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[GreatGazoo]

I am afraid to write this thread since I am sure some of you will blast me and tell me to buy a crotch rocket (what lose my beloved jewel SE)...but here it goes.

I tend to push the limits of my 09 Dyna SE on a daily basis and the one major problem I have is slowing it down in a reasonable amount of space and time.  Doing 80-100 MPH is not uncommon in the least (20% normal driving 60% fast & 20% buried speedo) and having some of the crocket rockets wonder how the hell you stay up is great. If I have to stop, the crotch rockets are drastically better and they are not THAT much lighter for such a difference.  I have a CBR900 and even when I put on the worst pads and brake rotors, it will stop in half the distance without even trying. (only 180 pounds lighter w/o rider) Are there any brake rotor or pads that will make a difference.  I really have no desire to go with something like a ceramic brake for obviou$ reasons, but I do have this desire to live. There is some of the pulsing on the front brakes when you really are trying to shut it down fast (do they all do this?) and the back brakes are not much help for slowing quickly since the tire will lock up and slide more than grip.
Why buy a 110 Dyna just to look good?

The other minor detail is the handling.  Is it not what the other harleys are in the least.  When the factory lowered the frame the foot pegs remained in the same position.  My friends sportster and road king both have the boards and pegs at 11 inches or higher.  The police cruisers are mounted more forward on the frame and are at 12.5 inches. I could not outrun him without seriously dragging the pegs and he looked like he was on a sunday drive following me. This topic did save me a ticket since he was laughing pretty hard the entire time. (not to mention that is how I got the measurement) - Thank you cool cop and I am glad I was entertaining for ya
The 09 Dyna SE are about 9 inches with stock tires and the Michelin Commander II's lowered that by another half an inch. (Just got them today) I am scraping the pegs all of the time to the point I am really starting to trash them. Has anyone found a way around this without having to redo and relocate the brakes, shifter and such?
To give an idea, I borrowed a sportster, road king, full dressor and my 09 Dyna SE on a very sharp wrong way banked 30 MPH curve to compare.  The road king (w/ foot boards) took it at 50 (brand new tires), sportster (w/ foot boards) at 45 (not the best tires) and the dressor about 40....the 09 SE...sad to say 25 and I just could not take the pegs being trashed more for the test. I guess the height of the pegs are more significant than I thought. Ideas?

The stock duncrap tires are just abyssmal and I hope to see how the Commander II's will help with cornering.  Everytime I twist the throttle in a corner with the duncraps, I am sideways immediately.  

[TexasBowhunter]

if that is your Dyna in the pic then there may be a couple options for you on the braking system
It appears you have the older style calipers on it...You also have dual brakes on the front as well...
Change the brake pads out to Lyndalls Z or EBC pads and see how that works...Both pads are after market and are praised as being a very good upgrade to the braking system...
If that is still not to your liking then consider this
Change out you M/C and front calipers as well as the Rotors to the Brembos
The M/C is supposed to be better then its earlier brother with a bit more fluid pressure sent to apply the fluid to the calipers...Much better system
Also check to ensure you have the 11/16 rather then the 9/16 M/C if you didn't buy the bike new...
As far as the rear about all you can do is the pads
best of luck and keep us informed as to what you find out...
paul

[GreatGazoo]

I did buy the bike new and come to think of it, I had a bunch of problems with the rear brake and the taillight.  The dealer told me that there was a short and it blew the back light. I went several times and later found out there was no fluid in the back brakes.  There was the same problem with the models that they borrowed the M/C from (I cannot rememeber the bike model- I think it was this one http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=72368.0) and the TSB noted it blew the fluid out due to wrong pressure and subsquent shorting would result.They filled it up but the back brake is really useless on this bike.  (I know I should check the bike throughly each time - Lesson for me since I am the rider and certainly not to trust the dealer and their mantenance).

When I got the bike, I cannot tell you how bad the build quality was - loose exhaust, gas tank, shifter linkage - left turn signal did not work...I could go on, but the dealer supposedly fixed everything.  Do they not do an inspection prior to delivery to see these very things?  Since the back brake issue I have never returned to an HD dealer. I check everything before I ride now as I should have from the beginning but I figured there would not be so many issues from a new Harley.

Thank you for the suggestions and I will check the things you are mentioning
I will try the pads and how do you determine if it is the 11/16 or the 9/16 M/C....if these are not helpful do you have a ball park of the cost for such an 11/16 upgrade? The Brembo route?

