Hi All, I've recently been going through and over my barn find, stock 1981 FXEF Super Glide from front to rear. The poor thing needed some tlc. Matching numbers and overall a tidy ride. 

Just r & r front springs with Progressive plus a seal kit. About to put it all back together and realised that the fr left caliper has a crack in the outer body, near where the mounting bolts fit through. Friend of mine who knows shovels really well said to ditch them. It'll be a bad day when/if it fails and locks the front wheel. I'm thinking he's right. 

So I just bought a pair of Brembo's from a 2005 BMW R1200GS (fleabay). I intend on grinding off the BMW lettering and then polishing them up. From researching I understand that fitment should be no worries re clearance as I have alloy rims. 

Apart from the obvious of getting an offset plate made up, what else should I be taking care of?  Has anyone else done similar? 

I also realise that I'll now be dealing with metric fittings with this new addition. Probably run new braided lines to the T junction with a simple adaptor. 

Thanks in advance for any help someone can offer. And Happy Aussie Day to everyone. 

 

Dave, thanks mate. The journey continues and no doubt won't stop for some time (maintaining and keeping on top of stuff).

Paul, that's something I hadn't considered, thanks.
Not sure of the size. The after market replacement master bolted straight up to the stock line. Are you familiar with this one? 

 

I was reffering to the piston in the master cyclinder, it can alter the required lever pressure to alter the hydrolic pressure pushing the pads against the discs

I'm not sure of piston size, rate etc. Guess I'll wing it and wait till all is finished.

If the master doesn't cut it I may have to consider the oem master that came with the BMW calipers, that's if I can get one.
That will also involve handle bar/master sizing which of course won't fit maybe, I'm guessing.

Plus it won't cost me much, yeah right.

Anyway I'll keep focused and stay the journey and look forward to pulling up on a dime.

You will find that there only a few companies that make brake components and sell them off to many factories , a little like plasma screens for TV

Hey guys, so the Brembo's arrived today. Man I was like a kid with a new toy. I ripped open the box and then anxiously did a dry run to get some idea of what the brackets should look like.
My good mood turned sour very quickly when I realised that the bloody Brembo's are too thick (on the inside). They hit the alloy spokes. I measured them and they are about 10mm too wide on the inside.

Hoping now that someone can give me a heads up as to what brand, model bike has calipers that will fit the ol' FXEF and have the 30mm maximum body depth on the inside.
Shit, I should've done that first I guess.
They don't have to come off a large bike as I want the replacement calipers to look right, size wise.

Anyone wanna buy some expensive ear rings/door stops/book ends??

PM calipers are made to fit most Harleys.

Dave, where is the speedo drive, asking this as it is on left side on my softail and does look crap with the cable laying across the Pm caliper.

kiwidave,
Do you have a wide glide front end? A mate of mine measured some older style Tokico calipers and said they are 40mm from the centre to the inside edge. I figure they would fit on a W/G but not mine (narrow glide). The 70's and early 80's FX and FXEF came with a sportser front end = narrow. Your fitment looks very tidy, well done.

bobby bob,
Those PM are nice but also too pricey. I'd have to get 2.
Also their website doesn't confirm calipers for 1980's.

Hey Dave,
Thanks for that info, much appreciated.
I just checked their site and they only reference shovels with a narrow glide but only with wire wheels. Mine has alloy rims so I guess I strike out there.
They maybe do cater for alloy rims but at this stage I might take a look at your suggestion re ZZR and GSXR calipers. My key criteria is no wider than 30mm from the centre to the inside edge.
Don't realy want to remove the alloy rims.

The missus was asking wtf am I doing. How much more $'s to see it done. I told her we've bought a project that will require funds, more so than not, to keep it in good nick and roadworthy. Mind you she hasn't seen half the gear moved from the car straight into the garage.

I had old brembo like you see on some older Ducati & olderr BMW but i did mine to my shovel back in the 80's & to this day they still work fine, think i used Evo master but they were only two piston Brembo, the stock twin disc are one piston i think n pull over. that old shovel of mine has a few mods & has been runing mid 11 second quarter mile, for the past ???? years n new owner still riding he has done a few runs up QLD and down to Tassie rides with new EFI big twins and gets same fuel economy but blows them off. those Brembo's still stopping it. mates used show pony PM and the pistons went rusty long ago, so Brembo would have to be the best. just like Kiwi mentioned will have to match master as you got four pots to fill, you just don't want the master to run out of fluid before it fills the pots , also have to check what bore you need in master to match the calipers. done right will last lifetime i'd say! good luck Just thought i would mention, looks like you have a J Brake rear brake set up, must be good as my old shovel has one too and been working fine for years.

 

krash,
Thanks for your comments. I hear what you're saying about matching master and pots along with bore and calipers.
Rear brake is a new GMA caliper. Seems to work well.

Dave,
Tidy looking ride, I like the paint job. Haven't seen that colour combo before nor the tank decal. Harrison seems exxy as well. Guess you get what you pay for.

Today I took the cracked caliper over to an indy that helped sort out some electrical gremlins, he's got shovel flowing through his old veins.
I showed him the crack in the LHS caliper and asked him his thoughts on a repair job. He said that it hasn't gone too far and that he'll do a weld repair for me (about $70).
If it turns out ok then I'll just shove the oem calipers back on and get some riding done.
I didn't foresee nor expect to have this caliper dimension issue with doing an upgrade.

Down the track i'd like to have the front end looking chunky with a wide glide set up. The old Sportster front end looks somewhat skinny on it in my opinion.
Then i'll revisit the brake upgrade.

Seems a shame to move on from these Brembo's as their's nothing wrong with them.

Kiwi Dave, looks like Evo was it a 4 speed Evo or Evo transplanred into a Shovel. looks good!

Justincase That's right mate GMA! i had a few different rear brake calipers as the old rattler that came new was not that hot, i had a alloy Locheed racing mounted upside down befor the GMA but GMA lot better. i had a wideglide frontend with FLH fork tubes as 4" shorter had rear lowered too & 21" spoke front wheel willy G disc rear wheel think centerline ( good wheel )

So I'm thinking I should be thinking outside the box.
What if I was to put in a spacer disc thick enough to get the brake disc just a few mill away from the rim spokes.
It would have to be around 10 - 12mm thick. Surely something like that has been done before. Would that be too thick I wonder??

JustinCase, well hard call as i don't have the bike in front of me & the calipers you want to mount, but if you are useing the original FX shovel Mag's, you could find a machinist with lath that has a chuck big enough to fit wheel in an machine some off mag spokes for clearance.