Larry Langford
Registered user
well, either you see the significance of that or not but we should focus on this guy on fixing the brakes because he's not stopping. New rotors and pads will probably work perfectly, or simply very likely ....
Any suggestions for upgrading my brakes please?
- Thread starter ProdigalGS
- Start date
Sounds like a plan. Maybe start with the rear.
BTW vac bleeding kits, perfectly adequate for the keen amateur's occasional use, are peanuts on AliExpress.
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I do and I already told him what to do and suggested a tutorial to watch before spending loads of money.
I had decided to do a full service on the calipers, which are probably hiding a lot of gunk and corrosion after 9 years.....and then I found 2 brand new Brembo M4.32 calipers on ebay for an R1200GS for £244 the pair. New pistons, seals, pins and clips would cost well over £100, not to mention the time. Add some new EBC pads for £60-ish and I have brand new brakes for about £300. I'll see how this works with the existing discs, which have plenty of life left.
Thanks for all the constructive comments. Hopefully this will take my brakes back to how I remember them from when the bike was new (or even better, with EBC pads) without spending a lot of money.
Thanks for all the constructive comments. Hopefully this will take my brakes back to how I remember them from when the bike was new (or even better, with EBC pads) without spending a lot of money.
Thanks for the vac bleeding suggestion. I was thinking of fitting Stahlbus speed bleeder valves but they seem very expensive at £40 each.
Goodridge alternative, https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/goodridge-speed-bleeder-243452/
Without wishing to offend you this seems to be an excessive change. You originally said your brakes were nowhere near as good as they started off at and you’d done 20k miles on the original pads. Surely the first thing would be to change the pads and fluids and see where they were then?
I also have a 2017 R1200GS and my brakes are strong (EBC EPFA pads)
I'm not offended at all. Is it excessive? Maybe, but I was already thinking I was going to fully refurbish the calipers. New seals and pistons are about £150, add new pins and spring clips and you're over £200. Versus £245 for brand new calipers.
Bit of back story. I rented a R1300GS for 5 days in Romania earlier this year. I had a great time but was unimpressed with the 1300. I have decided to keep my 1200 for the foreseeable future. Rather than spending £15k+ on trading up to a 1300, I am going to spend some money getting my 1200 back into excellent condition and do some selected upgrades at the same time. £300 for all new front calipers and pads seemed like a good deal to me.
Bit of back story. I rented a R1300GS for 5 days in Romania earlier this year. I had a great time but was unimpressed with the 1300. I have decided to keep my 1200 for the foreseeable future. Rather than spending £15k+ on trading up to a 1300, I am going to spend some money getting my 1200 back into excellent condition and do some selected upgrades at the same time. £300 for all new front calipers and pads seemed like a good deal to me.
For anyone interested, the new Brembo calipers don't have the mounting holes drilled out for the dowels that BMW use, so I'll have to remove the dowels from the fork lowers. And I have discovered that Stahlbus sell M10x1 banjo bolts with integrated speed bleeders. You can get them from Motorworks for £31 each, see link. I am also planning on ditching the strange enlarged banjo on the right caliper, which seems only to be there for factory assembly purposes.
If what you are describing is the two dowels that locate the caliper to the radial face of the fork; is that wise?
The bolts are tightened to hold the caliper in place in one direction ie, down the length of the bolt. By removing the dowels which are there to act against the radial force of braking which is at 90 degrees to the bolts you are subjecting them to a (for want of a better description), sideways force for which they aren’t designed.
Alan R
Shear.
