chasing down an unfamiliar country road ,over a crest,
confronted by road dropping away and turning hard right ,touched the front brake to bleed some speed, it locks up on me ,cost me the corner ! By the time I,d let it off a touch ,I had no chance - off the corner into the long grass ,thank goodness for our shit weather - the bike landed on what felt like a sponge - slowed me up real good .only my wheels got dirty !
Also tyres... Changed to Bridgestone 020 on rear at 8ks thats fine,just put a B 12 on the front ,500k's I'm not sure about it..supposed to be softer than the rear..anyone know ?

:whocares:

[bungbung]

My VTR has mildly warped discs at 33k. Being floating discs, I guess that rules out getting them machined. Does anyone have any recommendations as to OEM/aftermarket replacements?

[Coldkiwi]

dodgy old honda's eh? :)

I don't suppose that road you were talking about is Skyline road leading out of Clevedon towards Hunua is it? About 4 km from clevedon? there's one out there exactly like that and I very nearly suffered a similar fate when I first discovered it.. its a piss poor piece of road engineering!

[wkid_one]

Skyline or Twilight???

[Coldkiwi]

skyline... twilight has tight corners but more warning

[wkid_one]

I miss Twilight...which one is Skyline?

[Coldkiwi]

turn left out of shell. Next on your left (maybe called monument at that point?).. goes past the pony club on your right... a few fast sweepers in the 70kmhr then opens up a little... just as you get hoofing along... you crest a hill and gape as the road dissappears to your right... you may well not have slowed as there is only one  small sign warning of your impending death. Fecking corner

[wkid_one]

Nice - know the corner.  I love LTSA and Roading NZ's idea of marking corners.

Like the whole roll in to one signposted 55kph corner and you could have done it at 160kph, then the next corner is not signposted at all and it is a 35kph decreasing radius hidden apex downhill off camber corner covered in moss with a repaired patch covered in pea metal with no centre line and a car towing a boat coming around it.

Where is the consistency in the NZ road signage?  Also, why when they remove the 'gravel' signs - do they do so when it is safe for cars to pass but still dangerous for bikes coz theres pea metal strips down the parts of the road cars don't go?

 

[sandman]

t'was the Old Tauranga Road I was on ..or off.
it's a minefield of poor engineering..
can't wait to go that way again...
could be a lot of fun once you know the Road a bit..

[Coldkiwi]

yeah.. fair gripe about the road consistency. its the same with speed limits... some very good dual carriage way roads with no driveways are 80kmph.... others are 50!? The signage is generally terrible too. That was one point highlighted on that INZ: Road Kill show a few weeks back.

Sure there will always be idiots on our roads (and bikers pushing themselves) but lets make the roads with more room for error. And it costs nothing to properly signpost roads well.. thats a tragedy.

[wkid_one]

Back to your question about tyres....I have pretty much run all tyres now on the VTR....four favs were...

Renners     Wicked, but pricey and low mileage, great turn in speed

M1's          Pick of the bunch, good mileage, good stick, good int he wet

012's          Good stick, but rather have Renners

208's           Too flat and slow the bikes steering down.

 

[Coldkiwi]

tried the MTR 21 and 22 from Pirelli? (aka Dragon Evo)

they're one step down from Super corsa's which are probably in line with the rennsports but suit my style of commuting and w/e thrash (got about 6500km's out of the rear with some hard rides and one session at Pukekohe and aggresive commuting on the rest). I'm a sucker for any italian products but they've been very good to me and haven't given me any untoward scares once they're warm.

[Redstar]

My bike was pulling to the right under brakes I thought it was the brakes but transpired to be the front tyre had Dunlop 207's now have BT110 f 120 rear no probs its really hard to work out where the problem is sometimes.

[sandman]

Thanks for the tyre info. guys..
Like I said , I'm happy with the 020 rear ,which has done 4k,- it was the new 012 on the front I wasn't sure about.
different tyre different feel I guess . Solution's simple ,
get more k's on it.:whocares:

[wkid_one]

Aren't the Super Corsa fecken expensive and half?  Nearly died when they quoted me $840 for the set...

 

[sandman]

840 bucks !!!!!! ahhhh... you got a three wheeler eh !

[Coldkiwi]

possibly... I think there is also a Corsa model which is a bit less extreme. Supercorsas are apparently the stickiest road legal tyre you can get according to a Australian Motorcycle magazine article I read. perfect for production racing.

the new diablo's are supposed to be fantastic abut they're about $650 a set at the moment so I'm waiting till my next tyre change in the hope that the price drops by then!

[Stormer]

Back to the VTR disc`s. Had no probs with mine yet, still running true as.:niceone:

[wkid_one]

Ditto hear on disks - changed to the braided lines - which worked well and improved the spongy feeling - but no effect of warping.....

 

[sandman]

the bike's under warranty so they absolootely gotta replace the discs for free...just a bit of inconvenience and a wait till they import em from Nippon
I had a little concern that the warped disc contributed to the front locking up on me..which put me into the mud...:whocares:

[Dave]

Be aware-if youve had several tyres changed on the front,its possible one of the tyre fitters may have damaged a disc-if so, no warranty.
Bike dealers can be like insurance companies sometimes and run for cover at the thought of paying out.

[wkid_one]

However, if you can prove it, you will have recourse over the Tyre Fitter

[sandman]

The mechanic picked up the warped disc at 12k service...still had the original 204 on it ..I then went next door & got a new tyre..so no out for them there...:whocares:

[wkid_one]

Dunno if the warp will be classed as wear and tear - I would guess that it is extra-ordinary.....hasn't happened to mine yet and it has done 30k

[Coldkiwi]

warping without getting hit would have to be covered by the warranty surely. Sounds like dodgy engineering or Quality control in the brake manufacture. They're not a particularly thin design of disc are they?

[sandman]

The disc's are about 4mm thick..I dunno if that's pretty standard or not... checked my CBR 250's disc's ..they are the same thickness..
The mech. said he'd seen it before ,but it was'nt common .:whocares:

[Coldkiwi]

hmm... i get the feeling the kwaka ones are a few mill thicker. maybe thats the reason? bit of a compromise between warpability (my new word for the week) and ever so important unsprung weight reduction

[Speedfreak]

Never had a problem with the VTR brakes, even after a track day. Interested to see someone has fitted braided lines, the VTR's brakes are spongy thats for sure.

www.speedfreak.co.nz

[SPman]

Warping discs are normally covered by warranty if there is no obvious reason  to get out of it. The YZF750s had a problem from new with warping,and were replaced FOC if this happened. Mine have got a slight weave in them - anyone know of a good disc replacement that doesnt cost a stupid amount per disc? (dont think warranty applies after 9yrs! - bugger!)

[PZR]

So Im assuming that you checked your tyre pressures. Sometimes the most obvious is easily missed. Perhaps you need to try a different pressure to what you normally might use :Oops:

[sandman]

Muh disc has bin replaced under warranty...Sandman happy now...:whocares:

[Dave]

we all like a happy ending.

[bungbung]

In the interests of my happy ending, does anyone have any experience with aftermarket discs? I don't think a '97 is likely to be covered by a warranty...

[NZred]

Which Dealer did the work,..??  :rockon:  and is that who you purchased it from??

[gpercivl]

Powermotorcycles are advertising FGB Brake Disc Rotors for many models, try contacting Graham at sales@powermotorcycles.co.nz

[sandman]

I bought my VTR from Cyclespot Takapuna..... It was them that picked up the warped Disc at a service......It was them that replaced it under warranty......I did nothing....no forms...no signing...no phone calls....easy...the way it should be.....:whocares: :niceone: :niceone: :niceone: