Building bucket brakes

[F5 Dave]

Muppet at buckets with bad brakes... are you some sort of poet?

Someone there was having trouble with their front brakes and problems became obvious when we were looking at them.
Then I noticed the rear brakes

The present owner didn't build the bike and was under the impression it was a good runner.
He's had quite a few issues with it since he bought it.

Goes to show that the idea of buying a ready to ride bucket, already built up, doesn't always work as well as it could.

Yeah I first decided to cast a bit of an eye over that bike when I was flagging I could see the rider's hand pulsing whist braking. Bent disc. Not surprising the mounting damaged the disc. It was originally no where near straight & the owner got it closer but damage was already done it appears.

Then I saw the rear!

Fozzy Bear, Gonzo, & Animal (madly drumming) rolled into one. It was this bike that prompted this thread. But it is a common theme, albeit to a lesser degree, from time to time.

Sticky this please Mod?

[richban]

MDF are really good try mitre 10

True.

Thanks Fishy. I was looking for something a little more environment friendly like maybe bamboo. A lot harder to might last longer.

[hmurphy]

I paid $60 for my front brake pads (may have been ripped off) but they were the best ones I could get for my bike and the difference is chalk and cheese. The braking power had increased 10 fold and the feel is just wicked. They are lasting well too so I will definitely get them again. I don't mind paying extra bucks when it comes to things like brakes haha. Kinda need them to work really well!

I know which bike you are talking about and the guy too. If anyone can get ahold of him, I might be able to get him a decent front disc for $40. I am sure he wont mind forking out $40 for a disc that is nice and smooth. As for the rear brake, I might be able to help him out with that too.

[speedpro]

Anyone got a recommendation for replacing standard front pads on a FXR?

I've used Vesrah red backs and found them pretty good. I managed to scorch the red paint off a set at Wanganui and they still worked OK and they work good cold and in the wet as well. Not sure it they are available for FXR but you might be able to modify a set that's close.

The other thing to try if you can't get decent pads is having fresh pad bonded onto the backing plates. I looked into that sort of thing years ago and it wasn't too pricey

[F5 Dave]

Vesrah NRQ (redback) were the only pad that worked on the RG50 discs & I tried ~ 5 others. Not always easy to get hold of. Haven't had much success with the gold sintered ones, but work ok in the back of the dirtbike.

[Shorty_925]

Using a set of Premier pads, seem fine, havent fully found out how late is too late with them.

[gav]

Sticky this please Mod?

Sure, seeing you said please.

[Leed]

"Brake mounting bolts
Don’t use ally bolts anywhere near brakes. Levers, disc, and calliper mounts should have good quality steel bolts "

which is greater...
1. the amount of bolt area in shear at the caliper bolts
2. or the amount of aluminium in shear in a lightweight cast aluminium HUB holding the rotor bolts into it,
3. or the aluminium RWU fork LUGS that calipers normally bolt onto.

I feel 1. is the least, but would be closely followed by 3.
can I drill out the lugs and fit stronger larger diameter caliper bolts?

[F5 Dave]

The bolts have stress raisers in them and ally ones have been known to fail. But you know.

[Grumph]

"Brake mounting bolts
Don’t use ally bolts anywhere near brakes. Levers, disc, and calliper mounts should have good quality steel bolts "

which is greater...
1. the amount of bolt area in shear at the caliper bolts
2. or the amount of aluminium in shear in a lightweight cast aluminium HUB holding the rotor bolts into it,
3. or the aluminium RWU fork LUGS that calipers normally bolt onto.

I feel 1. is the least, but would be closely followed by 3.
can I drill out the lugs and fit stronger larger diameter caliper bolts?

#1 usually the least area in shear.
#2 - back in the day OW01 Yamaha owners used to like only using 3 of the 6 disc mounting bolts in the front wheel. Automatic fail when i was scrutineering.
Most are more than adequate.Stepped retaining bolts are very good.
#3 if the caliper is behind the fork leg, the casting is in compression - as it should be.

Can you drill out the lugs ? maybe, depends on how much material is left around the holes. going from 8 to 10mm probably. 6 to 10, probably not....