Braking Distance

[maxist]

I got these 6 piston front calipers that I'm planning to put on my bike and thought I would do a comparison test. So Sat evening I go out to the local HS parking lot to do some braking measurements with the stock set up. I did 10 runs at 35 mph in 2nd gear on dry asphalt. Shortest stopping distance I had was 45 ft. However, what I really discovered is that I need to practice my emergency braking more often as I locked the rear wheel up on a few occasions. I will be doing these drills more often for sure and encourage the same for you if you haven't done them in awhile. My next session I'm going to try a lock up the front wheel to re-familiarize myself with the feel of it, practice my response to it and find the limit and feel of maximum front braking.

Anyway I would be interested to know what your shortest measured stopping distance is at the above conditions or other if you have the data?

 

[Redbone]

You'll have new found power and control when get the 'busa brakes. Easy enough to lock if you try but you will soon find out that 2 fingers is easy.
I'll have to check that out for stopping distances and to practice up the skills.

 

[Biker Dash]

I would think that when you upgrade to the much better brakes, you would want to make sure to have much stickier tires. I have found that the Max is relatively easy to lock up in the front running Dunlop tires. What tires you running?

 

[Traumahawk]

MCN..when they tested a 97 Vmax.....60 to 0 was 122.3 ft so I guess that is the "stock" numbers.

 

[maxist]

I'm running stock Dunlops. I'm planning to get the Shinkos maybe next year as my Dunlops are only 2 years old. Seems like the consensus on the forum is that they are stickier than the Metzelers.

 

[Redbone]

I'm running Shinko Verge's (radials) both front and back so I'm hoping for some really short distances. I have an adjustable break lever up front on stock masters which modulates very well. The rear brake is an unknown for me since I just added a R1 brake caliper in an underslung position and with HH pads it may be a bit touchy but I'm hoping for the best.

 

[Fire-medic]

Our long wheelbase helps by keeping-down the weight transfer. If you lock the front wheel, you are 'cruisin' for a bruisin'. ' The rear wheel will easily-lock by hammering the brakes, but your front wheel shouldn't lock if you have an interest in self-preservation. Anything deposited on the road when you slide the front will cause your already overloaded front wheel's grip to cease effective control of your directional heading. Down you go! Something as-innocent-looking as a painted traffic control stripe can cause it, not to-mention the crap which accumulates in the center of the lane, especially at intersections, behind the stop-bar. I have seen articles on the internet saying the slippery center of the lane accumulation is a falsehood, but as a rider in south FL where we have 60+ inches of rain a year, I avoid those black stripes like the plague, especially if there is even a heavy dew on the pavement. Trying to accelerate across one of those when it's wet will break your rear wheel loose right-now!

Then-again, "they can't put it on the internet, unless it's true!" :rofl_200:

I recall in my youth when I was poor of $, buying Taiwan tires for my bike because it was all I could afford. Chen Shin and Nitto were cheap, but slippery, and they wore quickly, especially on the rear of my H1 Mach III.

 

[Redbone]

Our long wheelbase helps by keeping-down the weight transfer. If you lock the front wheel, you are 'cruisin' for a bruisin'. ' The rear wheel will easily-lock by hammering the brakes, but your front wheel shouldn't lock if you have an interest in self-preservation. Anything deposited on the road when you slide the front will cause your already overloaded front wheel's grip to cease effective control of your directional heading. Down you go! Something as-innocent-looking as a painted traffic control stripe can cause it, not to-mention the crap which accumulates in the center of the lane, especially at intersections, behind the stop-bar. I have seen articles on the internet saying the slippery center of the lane accumulation is a falsehood, but as a rider in south FL where we have 60+ inches of rain a year, I avoid those black stripes like the plague, especially if there is even a heavy dew on the pavement. Trying to accelerate across one of those when it's wet will break your rear wheel loose right-now!

Then-again, "they can't put it on the internet, unless it's true!" :rofl_200:

I recall in my youth when I was poor of $, buying Taiwan tires for my bike because it was all I could afford. Chen Shin and Nitto were cheap, but slippery, and they wore quickly, especially on the rear of my H1 Mach III.

