snakebitten

I obviously wasn't around here when this thread was hot and heavy. But what an awesome find!

Combined with the big fork-swap thread, anyone who has their heart set out on turning their Superhawk into a real Poor-mans Ducati simply has to take notes and hit ebay!

So at the risk of bringing up an old topic for you guys, I wonder if the following narrow questions is easy to answer definitively?

I have a track day only SH that I am re-licensing for street use. (no time for track days now and can't stand to ignore that sweet red machine any longer) I already had the 929 front end with VTR wheel and Blackbird EBC rotors. And while I thought the brakes were "ok", I have a KTM950 SM with modern day Brembos and now the SH brakes feel pathetic.

Armed with the knowledge of this thread, I secured 04 F4I calipers and MC from ebay. AND today I won a bid on an 02 RC51 MC for $13.00!!

So which MC would likely give me the best results with the F4I calipers? The F4I or RC51? Keep in mind this is an 02 RC51 and the previous listed MC specs on this thread state the 02 RC51 MC dropped in size compared to the previous models.

I realize the F4I MC looks nicer, if you like the built in resovoir look. But fuction over form is my preference.

Thanks, in advance fellas!

lazn

Well if my brakes ever get here (UPS should be delivering them today) I will be putting a full F4i + EBCHH on my bike, this is because the 954 stuff even with the 330mm rotor and SS lines do not feel as good a yruyur's F4i + EBCHH setup though he has a stock VTR wheel, rotors, and lines.

snakebitten

Yea Lazn, I've been watching your "Chase of the perfect VTR" on this thread and the "fork swap" thread!

You got the itch pretty good!

I'll be watchin for your opinion of this brake upgrade. I'm right in your wake.

lazn

LoL, well my new brakes and new Clutch Master Cyl have arrived..

Now if my Steering Stabilizer from Ebay comes through (guy has only one review and hasn't said a thing to me since I won it on Wed) I think I will finally be totally done. (ya right)

I will be posting a list of usable Clutch Master w integrated reservoirs in another thread.

Tweety

The SP2 and F4 MC is so close in size that the difference will be minimal... Both should work fine... Choose the one you like...

skokievtr

Thumper,

Were the banjo bolt diameters, thread size and pitch on the GSXR MC the same as the OE Honda? Also, What is the piston & stroke on the 2006 GSXR 1000 Radial MC, and how did it fit with the faring in place?

B

Tweety

I can't say for 100% sure... But Suzuki usually have a different pitch on the banjo bolts... Honda uses M10*1.25 and Suzuki uses M10*1.0 generally...

E.Marquez

Far as I've seen all NISSIN MC's and calipers use the M10x1.25. The Brembo and some others use the fine pitch M10x1.0

E.Marquez

Is there any fairing clearance issues? Pics with the plastics on please at full lock left and right.

I'm headed out to the shop right now to install some 2003 new old stock F4i Nissin calipers and Vesrah RJL pads, with a smaller (2002 and later) RC51 MC.
I thought I had a 19mm larger 2001 RC51 MC until I went to install a rebuild kit in it last week.. NOPE,, must have been mis marked when listed, as it's definitely the smaller 11/16 piston.

Will try this combo for a few days and see, but I think I'm splurging for a Brembo or other MC next...

skokievtr

I have the F4i calipers and 00~01 RC51 MC (19mm), and while it stops hard the lever feel is quite "stiff" (less leverage), which is why I was interested in dropping down to a 17.4625mm (11/16") MC. If you do get Brembo let me know and I'll take the 02 RC51 MC off your hands. Though I am intrigued with going to a radial MC. I can't remember who but someone is using a Kawi 600RR radial MC that may be the ticket. Whomever is running the Kawi 600 MC, please chime in and let us know what its piston size is. I know you responded before and said it was a bit of a hassle to get it to fit fairing interface wise.

Forde

im currently looking at a 2001 sp1 mc which should make it 19mm and a set of f4i calipers, this would be a good combo wouldnt it?

how much do you have to grind off the f4 calipers and where?

Tweety

Best I can describe it... When you get it in your hand, hold it against the mounting ears and you will see it... You can either take a few millimeters of the end of the ear on the fork (makes it easier if you are going to swap others in the future) or make a small dimple in the caliper to make it slide in to where the bolts line up...

