I uploaded the images again
Okay maybe i exaggerated a little bit. The braking power is enough that i can stop with using just the front brakes. However, i suppose im looking for a stopping power that is comparable with the newer bikes. The bike will eventually stop. I suppose roughly 4-6 seconds from 60-70 km/h.
Im sure there isnt any air bubbles on the bike. I do own a brake bleeder pump. The pistons do work and does retract accordingly when i tested it out.
Do you think it could just be the pads or the lines that needs replacing? As this is the first bike ive owned, i do not exactly sure whats good and whats not when it comes to pads. I was thinking soft compound pads. The pads will definitely shave off faster but will provide more stopping power. As for the lines,maybe braided lines?
Thanks for reposting the pics. I have a clear view of your set up.
If you're looking for stopping power comparable to that of modern day bikes - you're not going to get it with ONE individual, single pot caliper setup. It's outdated.
Very first thing I'd do is find a CB forum where there are 100's (if not 1000's) of people that have your same bike and have already done the same mods that you want to do. They've probably already found the best/cheapest way to do it and someone has done all the leg work.
I'm assuming that you are ok with modding your bike to achieve some real brakes? Hopefully you have some decent skills (and tools) to go along with the motivation. It can be a bit of a slippery slope modifying bikes. I know, fell down it face first. Once you change one thing, you have to change 2-5 others to make it all work. That's why it's beat to go to a specific forum. I'll try to give you some general advice here.
The ultimate goal would be to have: 2, dual pot piston calipers to produce the stopping power you desire. You may not be able to do this as it may turn out to be more work/time/money than you are willing to spend.
I'll throw some options out there. You will have to evaluate them and see what is going to work best for you.
You need at least 2 calipers. First part is determining how to do this. You can swap the lower tube on the fork that doesn't have mounting points with a lower tube that does have them. This will give a place to mount another caliper. To go along with this, you have to make sure that your current front rim will allow you to mount another rotor on the side that does not have one. No sense having another caliper without a rotor. Lol
If this is possible, great. If not, here's where it gets ugly fast. If not, you need to find another 'suitable' rim. Suitable meaning: same diameter, spoked (if you want to keep the look), axle bolt diameter is same as original, rotors are similar diameter to original. Lots of things to consider here. It's usually best to stick to same manufacturer i.e. Honda parts for your bike. Lots of times you can get 750 stuff to work on your 550. If they are same era parts, things like axle dia's tend to be the same.
Say you find a suitable rim with 2 rotors, now you need calipers. I'm not sure what suggest here. I'm a Yamaha guy. Maybe something from a CBR 600? Again, the CBR forum guys would be helpful. Whatever you decide, I'm pretty sure that you will need to have adapter plates fab'd up. You need these plates to compensate for the different mounting points between your forks and new calipers. I'm glossing over this a fair bit as there are tons of little details to work out.
Once you have the caliper details worked out. You need a MC (and reservoir). I'd go with the one that matches your calipers. That way you know that they were designed to work together.
Upgrading the brakes is a great mod to do. I did the same thing, except I wanted to change rim size at the same time. For me, I decided to go with updated suspension too. It was just easier to put on an R1 (kept it all Yamaha) front end.
I hope this helps. I really do recommend getting on the CB forum. I'm sure there are 30+ guys who have already done what you want to do. Don't re-create the wheel.
Jeff
'87 RZ 350