[TexasBowhunter]

The brembo calipers are running about $150 a set
The rotors are in the neighborhood of $50-$75
The M/C and clutch perch should run about $40
the levers are you choice and some of the perches have them thrown in
I would say you could up grade the front for $300 and have some far better brakes
FWIW the front brake pads if you change them out are not interchangeable with the Brembo's

there will be a 9/16 or 11/16 on the reservior somewhere around the M/C that I can't honestly remember where I saw it at...
before you start changing things out
1) verify the size of the M/C (twin brake lines should be 11/16")
2) change out the pads
if these don't work for you
3) change out the M/C with the Brembo version (plan on changing the clutch perch as well and plan on new brake and clutch leavers)
Chances this will do the job sufficiantly for you but if not
4) change out the calipers and rotors
After this is done they should have enough stopping power to throw you over the bars when stopping
FFT
Paul

[GreatGazoo]

Paul thank you so much for the help and I plan on changing them out ASAP. You are a God send.

Side note replaced the tires and the front wheel bearing with only 6300 miles. Since yesterday I started to put on the new tires and so much grease has been coming out of the front bearing figured I would check it. Is this normal to have a bad bearing with such low miles?

[GreatGazoo]

Ok maybe I am not so switft, but I cannot find parts for the bike listed anywhere on the net.

[GreatGazoo]

Got the manual and checked out the brakes.  First all FXDFSE has 11/16 M/C's.  Second the factory brake pads, not so good. Changed the pads, much better and there was a small pocket of air in the rear and front brakes.  Sad the quality HD is turning out and shame on me for not going through the bike on my own. 

[RayG]

Personally I have no right to judge how you decide to ride your bike. Others may disagree and strongly advise you to use the crotch rocket and feel they have the right to tell you how to ride.  As long as you are not putting others at risk you should be able to make your own decisions about how you choose to ride.  While it is not the bike that most would decide to drive hard it is your bike and your decision to make.

To drive aggressively you are right on track with addressing the handling & braking which is much more important than increasing the HP & TQ.  Gotta agree with the advise TexasBowhunter gave for the most part.  Any possibility that you are not putting the effort into those front brakes due to the front end diving down harshly when you apply the brakes?  Sometimes we mentally avoid situations and get acclimated to what we have.  While my SERK is a much different animal I found that once I had the suspension upgraded with the AK-20's and 13" Bitubo's I was able to decrease my stopping distance dramatically due to the increase in stability.  Even though I'm vertically challenged I went with the 13" rather than the 12" that were on it.  I'm not into the cool slammed look,  I wanted to improve the handling and stopping ability so I have the confidence to safely enjoy it.  I know some kid on a rice rocket can probably make me look bad but I ride for myself and I get a great deal of satisfaction knowing the bike is set up to safely handle the limitations we have as one.  I'm not fooling myself into thinking I have a fast or well handling sports bike, I have a very well behaved Harley that can make a rider scratch his head from time to time.  The dragging and scraping parts is usually unnecessary and almost always dangerous if you go past the point of moving components that would do this under normal conditions.  If you can't avoid serious scrapping that needs to be corrected ASAP.  You can't tell me that Yellow Wolf on his Goldwing on the famous you-tube video was not aware of the limitations of his bike.  His experiance with that Wing made it look easy, yes he dragged & scrapped but even he had limitations he had to be aware of.  Remember that was a stock Wing! I believe the only changes were superior tires and the Traxion suspension upgrade.  I'm not sure additional HP would have made a significant improvement.  Tires and a suspension that could not handle the demands would have slowed him down dramatically.     

I'm not into drag racing but I do drive aggressively,  I usually drive alone and at a pace that I feel comfortable matching machine & rider.  I always leave room for the improbable situations that can pop up at a milliseconds notice. This kind of riding is not for everyone but if you are going down that path do it with the proper equipment, reduce as much risk as possible and never ride at 100%.   I too love the rush going in and out of corners with absolute control. I do understand the difference you mentioned with your CBR 900, I have a Yamaha FZ that just stops incredibly fast and under control.  I just had the front rotors replaced (SERK) because they were out of spec. (3rd time).  They removed the Lyndall pads and installed what they called vastly superior OEM's.  I made such a fuss they did not charge me but the half worn Lyndall's were no doubt superior to the OEM's.  Less dust & sound and they just gripped the rotors with authority.  But that is not new news about Lyndall's superiority.  I'm not sure about the price for the different rotors quoted but if that is a superior product the price makes it worth trying.  After 3 sets with 50K on the my bike I will go aftermarket rotors once my ESP is over.  Done properly and with the parts suggested you should have the confidence to use both the front and rear brakes to their full capacity and not have any shimmy or unnatural movement.  I'm guessing that you don't have ABS brakes.  If you have ABS your rear end should not be acting like a flat tracker.  If one is in disagreement with what you want to do safely & properly executed that is there right but I always remind them as to why are many of the top manufacturers pushing the use of electronics to control the machines and to behave under a number of conditions to help the machine reach its potential.  I would like to see a section on this site devoted to handling & braking etc. under different conditions.  You should not be afraid to write what you did on this post.  The more information we get and use properly the safer we are for everybody.

Drive safely and enjoy the ride, good post!