F4I brake swap
 

ive been seeing guys are doing f4i front brake swaps on superhawks and was wondering why? in thought a cbr weighs less and would need less braking force to stop that said weight. a superhawk weighs more so you would think it would take more stopping force. i know that the superhawk has stock budget brakes. are the pistons in the calipers bigger on the f4i? someone please explain. i have already done the f4i control lever swap and have the calipers just need a real reason to put them on

all i have to say is holy crap it makes a difference. I just did the swap a few weeks ago. I believe the piston size is larger on both the master and the caliper. The huge difference is that you have to pull the lever in a lot less before it begins to catch but once it catches the bike begins to slow and slows even more from that point the harder you pull. The stock ones felt like you pulled and kept pulling and there was still no braking power. Amazing difference.

hey thanks guess i just have to nut up and do it

Direct bolt-up?

There are a few write ups on it on the forum. You only need to shave a tiny tiny bit off with a dremel.

besides braking forces you get a larger selection of brake pads to chooce from. my fav is the vesrah RJL.....



tim

F4i braking system (minus the rotors of course) is the same as the 929, 900RR (98-99), SP1. The calipers have much larger pistons (and larger pads) and the MC is also larger diameter. One squeeze of the lever and you'd (you'll) know why people are making the swap!

+1

never tried the RJL`s (although they come highly recommended) but HRC hard bites are wicked!!!!!!! (expensive too though)

I ended up with the EBC Double H

hey thanks for all your guys input probably going to make the swap this weekend will let you guys know how it went and what i think of them

Can you or anyone else post a pic of the F4I reservoir on your hawk? Im thinking of making the swap but would like to see how it looks and hear what you think of it.

Thanks!

pics
 

mounted the res. 2 months ago havent done the brakes thinking of doing fork swap so waiting to make up my mind as far as the control goes didnt notice a difference but only did it for the looksAttachment 5953

Attachment 5954

I am surprised that you noticed no difference with the larger master cylinder. I guess it just goes to show how bad the standard calipers are. With the CBR calipers on there as well the difference is really good. You will love it!

I did the master cylinder swap (RC51) and steel brake lines at first... slight difference... but when I finally did the matching RC51 calipers it made a huge difference... if your going to bother upgrading, go all the way... the additional money for a set of calipers off Flea-BAY is well worth it. The brake pads are also larger on the RC/929/954 calipers compared to the Hawk pads.

Also... there are slight differences between the 929/954 - 600 CBR's (depends on model) - and RC51 components. Mostly the bore size of the pistons. They WILL all work, and need the exact same grinding on the calipers to fit properly, but subtle diffferences. From my research.... RC51 SP1 is identical to CBR 600RR calipers.... after that... IIRC the 929/954 stuff has larger pistons in both MC and calipers.

I'd strongly suggest buying a system all from the same model bike.... this way you'll get a system that was designed to work together... the CBR stuff is a dime a dozen on Flea-Bay.

J.

Here is the pic of mine. Now I just need to do the clutch so I have them matching.

Attachment 29439

Thanks! These help a lot. Im looking into a F4I set from the 01-06 series.

you can keep the stock reservoir and use a brake master cylinder from the 900rr. i already had pazzo levers & the superhawk & 900rr use the same lever.

tim

Would i have to change the master cylinder?
I was thinking of just getting SS lines and changing calipers, leaving everything else in tact, would that work?

The advantage is that the CBR unit is a different size, and therefore does a better job in conjunction with the calipers. As suggested above, I would change the lot as a set to get the best performance. Do half a job, and you will get half the result.

Just now chiming in:
This is the first I've heard of switching out the clutch side - what's the advantage?

Small thing .... don't know about you all but I have a preference for the plastic reservoir (looks more nuts-n-bolts?), so if I want to stay with that look I should hunt for 929/945/RC51 setup?

Yes.... the 929/954/RC51 brake master cylinder looks just like the Hawk.... and to help a bit, the reservoir unit including internal components of the reservior are all identical to the hawk.... so you can buy a MC without that part and just bolt on your Hawk reservoir. Only slight difference is the metal mounting bracket and hose... but I'd think you could just bend the VTR part to work if need be.

J.

Actually with my 954 brake swap the 954 location for the res put it right in the way of my dash.. so I used the mounting bracket off my stock brake system to get it out of the way and that worked great. (though I am now tracking down a brake dragging problem, but that is unrelated to this)

OK, got my F4I front system. They look pretty dirty so I think Im going to rebuild the calipers. Any of you done this and reccomend any kits?

Thanks

Hey, I just got my F4i system too. :D

As for rebuilding them, you could try just cleaning them up a bit first. That is all I am going to do since mine seem fully functional, and I didn't get them for the bling factor, rather for performance.

(the Clutch MC I got totally for bling to match the brake MC)

I got the calipers apart and 3 seals are less than stellar so Im going to replace them all.

I found a decent deal on them so no worries there.

For those that did the upgrade and added steel braded lines did you use the ones for the f4i or the SH? Also, which brand worked best for you?


Thanks!

i swapped out my brakes last week.i used the calipers and m/c from a late model F4I with low miles.also installed stainless braided hoses at the same time.huge difference in braking,more stopping power and i can control the brakes better.the calipers that i got had almost new pads already installed so i left them in,don`t know what brand they were.well worth the little bit of money that i spent.
Derral

Rev: You'll want to use a set of lines intended for a Superhawk to make sure you end up with the right length. Get the two-line set, not the stock-type three-line setup that uses a Y-fitting. It'll be easier to bleed. There are many opinions on bleeding methods, but I found that a MityVac made the job easy.

I bought the Spiegler lines and they're OK but I don't feel they're the must-have choice. I chose them because the banjo fittings can be rotated (maybe this is true of other brands as well), but the holding jig they supply to do the job doesn't work very well. I'm sure somebody here has experience with other brands of lines.