I get the connotation, but then again how long ago was your youth?:biglaugh:

 

[RaWarrior]

I noticed on my max, the fork/bars would develop a slight shimmy immediately before the front wheel locks. It's tough to describe, just have to get the feel for it.

It is a good practice on a deserted road to try emergency braking. Pick an object in the distance to be your trigger. When you pass it, use both brakes with a smooth, firm action, get a feel for how much pressure you can use before you chirp the rear wheel or shimmy the front.

Stainless lines greatly improve the "feel" of braking. I swapped the rubber lines on my Z out of SS and it made a big difference. They're ultimately just as powerful as before, but there's less lever travel and more feedback through the lever.

 

[Fire-medic]

I get the connotation, but then again how long ago was your youth?:biglaugh:

Oscar Wilde was a great mind, and had many clever and pithy bon mots. One of my favorites is, "youth is wasted on the young." It seems appropriate here.

I was a teenager when the Kawasaki Mach III came-out. It stole the thunder from the Honda 750/4, which was a hard-thing to-do, as the Honda was head and shoulders above nearly anything-else in pretty-much all aspects for stock machines.

The Mach III was quicker, and it did it for $999! Just an unbelievable performance bargain, even if it did have a wheelie-prone frame geometry and powerband, and a front drum brake. unk:

 

[woodsman30]

Oscar Wilde was a great mind, and had many clever and pithy bon mots. One of my favorites is, "youth is wasted on the young." It seems appropriate here.

I was a teenager when the Kawasaki Mach III came-out. It stole the thunder from the Honda 750/4, which was a hard-thing to-do, as the Honda was head and shoulders above nearly anything-else in pretty-much all aspects for stock machines.

The Mach III was quicker, and it did it for $999! Just an unbelievable performance bargain, even if it did have a wheelie-prone frame geometry and powerband, and a front drum brake. unk:

Before my time but I remember the Kawasaki 750 what a monster it was rode more on one wheel than two:eusa_dance:

 

[Fire-medic]

Another bike needing braking help.

http://www.classicmechanics.com/articles/2012-10/kawasaki-750-h2-triples#.UbcPg5zqe70

It was this bike that kick-started the H2’s reputation. H2 aficionado Rick Brett explains a little of where that reputation came from: “People were scared of it and it’s not difficult to see why. They were jumping off something like a Norton or Triumph and onto something completely outrageous. I knew of a bloke who traded his Honda CB750 against an H2 but came back less than an hour later asking for his old bike back. Nothing in those days had as fierce a power delivery. Wheelies in the first two gears just weren’t optional!”

 

[VMax-Mike]

I feel my stock brakes keep me out of trouble. Unless your going to change the rest of the parts that come into play you might find yourself in trouble. Why spend all that money and go through all the crap when you can buy a gen 2. Yamaha fixed all that stuff and made it faster. Soon the gen 2 will be the right price.

 

[Redbone]

I feel my stock brakes keep me out of trouble. Unless your going to change the rest of the parts that come into play you might find yourself in trouble. Why spend all that money and go through all the crap when you can buy a gen 2. Yamaha fixed all that stuff and made it faster. Soon the gen 2 will be the right price.

Yes, 93 and up have better brakes but us that have 85-92 brakes need to be upgraded because they are horribly dangerous!


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk w/ vboost!

 

[sarchin]

One of the first things I did on my '85 was upgraded the brakes to 6 piston calipers and then the HH pads. Last week, I was cruising at a pretty good clip, and there was a red Mustang and with the sun shining on the back end, I couldn't tell he was stopped. I thought he was going fairly slow, and was in the process of slowing down, then I realized he was actually stopped! There's no doubt those 6 pots got me out of a potential crash, and there have been a few times when something unexpected (like cagers pulling out in front of you) has happened and I needed to stop fast, My dad always said a car is only as fast as it can stop, and the stock '85 to '92 calipers just don't cut it.

I don't like that feeling I get when I start thinking that I'm not going to be able to stop in time, car or bike.

