g,day all, i have an 08 xl883 std and was wondering how everyone else felt about the brakes as fitted standard? I find them to be a bit whishy washy (technical term i know) they seem to lack feel and to me power. Maybe i have been spoilt, used to brembos which are the best brakes i have ever used. The brakes as fitted stop you but there is not much feed back especially from the rear brake, its nearly impossible to tell when it is nearing lock up, and the front brake realy requires the use of all the fingers to realy pull you up, used to using 2 fingers with the brembos. My nicname is PUB, which stands for Poor Urban Biker so i am on a budget here lol! I was wondering if any of you have made changes to your brake set up and what you have done? I have a mate with a Duece which has 4 piston front 2 piston rear brake calipers as opposed to the sporties 2 cyl front and 1 cyl back. They look like they would fit the sporty as they have the same bolt holes and would double the braking power? i think. He is happy with them and his bike is heavier than the sporty and he usually rides 2 up as well. Another alternative is to fit a second disk to the front which i can get in america for about $350 US but it doesnt solve the rear brake lack of feel. Has anyone tried different brake pads and has it made any difference to the feel? Apart from the brakes i am realy realy happy with my sporty had it 3 months today and have 5000ks up now and she is going realy well, been giving the boys on their big twins a bit of a shock that this little bike can run rings around em Well it is what a sporty was built for after all and here on the sunshine coast we have roads just built for the sporty. I reckon god must have been a Queenslander and rode a sporty because this sure is gods country!
Any way would like to hear what everyone thinks and what any of you have done to improve the bakes, especially the feed back, thanks, stay upright and safe girls and boys,
Hi, I went down the track of floating rotors and braided lines trying to improve my braking; and it is improved but could do with a bit more, so am now trying to decide between going to the Dyna caliper or the VRod 4 piston brembo caliper... both will fit. The VRod might be overkill though. Below is the info I've collected on the bits needed for either setup.... now I just need to decide which way to go... watching Ebay for parts as that might be the deciding factor.
Left front brake caliper from a Dyna (or I think any of the big twins). Hardware from Harley including the top bolt that mounts the Dyna brake caliper to the front fork (it's longer than the sporty one) and the banjo bolt and two washers that match the caliper. OR V-rod caliper 44732-06a and banjo bolt 41752-06a. I think from memory that the floating rotor was needed for this setup though to prevent brake squeel. I was advised both setups may require braided lines to shorten up the required lever movement with the stock master cylinder that came on the EFI sporties.
Walka (VPW) has some aftermarket calipers. He also knows a lot about sporties and can probably source anything you need. I'm just waiting for more funds post xmas spending to get some upgraded brakes for my 99 sporty.