Forde

which threads this in im interested, is there much benefit from upgrading the clutch m/c?

anyone got the specs of the oem s/h mc and calipers for comparison? if theyre in this thread ive missed them lol

Tweety

It's in here somewhere... 14 mm M/C and 30/27 mm calipers... Wimpy in other words...

BTW, No there is no difference for swapping the clutch M/C in performance/feel... It's just an bling option to have integrated reservoars on both...

Forde

wow that is a lot smaller than the others

thanks for the replies tweety.

got a best offer of £45 for an SP1 mc on ebay and £60 for a pair of f4i calipers so think i might go ahead and get those.

residentg

See the bottom mounting bolt. That is where you need to remove some material from the caliper. I used a sanding barrel on a dremel, test-shave-test-shave-test... until it fits. As you can see, I took a little off the fork tab as well, there were some casting marks that I removed. You do not need to take much off, do a little at a time. What you see are F4i calipers, EBC HH pads, and Galfer lines - they are awesome! I used the F4i MC and BelRay Dot4 - it all works great, you will be pleased.

On a side note, I was watching the Isle of Man TT on TV. I noticed that those guys run 4 pot calipers, not 6 pots.

Forde

that pic is very useful thank you.

i love the colour of your wheels too and the calipers have you repainted them

residentg

The wheel are the stock color for an '05. I painted the calipers with DupliColor Mag Wheel paint, Graphite color. Real nice paint too, goes on nicely. Thank you.

Forde

cool. i went ahead and bought the f4i calipers and a SP1 master cylinder there so ill hopefully get those in about a week and get them rebuilt and on with a set of braided lines and my bikes brakes will be looking like yours!!. probably go over the bars the first time i pull the lever lol my oem brakes arent the best and need bled bigtime!!

with regard to your comment above i read before on ehre that the f4i and gsxr 4 pots were better than the gsxr 6 pots, cant remember why it was something about the pistons in the six pots being tiny maybe?

iyaoyas98

IT'S ALIVE!!!

I love bumping quality threads that get tossed by the wayside....


I have a set of 6 pots with the factory GSXR M/C and lines on the way. Hopefully they scratch the itch and I'm not dumping them for F4i's....

Thanks for this great thread.....

05xman

lets get this topic going again..... anybody know if some brembo calipers off a monster 620 would or could be made to work?

8541Hawk

Don't forget to add the '04 and before 600rr master to the list. It is basically the same as an SP2 but with an integrated reservoir. Also the calipers are the same as SP2 so they will work also.

Stephan

I just add a few pics of trimmed forks to fit CBR 954 calipers, maybe someone will find it useful. I think it is better idea than to trim calipers.

original:


trimmed:


mounted:

Crashrat

Thanks for the pictures, Stephan. I'm doing this swap (well, RC51 calipers) in a week or so. I got the calipers w/ new pads for $75. The SH brakes are probably the weakest link as far as I'm concerned and I've wanted to do this mod for more than a year... Money, money, money...

afm528

It doesn't look like anyone ever reported back on trying an F4i/929 MC with stock calipers. Early in the thread it was theorized that since the other Honda calipers were so similar to stock SuperHawk, just a new MC might make a big difference.

Has anyone tried just upgrading the MC (and probably the lines)?

Tweety

Well, numbers say that's not a great idea... The stock calipers are substantially smaller than the rest... The result will be very digital since the MC pushes a larger volyme of fluid... That means you will have a very short transition from no brakes to fully locked front wheel... Probably very effective in some ways but my guess is that it will be a bit hard to control the amount of braking... You could try it though...

My advice would however be to get a full set of brakes... They work best in matched sets...

afm528

Thanks Tweety. I realized I have a full set of F4 brakes on my race Hawk that are just sitting there -- I may try bolting them on just for fun.

Crashrat

Installed the RC51 calipers today! Woo hoo! Now I can add something to my sig file! I feel like I just won a bunch of gold eggs in Farmville

But really... Very nice upgrade. I'm waiting on the CBR 954 master and the new pads to bed, but I'm already very happy. Thanks to everyone in this thread.

CR

20_rc51_00

cant wait for my brother to pull the front brakes off my RC back home and ship them my way! as fun as the hawk is I really need new brakes on it and perhaps new tires... :P all the feed back about this has me giddy.

did most people who swapped the brakes run them with the stock front susp? does this now highlight the flaws of the front susp even more?

Wolverine

MODERATORS: Can we sticky this thread in the KB?