SF1 Rearsets

We've had these discussion once before. Jap bikes of the 70s had stainless discs and they were dangerous in the wet. SF2s and the like with twin Brembos were (are) streets ahead and I personally never had an issue wet or dry once I fitted discs to my SF1. Cast iron is far superior to stainless in that regard. These days I think pad compounds are much better and stainless rotors also have a higher iron content - you will see some degree of rust if left in the rain.
 
Said it before, and yet on occasions like coming out of Queenstown Tassie in pissing down rain the drilled 280mm cast iron ,4 spot calipers with remote radial master, usualy brilliant front brake was BLOODY scarily weak,usualy 2 fingers but then using 4 fingers HARD and nothing much happening, to the point I was so slow up that big mountain I was actively avoiding the need to brake as I doubted it would pull up. It happens in really heavy downpours, maybe 3 times in the 30 plus years I have owned the bike. Tried it all including dragging the brake to keep it warm, nothing helps. Mystifies me.
 
I bought a brand new Honda 750-4 K1 in 1971. The newfangled stainless front disk brake was a feature they made a big deal about in the advertising blurb, but it was no better than drum brakes of the day, especially when wet.

PS: Just read your post Vince. It mystifies me too. I've got the original 280mm cast iron disk rotors (un-drilled) on my Jota with F08 calipers and I haven't noticed any reduction in braking performance when wet. I don't apply the brake anywhere near as hard on a wet road, but it always works when I do use it. I'm wondering if yours not biting might be something to do with the type of pads, or maybe your disks are glazed.
 
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Yeh, the Honda discs were certainly poor in the wet.
On later models (maybe from about K4?) they did improve them by installing a shaped cover over the top rear section of the disc behind the fork leg.
It enabled the water to drain off the disc and did improve things, although still not great....................
 
I have been meaning to apply a green scotchbrite to them but I asked and apparently that wont do anything to deglaze them. Maybe some 120 wet and dry? The pads are supposed to be applicable to cast iron and work in all conditions according to Gowys. I had similar results years ago before the 4 spots were fitted and changed to another set of pads. The bad ones were from asking for The Best and I got Racing Quality Brembo, that didn't work in the rain at all. The one in now work ok in most rain except when its pissing down.
 
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Yeah Vince, I reckon you'll need something with more bite than a scotchbrite pad. I once used one of those sandpaper flapper wheels on an old Jap bike disk. It made the brake work much better, but it was probably a bit too abrasive. If I was to do it again, I'd choose some method in between those extremes.
 
I've always found the solid discs on my SF2 pretty scary in the wet due to delay before the pads bite. Hairy in town. I do preventive braking to break the film of water on the discs.
I've come across a set of drilled discs in my pile of bits so will be fitting those in the coming days ready for a long tour this summer.

Paul
 
Can you provide an image of the Tarrozi rear sets, the SF I bought had some home made (I assume home made in the kitchen) rear sets and they are horrible and not going anywhere near a bike that I rebuilt, I have looking for an alternative
 
Fitz said:
Can you provide an image of the Tarrozi rear sets, the SF I bought had some home made (I assume home made in the kitchen) rear sets and they are horrible and not going anywhere near a bike that I rebuilt, I have looking for an alternative
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Tarrozzi only make the rests and linkages. You'll need to find the plates.
I believe that Gert has plates made.
These are my rearsets for a triple with Tarozzi gear.

Paulrear 1.jpgrear 2.jpg
 
I made my own alloy plates - not as bling as the two-piece stuff, but worthy of a nice Laverda just the same. You have to be willing to weld threaded lugs into the triangle though.
 

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Fitz - My SF rearsets look similar to Paul's except that the brake (lhs) has a linkage to an adaptor that fits where the exisiting brake lever goes - so it uses the existing cable and brake light switch. Will try to get a pic later. The only issue is that the adaptor seems to have the arm at a different angle, hence the issue with cable length.
One thing to note is that folding Tarozzi rearsets are much harder to fit than the fixed ones. On the fixed rearsets the bolt that runs through the middle is just a long socket bolt and if it is too short you can just change it, on the folding rearsets it is actually part of the unit and cannot be changed. I had to get some long sleeve bolts and modify them to fit.
 
But the folding ones are so handy, makes walking the bike around easy. Plus extra lean angles are possible with lifting your foot up. Plus small falls don't break the peg with loss of then gear changing the result, you might still ride it home. I really like mine
 
Vince said:
Plus extra lean angles are possible with lifting your foot up.
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You're a harder rider than me Vince. I can't remember the last time I scraped a footrest.

Folding footrests are definitely an advantage if you have a tendency to scrape them in corners. I once had a solid footrest dig into the tarmac and chuck me off the bike.
 
Yes, I can scrap the pegs, BUT I have lowered my pegs 30mm so it's not so hard. For my usual conservative style and on roads I don't know even with lowered pegs it's a rare event. On really local smooth known bends it's pretty easy to do so I just lift that foot. I set mine so the pivot is approx 45degrees so they don't dig in. I also drilled out some std Laverda rubber peg covers and wacked them over the knurled alloy pegs to mitigate any vibs.
 
Dellortoman said:
You're a harder rider than me Vince. I can't remember the last time I scraped a footrest.

Folding footrests are definitely an advantage if you have a tendency to scrape them in corners. I once had a solid footrest dig into the tarmac and chuck me off the bike.
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I once scraped the clip ons on my Pantah. Though that didn't end well 🤑
 
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