Stainless or cast iron front disc

bakerlonglegs

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I'm about to overhaul my front brake on my g/s. Currently running a cast iron front disc which is ok but certainly not tyre shredding. It also looks a bit shabby & is permanently rusty around the edges and hub fixings.

How good are stainless discs? I don't want to spend wonga on a dual
disc set up or a different caliper at the moment. The bike already has a braided brake hose.

Anyone got any thoughts on which is best?

Thanks :thumb2
 
I've got cast on both of my 100's Pain in the arse on both of them I won't bother again.
 
Double H Brake pads make a big difference but if there's any chance that you may leave the bike out in the rain they can be a problem with the cast disks. My 100GS was stuck on it's centre stand the other morning because the pads had rusted to the disk overnight :(
 
HH pads on my HE disc squeal like buggery. switched to kevlar/organic and it's fine.
 
Mine squeal a bit too, usefull as a "get out of the way, I may not be able to stop in time" indicator :D

funny, never used to get any noise on my old para HE setup, even with HH pads.

the kevlars had noticeably less stopping power than the HHs at first, but seem to have bedded in well (or i just got used to it).
 
At least with the HE set up and HH pads I'm less in need of the get out of the way noise :)

BTW if you need to change the bikes pipes if you go for the HE set up, I used this:

http://www.venhill.co.uk/Brake_lines_and_clutch_line_fittings/POWERHOSE_PLUS

with a 900mm length, which got rid of the small rigid pipe. IIRC the pipe plus new banjos, hollow bolts and washers was about £35 :)
 
I have CI disks on the front of my 75/5 and I'd swapp them for SS in an instant.

A long time ago CI might have been better , but today disks steels have changed and pads are made to suit them.

Big problem, even in the driest state in the driest continent, is rust - get a good coat and it takes two or three decent rides to get the brakes back up to par again.And the disk always looks crap.

The single disk on my GS is the cheapo Kyoto from Wemoto and combined with the basement priced Vesrah pads pulls the GS up faster than the twin CIs and EBC pads 75/7.

Note that I have found that EBC pads don't work too well with BMW SS disks- the Vesrah have worked better for me.
 
Do the Wemoto discs rust at all? Wemoto themselves aren't sure of the material but say the rotors are made by EBC and they're not cast iron.
 
cast

have a cast disc on mine and i love it , bike has lived outside for last 3 months and no probs .


ok ive got an orange front wheel but that matches the rest of the bike .
 
The disk I bought 56 quid from Wemoto was Kyoto brand.They have the EBC for 80 quid more if you like spending money.

Kyoto are OEM suppliers to the majors in Japan, and it is possible they may also make disks for EBC, but I don't know anything about that.

The disk is strongly magnetic stainless material, what my welder dad called rustless iron to distinguish it from the non magnetic grades of stainless steel.

The early SS disks that were around when airheads first got disk brakes didnt work as well as the cast iron they superseded, but the steels currently in use are, in my experience , superior to cast iron in every respect. Current pads are designed to work with them too.

However , I have a six pot caliper so I have a better choice of pads, and again the cheapest HH I found, the Vesrahs, work better for me than the most expensive, the EBC s.

Go figure.
 


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