2fast
Crotch Rocket
More than a year ago, I got tired of mediocre brakes and warping rotors, and decided to do a full upgrade, including 320mm floating rotors and Tokico 4 pot calipers. The stock brakes for the pre 1994 Concours are a solid 270 mm rotor with a single pot caliper. I located a good match for the Concours hub size, bolt pattern and spacing, which turned out to be a rotor made for a 99-01 Yamaha YZF-R7, which used a modern full floating rotor. I purchased mine from a Chinese manufacturer that sells on Ebay named racingboy8261. The rotors go for a little over $200, and are sometimes marked even lower.
The 4 pot calipers I used are from a Kawasaki ZX6E which was made from 1993-2003. Lots of these calipers are available on ebay in a variety of condition. The missing link was the caliper adapter to mount the 4 pots to the stock fork legs.
Nothing is made to do this, so I had to design and make my own. I came up with a design, sourced a water jet cutter and had some made. They came out very nice, and surprisingly, they are lighter than the stock bracket. This despite the fact that the material is actually thicker than the stock items. The stock brackets weigh 10.6 oz each, and the ones I had made weigh 7.8 oz each. I don’t know what the caliper weight difference is, but likely they are pretty close. I did not do it for weight savings, but for better brakes. And better brakes is exactly what I got! I am currently using Kevlar pads, and they work quite well. I may change to an HH pad for more bite next time I need pads. The trade off is more rotor wear with the HH pads.
The other modifications needed for this to work are fairly simple. The new 320 rotors mounting holes are too small, so they need to be drilled out to a 10mm hole. Easy. The calipers have a step in the mating surface that needs to be removed, and then the whole mating surface milled down so it is 2.5mm below the pad surface. The calipers have threaded holes which also need to be drilled out to 10mm. This is because with the new bracket, you are bolting through the caliper into the bracket. The bolts needed are a 10mm flange bolt, 1.25 pitch in a 20mm length, available at hardware stores. The fork leg mount uses the stock bolts, which are the same thread type and size.
Bolt it all together, and enjoy braking that is on par with most modern bikes! I have put more than 10,000 miles on this new setup and it works great. This link http://s1337.beta.photobucket.com/user/bpsnow1/library/C10%20BrakeUpgrade%20bracket shows photos of most of the process to help make things a bit easier to understand. Since I had to pay the jet cutter to set up cad drawings and make the brackets, I went ahead and had some extra sets made. If anyone would like to do this upgrade, I’ll send you a pair of brackets for $80, shipping included. I have not had any isses, but I leave it to you to decide if you can do the work and if it will function properly on your bike. Oh, forgot to mention that I powdercoated the brackets lightly with matte black.
The 4 pot calipers I used are from a Kawasaki ZX6E which was made from 1993-2003. Lots of these calipers are available on ebay in a variety of condition. The missing link was the caliper adapter to mount the 4 pots to the stock fork legs.
Nothing is made to do this, so I had to design and make my own. I came up with a design, sourced a water jet cutter and had some made. They came out very nice, and surprisingly, they are lighter than the stock bracket. This despite the fact that the material is actually thicker than the stock items. The stock brackets weigh 10.6 oz each, and the ones I had made weigh 7.8 oz each. I don’t know what the caliper weight difference is, but likely they are pretty close. I did not do it for weight savings, but for better brakes. And better brakes is exactly what I got! I am currently using Kevlar pads, and they work quite well. I may change to an HH pad for more bite next time I need pads. The trade off is more rotor wear with the HH pads.
The other modifications needed for this to work are fairly simple. The new 320 rotors mounting holes are too small, so they need to be drilled out to a 10mm hole. Easy. The calipers have a step in the mating surface that needs to be removed, and then the whole mating surface milled down so it is 2.5mm below the pad surface. The calipers have threaded holes which also need to be drilled out to 10mm. This is because with the new bracket, you are bolting through the caliper into the bracket. The bolts needed are a 10mm flange bolt, 1.25 pitch in a 20mm length, available at hardware stores. The fork leg mount uses the stock bolts, which are the same thread type and size.
Bolt it all together, and enjoy braking that is on par with most modern bikes! I have put more than 10,000 miles on this new setup and it works great. This link http://s1337.beta.photobucket.com/user/bpsnow1/library/C10%20BrakeUpgrade%20bracket shows photos of most of the process to help make things a bit easier to understand. Since I had to pay the jet cutter to set up cad drawings and make the brackets, I went ahead and had some extra sets made. If anyone would like to do this upgrade, I’ll send you a pair of brackets for $80, shipping included. I have not had any isses, but I leave it to you to decide if you can do the work and if it will function properly on your bike. Oh, forgot to mention that I powdercoated the brackets lightly with matte black.
