As always, good advice Chopa.
At moderate speeds like 60 ks I have tried locking up the front of my 05 fatboy boy just for practice but have never been able to do it so I reckon it's not the best. Under hard braking it also starts tracking poorly - that is it gets a bit unstable so I back off. Maybe that's why I've never locked it up. Comments? Maybe time to get someone to take a look at it.
If you can fit twin discs without too much hassle, go for it, otherwise use the best pad/disc combo you can. I would hate to remove a disc from my twin disc FXDX ! The Fatbob dual disc setup is damn good. Great feel, but they do have a nice fat tyre too.
This is interesting:
www.tcbbrakesystems.com/thunder-press-aug-2012-article.html
www.tcbbrakesystems.com/index.html
Second hand twin disc sliders are about $100 a pair in good nick, stay with the 41 mm units as the big tourers also use them so they are plenty strong enough and parts are easy to get from others swapping to chrome stuff. Second hand R.H. Harley brake calipers are about $80-100 in good nick. Check your front wheel to see if it will take twin discs as some do and just have a cover or chome bolts in there. Put some intiminators in when you have the forks off (its an easy job) which will improve the handling a lot and reduce the brake dive a lot as well. If its got a 21 inch front then my advice is to sell it and fit a 19, 17 or 16 for better braking and handling, there are good second hand ones around, so swapping over is not that expensive if you sell the old one. The Intiminators will lift the front just a bit and keep the same ride height as before with the slightly smaller diameter front wheel. The 16's and 19's have close to the same rolling diameter (the 16 inch front wheel works well, the 17's have a bigger chioce of tyres), just do a check on an online tyre spec site it will tell you to the mm what the diameter is. You will need twin dics brake lines and be careful as some are for ABS fitted bikes, the hose is much longer going to the ABS unit. New or good second hand front discs from a tourer will fit, as will the master cylinder. Check if the disc is a 11.5 or a 11.8. Wilwood make good brake discs for Harleys if you want new. The 11.8's are more for the Harley Brembo calipers and the 11.5's are more for the standard Harley calipers. Don't take too much notice of bikes flipping with twin discs being fitted, if it was that bad they'd be banned which is not the case. I can't figure out why someone hasn't sued Harley for selling such a heavy bike with poor brakes and handling, after all they come from the land of the lawyers. Do a few practice stops every now and again, then you will know what to do when you have to panic stop without having time to think. Twin discs and Intiminators will have you thinking your riding a different bike and enjoying your riding a lot more. I've done it and if I bought another Harley with a single disc front end, it would be the first thing I would do to it before even thinking of anything else, even if it was a new bike.
The cheap easy option is to just fit Lyndall pads.
(edit in)It's not expensive to put twin disc's on and not that hard to do. Personally I'd go twin disc if you like speed. All the Jap, European, British and anyone else who builds bikes use them on anything that can go fast. Stay with a single disc if looks and slow are for you. From some of the previous posts I'd be careful about who is in front or behind in a group of bikes, if they are going to flip a Harley or don't have the ability to stop it in time it could be a problem. Could end up dodging a flipping bike or being run over from behind by someone who doesn't have the ability to stop very well. It gives me scary pictures like a bunch of push bikes having a crash but at higher speed and with heavier machinery.
I went the Lyndal pads and braided lines and very happy.
