Best brake upgrade - bang for the buck?
 

Just picked up a (new to me) 2001 SH that appears to be in great condition (thanks Bryan).

While Ive had other big bikes in the past, Ive been spending quite a bit of time on an '08 600RR (and an '85 VF500f) so she is a completely different feeling. The reviews are all correct with the steering being a bit heavy, frame a little loose and suspension a little on the soft side...all of which I can live with. But, the brakes are something that I really like to have a bit better.

The previous owner put on steel braided lines to the front and Im sure that helped but they just dont have the bite Im looking for. (too bad Ive been riding the 600RR lately, that thing stops on a dime!)

Before I get flamed for searching, that is all Ive done on this board for the past month. I see everything from front end swaps, to GSXR pots, etc... It would be nice to hear from you guys as to what you think is the 'best bang for the buck' upgrade (bear in mind I think I may already have it being the steel braided lines). Also if its a caliper upgrade, I would want a plug-and-play model.

Thx in advance.

Well the easiest bang for the buck, plug and play, upgrade is probably GSXR 4 pot non SRAD calipers and MC.. the only caveat is that Suzuki mounts their reservoir to the clip-on while Honda mounts theirs to the MC clamp. This means you won't have a place to mount the reservoir to. Most people just use one of the MC clamp bolts as an easy work around.

Just a brake pad upgrade and rebleeding the brakes can help a lot, but there is not a huge selection of pads that fit our calipers, so that as well as the larger piston sizes are good reasons to do a swap.

If you are willing to do a bit of grinding with a Dremel, F4i brakes would be my suggestion.

Edit: new quality pads at the same time are important too, I love my EBC HH pads, some more aggressive riders say they fade when hot (I haven never experienced it) but if you ride really hard then Versah pads are highly recommended

+1 on the EBC HH. it was night and day from my OEM pads. Not sure what they are doing to the calipers though, you can hear them grinding away when you brake