NZSpokes

I see a lot of brake mods on here. I cant understand why. I had mine on the track on the weekend and was hitting 130mph on the straight and pulling her down to 60 for the turn. I was on the brakes hard multiple times a lap and they feel great. Soft lever feel with lots of modulation. My system is stock with fresh fluid and Goldfern pads.

Am I missing something here?

I will be getting braided lines for extra insurance but I would do that to any bike.

sailorjerry

Have you ever ridden a bike with an inverted front end on the track? The stopping power is a night and day difference.

There is a lot of other things that brake mods change as well. (lever feel, initial bite, brake fade, not to mention bracing the forks so they dont squirm durring hard braking)


Everyone has set up's they like, some people like you like softer lever feel. Where as me personally, I like a firm lever.

Once you switch to braided lines you will start to realize how much more braking power can be had.

NZSpokes

I was lifting the back wheel under braking. Not sure I need more than that.

sailorjerry

You may already have some work done to the brakes. I read your other post that it has a Mosfet R/R and manual cam chain tensioners. are you sure the PO didn't slap on a set of F4i calipers and MC?

I can tell you that I still have stock calipers, MC, SS lines, and I am runnning motul 660 fluid and I still want more out of my brakes.

Your rear tire shouldn't come off the ground durring braking, you're either too far forward on the bike, or you need to set up your suspension.

Either way, there is more to be had from the brakes, once you get used to the bike and your suspension is set up, start trying different things. If you search brake rotors you'll find a thread I started when I needed rotors and if you read through Erik made a list of some of the best combinations for the bike that bolt on to the stock front end.

If you like the brakes, leave them alone for now, but please get your suspension reworked so you stop shifting so much weight forward. you'll notice the difference next time you're at the track and you've all the sudden shaved a few seconds off your lap time.

2wheelsagain

I would almost bet my left nut that you don’t have stock Firestorm brakes mate.

Mine are stock and are **** compared to any other bike I’ve had since about 1992 even with new pads and fluids. I reckon I could pull the lever back to the bars if I wanted to. Having said that they do work but just a terrible feel compared to my other bikes past and present. I have a pair of CBR954 callipers (30% more pad area) and braided lines on my work bench now ready to fit when my new sintered pads arrive.
My stock Bandit 1250 would out brake the VTR and I use 1 finger on that.
I’m glad yours are good but an upgrade is almost compulsory for modern times.

jscobey

Being on the track, better brakes allow you to start braking later so yes you could slow from 130 to 60 but how many yards did it take you to do so? Better brakes allows you to keep top speeds for a longer portion of each straight. Better brakes also helps trail braking if that's your style. And +1 on having ur suspension sorted for your weight. Having your back wheel come up doesn't indicate stopping power. It indicates you need to have you forks and shock sorted. A lot of the time better brakes are a bonus to things like USD fork swaps. Like when I did my RC fork swap, automatically I got better brakes. That in combo with the S'S lines and radial MC and the braking is night and day.

I'm not saying the stock setup us garbage. But you wouldn't see Valentino using VTR brakes on his yamaha... so obviously there's better options. It's mostly a personal preference thing and/or something to help shave down lap times. Trust me there is better braking to be had over the stock setup.

smokinjoe73

Yeah, once you switch, you will look at this post and chuckle. I have f4i brakes on mine with vesrah rjl pads and I would never go back.

Plus its crazy cheap since you can get the whole cbr setup for like 50 clams and sell your stockers for most of that.

More pad options too.

NZSpokes

We will see I guess. My forks have .95 racetech springs and gold valves. Was playing with one of the instructors on the last session so did a Rossi one leg off in braking. Thats when the back came up. Apparently it looked cool. Was a bit scary.