 

[maxist]

@Brian, Let me know what numbers you get. I read on an R1 forum that someone had a stopping distance of 20 ft from 25-0 MPH. I was trying to figure out what improvement would make me feel as though I got my bang for the buck, but most reviews only post the 60 - 0 MPH performance. Motorcycle Consumer News had a Kawa Ninja 1000 achieve 116.5 ft 60-0. Hard to compare since the braking isn't linear. Anyway I think if I can get at least a 10% improvement I'll be happy.

@Mike,
A gen2 vmax would be nice, maybe when they get down to the $7-8K range I might consider it. The calipers didn't set me back too much since I got them used and Sean said they work the best with the stock masters, so I'll see how it goes. Most likely just a kick in the rear by the mod monkey.


@ Fire-Medic
Thanks for the warning. The parking lot I'm practicing in is clean and dry and I'll release as soon as I detect a front skid. I know what you mean about the black stripes. In our subdivision they have those "asphalt snakes" where they fill in the cracks and I always slide on those with the slightest lean angle.

 

[Fire-medic]

Troy is the Detroit Int'l Airport, isn't it? That was my first intro to MI when I moved there in '68. My dad was a plant manager in SW MI & that's where we ended-up after moving from the Mid-Atlantic states. I recall on the trip west on I-94, we came-out of the airport, and the first bike I saw was a Triumph twin w/a helmetless rider on it.

Well, he did have a helmet-strapped to his thigh! Seems the MI legislature had recently passed a helmet bill and hadn't specified the helmet was to be worn on the rider's head! Hence, the thigh-protection.

Back-then MI had more boats and bikes registered than any state save CA.

Yes, you need to watch-out for the road snakes of tar, and deposits of whatever crud falls-off the vehicles. Once in-front of Port Everglades Seaport in Ft. Lauderdale FL I was behind a tar truck and watched as a constant goo of molten tar oozed onto the pavement in-front of me from the spigot. This was before cellphones. I took the company's info off the side of the truck and called the FL Highway Patrol to report it, and then I called the roofing co and told them I did. Screw 'em!

 

[invalidsession]

Troy is the Detroit Int'l Airport, isn't it? That was my first intro to MI when I moved there in '68. My dad was a plant manager in SW MI & that's where we ended-up after moving from the Mid-Atlantic states. I recall on the trip west on I-94, we came-out of the airport, and the first bike I saw was a Triumph twin w/a helmetless rider on it.

Well, he did have a helmet-strapped to his thigh! Seems the MI legislature had recently passed a helmet bill and hadn't specified the helmet was to be worn on the rider's head! Hence, the thigh-protection.

Back-then MI had more boats and bikes registered than any state save CA.

Yes, you need to watch-out for the road snakes of tar, and deposits of whatever crud falls-off the vehicles. Once in-front of Port Everglades Seaport in Ft. Lauderdale FL I was behind a tar truck and watched as a constant goo of molten tar oozed onto the pavement in-front of me from the spigot. This was before cellphones. I took the company's info off the side of the truck and called the FL Highway Patrol to report it, and then I called the roofing co and told them I did. Screw 'em!

PMSL, here in MO we have some wonderful looking country lanes, fast sweepers and clear lines of sight through the bends. The only thing you need to remember here is the the roads are mostly just freshly painted with a thin coat of asphalt derived Teflon. Naturally this coating serves to highlight the yellow lines marking the curves etc and does indeed add to the illusion that MODOT is actually taking good care of our roads. Are they bollocks. You could fry eggs on this muck and never break a yolk and it's even worse when the surface is damp, just a whiff of gas out of a turn in low gear and you can end up arse first through a hedge. My other beef here is the posted speed recommendations on blind bends. It's like a red flag to a bull fer crying out loud. "55MPH" signs seem to be usually positioned on a 90 degree off camber corkscrew with a blind gravel drive smack at he apex. Ayrton Senna in his prime would have been proud to negotiate these bastards in a full blooded F1 race car at 30MPH and still have a shit stain in his underwear to prove it. Bloody lethal I'm telling you.

Chris