New rear brake system

[50gary]

500 x 375 Sv/Katana/Bandit600 rear claiper with my welded and fabbed hanger bracket an spacer. Torque rodis chromoly .75"x .065" with .75" offset 'S' bend This bike also has solidi aluminum motormounts. Next will USD R1 forks/wheel/brakes.
Cheers, 50gary

[Yamaniac]

link isn't quite right, Gary. not working

[pggg]

[50gary]

Yeah, that's it. pggg, thanks for the kind help. Caliper not "clapier" and solid not "solidi"sorry for the mis-spelled word(s). my mistake.
The hanger and 1.5" spacer are aluminum TIG welded and painted OD greeen. Weighs half of the original and works great (it's a dual pistion) Piture shown with exhaust removed for clairity. The brake line is from the SV Suzuki and is about 2" too long I'll change that his winter for a Galfer S.S
Cheers, 50gary

[Yamaniac]

What years of bandit caliper should we be looking for, if attempting to copy you? Is that the stock xs disc (looks to be)?
Have you determined the total weight savings for this mod over stock, or is it more for better whoa power?

great job. thanks for sharing.
Theron

[50gary]

The rotor is sadly stock, I have plans to cross-drill it and pretty it up some. The weight savings are dramatic, stock XS11 is 5# 3oz the new combo is only 3# 4oz. this is unsprung weight and mounted for a lower CG The caliper is the same as theone on my brother's SVS650 2003, I think any in that range will be the same?
Cheers, 50gary

[pggg]

Yam, all the later model bikes with the underslung type two-pot calipers, have a lot smaller diameter discs than the XS disc, usually around 230mm - 240mm diameter - so the brackets that go with the underslung calipers are always gonna be too short for the XS disc. No problem for experts such as Gary, he just makes his own bracket to fit, to go smaller diameter disc, it's a case of finding something with the XS 80mm x 40mm x 6 stud pattern and with the 64mm hub centre hole, could be damn hard to find.

[pggg]

Here's the one on mine, it's a ZXR caliper with it's original bracket, looks pretty much identical to that SV caliper, you can either bolt them solid like the original XS setup, or have them floating, the ZXR bracket has a needle roller bearing so it swings, but pulls solid against the torsion bar when you hit the brake. This one has the XS master cylinder and an XS front brake hose.

[50gary]

pggg, that's a cool looking brake too, sure looks like the same caliper? The hanger looks like the SV one as well? I thought about using a smaller rotor but desided against it as I said I'll just drill this one. The XS11 is a heavy weight bike and I didn't want to spend money and time only to shoot myself in the foot? Chain drive... nice.
Cheers, 50gary

[50gary]

This is my first custom bike. I had to overcome a problem due to my stubbonrness (Scottish and German so I'm doomed) I removed the electric starter for lightness and moved the foot pegs reaward for balance and control. the kickstar lever then fouled the normal foot brake lever. i was "forced to a cool solution, i made my own "thumb brake" ala Moto GP star Mick Doohan. I had Galfer make a long brake line then ran it up to the reversed mounted R1 master cyclinder and cut the hand lever and welded a 'addle type thumb lever. The aftermarket guys get $400.00 USD for a 'real' one. This one works great and is super trick. BTW, the right side footpeg is folded up in this photo for kick starting, then I fold it down to ride.
Cheers, 50gary

[50gary]

Man, sorry about the spelling in that prior post. That's (among other typos) supposed to be "paddle" type thumb brake lever.
Cheers, 50gary

[Yamaniac]

both of you have some damn nice setups. Gary, that custom is pretty awesome, also. not really my style, but I can definitely appreciate the work you have put into it. That is an xs650 motor, right? And your mufflers, are those auto tailpipes that you have necked down to fit or ??

Not to downplay what you have done with the brakes, but it seems like it should be fairly straight forward and not super difficult (which is good!). The increased availability of the newer calipers and weight savings vs. XS is a definite plus. What kind of cash outlay are you looking at for the different calipers?

I personally like the bigger discs... I don't really like the weight of them, but don't want to spend $600 to drop 6 or 9 pounds either. Making a bracket seems like the way to go unless you completely change the wheel or find a different disc that'll work.

Guess I need to get to know a good machine shop in my area. Right now I am hand tool city, with a motorcycle room that can barely be called that....no electric, no welder, or really any elec fab tools at all... others would call it a medium sized shed, but hey, it holds three bikes and a mower, so at least they are covered!

again, great job to both of you and thanks for taking the time to explain in some detail.

Theron

[50gary]

Actually I consider it a compliment to "make it simple" simple is good. Cheap is also good the SV/Bandit caliper is ebay and only about $30.00 US. the small piece of alu. $5.00 the rod could be mild steel again a couple of dollars. So it was cheap. The welding I can do myself, but that not too bad. i only have hand tools. The axle hole should be done on a mill, shop around and find asmall machine shop with a motorcycle parked out front. You can cross drill your stock rotors on a home drill press.
The exhaust on the custom bike is made by me. I had some slugs turned on a lathe for the first part right off the head that's only about 2" long. They fit very close and that way I didn't have to use an exhaust gasket. Then I had some old rusty Mac headers (1,3/4" diameter) for a 650 I cut the curved part out and welded it to the slugs. then I found a race car 2/1 merge collector and welded that on then an up taper to 3.5" then the straight part (that looks like a muffler) then the slash cut "kick-out" It's ceramic coated inside and out. runs cool and is loud, no muffler at all. My brother hates it , I love it. ha. I have a plan for the XS11 exhaust though not as extreme, it's going to be 4/1 upswept right side exit. Probably "stepped" ala Nascar. Starting at 1,5/8" to 1,3/4" merge 4/1 then up to 3.5" but with a shorty muffler on this one. Perhaps a disc type (Super Trapp style)
Cheers, 50gary