I was in the local Harley dealer last Saturday and got to talking brakes with them and they highly recomended the Perfomance Machine brake calipers. How does one decide about these things? I like the idea of 4 piston calipers, is there a big difference betweeen the manufacturers?
It doesn't have to be brembo's BTW. PM's are a bit on the expensive side for me, so brembo was the second name that came to mind. i just thought i might need a bit more braking power (even after i installed the second front disk brake) before i change the carb and start messing with the engine.
How me and the local dealer got talking about brakes was I asked about putting dual discs up-front on a Heritage Softail. This is what I learned from the conversation. Stock calipers have two piston, PM's make a four caliper. By upgrading to a 4 piston caliper you will essentially have dual stock calipers. It would be a lot cheaper to upgrade to 4 piston calipers then add dual discs. Something to consider before you add a second front disc brake setup. Right now I am thinking I am going to go with the 4 piston caliper for two reasons. One, it's cheaper than adding a second disc brake setup. And two, there won't be a second disc to hide my wheel.
I agree with you about adding more stopping power, especially if you add more HP to the bike.
The website for the Brombo distributor in the US is www.qtmi.com They sell direct if you can't find them in a catalog. If you are looking for a cheap alternative to PM, they aren't it though. My bro put a set on his Fatboy this spring and spent $1200 for a set of 13" rotors and calipers.
Ken
my baby's a sportster hugger. i already installed a second front disk and i still think i need more stopping power. Honestly, i opted to get the second disk coz liked the look of dual front brakes. braking did improve (compared to my dad's Springer, which seems to take forever to stop using only the front brake) but i think it could be better still. And no, i'm not planning on doing a stoppie. better pads maybe?
UltraKC:
yikes! if switching calipers means switching rotors as well, i might as well forget it. i just put in dual front floating rotors along with the second front brake!