What has the Most Impact on Braking Performance?

[Goofy Footer 539]

What has the Most Impact on Braking Performance?

Rotor Size

Rotor Quality

Brake Pad Quality/Compound

Brake Line - stainless steel?

Master Cylinder

Levers

Who has upgraded any of these individual components on their bike and what was the repercussion or improvement?

[kato 53]

stainless steel line (i felt the difference after upgrading), rotor size.

and if your caliper has one piston then one with dual piston would improve things a lot I would think

[Afry 1]

Nut size...the ones in your chonies

Brake lines are a great place to start, the stock ones can flex and not allow all the pressure to be applied to the pistons. Also a clean high quality brake fluid will not be as effected by heat as much as that cheap 10 year old OEM stuff in there now. Same with pad material.

Remember that they have to work as a system. If you go to a dual piston caliper you may need to use a different size master cylinder piston or it could take too much hand pressure to move the caliper pistons.

[Spaugh 1]

Nut size...the ones in your chonies

lol

[robertaccio 412]

for 99% percent of riders the oem system is more than sufficient this goes for all brands. So for us 99%ers --

-This answer is for euro bike owners,this is my personal set up after finding issues under racing conditions with ugly courses that had me losing my rear brakes (Brembo standards) from dragging and extreme down hills.

for the rear- oem Braking disc,oem Brembo caliper, EBC carbon X red pads low heat transfer good bite when hot endorsed by multi time US enduro champ Randy Hawkins and MS himself- note they do not last as long as sintered of course, Motul 660 racing fluid, Slavens caliper heat sink, ZipTy reservior extender for more fluid volume heat disipation.

On my new 310 I dropped the use of the Slavens caliper heat sink.

So for the normal use guy I would say pads are the number one (EU bikes)

PS up front with the Brembo set up with Brembo sintered, FrenTubo brand hose and Braking wave disc, there aint much to add, these are high quality aftermarket supplier parts (KTM-Husky) Beta and TM use some different combos but are also top tier and not much room for improvement at the amateur level.

PS if you have Braking discs, it's best option to use Braking pads, I know personally how they are tested and matched and with all the R&D is smart to take advantage of that and use their matching products. for your sintered use, the EBC reds have a real spongy feel if used up front only use them in the rear, unless you want a spongey feeling up front.

PPS EBC reds in the rear are applicable to all brands, try them if you are losing your rear brake from hard use. 660 is also the stuff-the good stuff for an upgrade/bullet proofing of the brake system.

[robertaccio 412]

additional wise crack answer--

the most impact on braking you ask?

its how you control your lever and your pedal, most moto riding folks are no where near the real limits or good use of the brake system.

[tntmo 901]

Stainless steel lines (acutally braided teflon) do not give you more braking performance. They only improve the feel of the brakes.

[recycled 0]

IMO: Brake pads offer the best improvement(tune-ability, is that a word?) Stainless jacketed brakelines don't improve braking performance as an OEM hose in good condition will easily transfer the pressure from the master cylinder to the caliper well enough to lock the rotor, but the stainless jacketed line surely improves feel and feedback and of course looks cool.

As robertaccio states, the OEM brake systems perform better than 99% of the riders. Personnaly, I'm lucky if I can utilize 40-50 percent of a bikes capability :laughingsmiley:/>/>

[Zenosan 2]

Physics 101 answer.

HEAT!

[robertaccio 412]

LIKE button

[bikeslut 1]

Stainless steel lines (acutally braided teflon) do not give you more braking performance. They only improve the feel of the brakes.

I think of it as a more direct feel... less flexing than you might get with rubber hoses

on the KLR, it has braided lines, a 320 rotor, but stock calipers and master... brakes are strong enough but still feel "wooden" a bit

DRZ has rubber hoses, and completely stock... mushy front brakes, but strong enough

WR250 I had was stock but great feel, easy modulation and strong enough for stoppies on dirt.

[bikeslut 1]

and another vote for "BOTH" brakes... I see it all the time; people choosing front OR rear; I always use both unless I am purposefully sliding the back

[hobiee 28]

I vote for properly set up suspension and body position

[Uncle Champ 116]

I vote for no brakes, you can slide sideways on a slick dirt road and break a bone, I know , wahhh wahhhhh

[HVYWT 3]

Option not offered is timing.

O.E. have proven to be more than any tire can handle for me anyway.

Side note last 5 bikes I have had,O.E. Brembo's