That was one of the selling points of the single rotor when I did mine back in early 05.
PM advertised that going to a single 13" rotor and their 6 piston caliper you would only loose 15% of frontal stopping power.
This would still be more stopping power than a Heritage, which many hard core riders loaded down and took the journey to Sturgis or some other rally.
Iron Butt...I more than likely fall into the upper ind of your 9% of the riders that have more than many times experienced brake fading, with both a single and twin front rotor/caliper. I am going back to the twin set up for the simple reason that it works much better. Doesn't look better, but works better.
There is no more better experience on a scoot than to get your butt in the saddle and ride. About every time my azz is in the saddle I experience something new...learn from the experience and hope to be a better rider next time I am in the saddle.
I'm going to apologize up front for the line I've taken in this post. It may lean towards sarcastic, but I do think I have some valid points...
The picture that Ironbutt reference is a twin front disc bike and it's still smucked up. So what's the point?
I think one of the big answers here on that would be very much like the realstate saying, location, location location, but in our case it's defense, defense, defense. You have to stay alert and watch the surroundings you're riding in.
Off subject just a bit, when I lived in Michigan, all my life until '02, I could drive down the freeways in my central Michigan area without paying much attention to anything on the road. You could take your eyes off the road and gaze at homes or nature itself. When I moved here to the greater St. Louis area and drive freeways every day, if you take you eyes off the road for even a couple seconds, your up someone's arse windshield deep. The traffic stops at least 4 or 5 times in my 25 mile journey each way. It's the way it is in a big city. I guess my roots are still in the country.
My question is this to everyone here, if you can lock up and FEEL that point with either the front or rear wheel at any time regardless of type of brake setup, is that not sufficient to do the job?
I know, brake fade is greatly reduced with more cooling area and twin disc's have twice the cooling surface, so that alone will help brake fade; oh pads do it as well.
But under normal or even panic stops, brake fade is usually not a problem. Just about any brake system will stop once any given time without fade. Brake fade is usually associated with repetitive high speed stopping and more and more loss of brakes every application due to fade.
So is it "feel" of the brakes, less effort etc? I know after riding my old single banana disc equipped '76 FLH and then getting on the new SERK, I about put myself over the handlebars. I've had to hit the FLH hard and have chirped the tires on it several times. But this is no different than switching cars or trucks to different manufacturers braking system, some work with a light touch, other require more effort.
I think my BIG question is if you can lock em up, what more do you really need to be safe?
Keep in mind I didn't say, what more do you want? Yes power brakes stop easier than manual brakes, but they will both stop the same
with the appropriate amount of force.Sorry for being a jerk with this question, I know twin brakes are best and I love them, but really, what do you need to be safe? I also know that traction is master, if you're running skinny 21" front rubber, it will NOT stop the same as the 16" wide tires most baggers run.
Also, I read somewhere this past summer that most fatal bike accidents are single vehicle, meaning no other vehicle other than the bike. They also stated that more than half of the fatal accidents involved excessive amounts of booze.
I'm not bringing up ABS here other than I read several reviews of the '08s when ABS was announced. They interviewed a test rider that tested the ABS bike at Harley and he said that if he had the ABS turned off he could stop the bike quicker than with the ABS turned on... But he went on to say that it was under
test conditions and he was alert and knew what he wanted to do and could concentrate 120% on what he was doing. Then he said that if under shear panic conditions, that average guy would do way better WITH ABS than without. The comment was that in a panic straight up stop, the ABS is a no brainer, literally a no brainer; hit both pedals and hang on.
I think the key is to recognize a dangerous situation and try to reduce your exposure. Defense, defense, defense, expect the unexpected, all the time...
I guess short of rubber on the ground, I feel safe with a bike if I can operate the brakes to a lockup point without pulling a muscle to do it. I'm a strong guy and my FLH boards on pulling a muscle or two, but at least right now, I still feel safe riding it two up knowing I can stop it or at least lay rubber front and rear. Yes, I know that the hairy edge of stopping is just starting to leave a bit of rubber but not a full lock up.
I'll get of my
now and let you all reply...
PS:Boy after reading what I wrote, I left myself wide open. I was just thinking about the tests they did with the Wing at Lyndall with their brake pads and the factory pads. Stopping distance decreased a lot with only changing out the pads. So if you could lock up the tires with the factory pads, then why would you stop quicker with the Lyndall pads?
Okay guys, I've got very broad shoulders and can take, let me know how your really feel...
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Topic: Single front rotor on baggers... (Read 7650 times)