Four piston Brembos.

[Maitland]

Right, Christmas out of the way, Marzocchis re-chromed and back together, time for some Brembo four pot brakes.

Er, as usual I find myself with more questions than answers; Watching 'fleabay' the past few weeks there have been two types of gold four piston Brembo calipers.
Ones with two ribs along the outside length, ones that look similar (same?) but no ribs / smooth sided. Some from Ducati some from Aprilia. Then there's the black ones fitted to Jap bikes like the R1 and R6.

Is one type preferable to the other? (Ribbed against Smooth) Most Laverdas seem to be fitted with the ribbed type.

Are the Brembos fitted to the Ducati and Aprilia the same?

Few come with the master cylinder, what do I need, the original or is there an alternative?
I see 19x18, 19x20, 16x18 ratio, I presume this is piston diameter x travel? Does any one know which best suits these calipers?

Thanks,

Maitland.

 

[Grant]

Depends if you want the extra sensation...

 

[Maitland]

Nope, just want to stop the bloody thing at the end of the back straight at Snetterton

 

[andre]

I have M1R forks, 280 dia Brembo rotors and calipers, all off an early 851 Ducati, on my Motodd. Great brakes, way better than those on my SFC1000

 

[poffer]

Maitland,

Dunno about ribbed or otherwise (Grant got in quick with the joke there  ), but you basically just need 40mm spaced mount versions.

I have a set here that I was going to list on fleabay tomorrow - calipers, master cylinder, lever, braided hoses, reservoir and Guzzitech mounts. All perfect + mounts new.  Bolt on and go (or maybe stop  ) You may even be able to use the hoses, but I can't be 100% sure on sizes, as my 3c is still in bits.

If you are interested, just drop me a PM. I will hold off listing, as another week won't matter .

Pete

 

[jackonalav]

Hi Maitland,

The early Ducatis 916, Monsters etc. used 4 pisiton calipers with 40mm bolt mount spacing. By the ribbed type I think you mean the later ones with 65mm bolt mount spacing. These two types are two pads per caliper. Then the are later ones still (before radial type) which had a smoother surface, 65 mm bolt mount spacing but were 4 pads per caliper.

Hope that helps.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Laverdalothar]

If you do not want to make up a very large adapter, take some with the 40mm mounting holes. Adapters are available from a brembo-daughter company (MotorQuality) or others. Depending if you want to use them with 280 or 300/305mm brake disks, you need to mount them right side up or upside down (and no - that does NOT make your fork an USD fork...   ). BTW: the Zane Laverdas Calipers do fit also and are sometimes cheaper, as less people search for them (well - until today I guess...  ).

Master: depends on what you want. 16mm is the size mostly used  I think and it does fit very well. Good feel with enough power. You can brake the front even to stop 100%, so be careful. 19mm is a bit on the large side I would say and makes it quite "woody" as we would say (not to much feel, high force needed to make them brake - just like today on the Laverdas with 16mm on the 2-pot calipers).

Have 16mm Master on all of my bikes, works great.

HTH

 

[redfox]

All correct what the others have said, but the newer calipers are a little bit more optiised. That is individual brake pads and a little larger pistons. They are also a fair bit heavier.
I don't see the need to get the newest version, as the 40mm spaced ones used on old style 916 etc, are more than enough. Get some correct and soft pads for track days (may need warming up) and the normal 916 master (16mm) or better a radial one which is adjustable, braided hosed, get rid of the hydraulic light switch (use the micro- one on the newer master), and maybe the 300mm discs (or even 320), and you should be ready for serious braking. Weight is important, so lighten the bike maybe.
I use the first type and have a superb brake. (sfc1000) as described by Lothar).
Btw. I use DOT 4.

Cheers,
Jacques.

 

[Maitland]

Thanks to all.

Being harassed by the family to go out so will read and digest later this afternoon.

Maitland.

 

[redax5]

well when you start to digest the info consider the attachment
these are the caliper adaptors that I make, Keith can supply them to you
ones in the photo are Marzocchi forks to 40mm Brembo caliper for a 310mm GSXR rotor
also have them to suit 280mm and 320mm rotors and a couple for the Cerrani forks
look better then the Guzzitech units but are more expensive

Saw your frame being done at Keith's, he is doing some very nice work on it
should come up great

Red

 

[wdietz186]

You can also look at older calipers than the 916 bits. The four pot units were used from 90 on by Ducati on the 900SS and 851 models.
These were black in color and had no rib on the side,also there were some race versions of the period that looked the same but were anodized gold. These all had 32mm pistons and work well.Later ribbed bodies used two different piston sizes 32/34 to even pad wear but the difference in stopping is negligible.I think the later ones are more common due to the popularity of the 916 on bikes and the squids who trashed them. I like the older calipers on older machines as they aren't quite so busy looking.
For a master cyl. you could consider a Nissin 5/8" unit off one of the Jap bikes around,they work really well and are cheap.I've used one on my 91SS racer for years and can loft my rear wheel and 230lb. ass pretty easily using EBC HH pads.

 

[Maitland]

Back again, eldest turned up out of the blue and I got dragged out as soon as I had the computer warmed up; he's supposed to be at university?

Thanks again for the help, all much clearer now. As the bike is to be used on the track I am looking to fit new 310 mm (over kill?) EBC discs, did find a good pair of 1100 rotors but didn't fit my 'H' model wheels, centre hole too large. Bit of a mine field but have been expecting some blind alleys, been there before.

Thanks Red; knew you made adaptors, but not that Keith has them, I shall call when I have the parts sorted. Not my frame in his workshop though, it's still in my garage. Lets see if I have this photo resizing figured.

Mark; pictures and description are a great help.

And Lothar, I know all about wooden brakes, have Lockheeds on my Rickman, powerful but not much feel.
 

Maitland.