very mushy front brake

[aussixs11G]

front brakes.....stoppers

mate - get the calipers off, strip them down and replace rubbers and plungers and re-assemble. Buy braided lines (all the way to the master cylinder [not to the splitter - get rid of that]) trash the stock master cylinder and replace with one off a late model machine - I used the unit off a '97 Kawasaki ZXR 750 - Oh, re-kit this unit before fitting - this unit has a smaller plunger diameter - this results in greater pressure at the caliper for the same effort at the lever (I think) anyway this fix works a treat - I have occasionally locked up the front wheel (not on purpose)

[Dan Hodges]

Master Cylinders

mate - get the calipers off, strip them down and replace rubbers and plungers and re-assemble. Buy braided lines (all the way to the master cylinder [not to the splitter - get rid of that]) trash the stock master cylinder and replace with one off a late model machine - I used the unit off a '97 Kawasaki ZXR 750 - Oh, re-kit this unit before fitting - this unit has a smaller plunger diameter - this results in greater pressure at the caliper for the same effort at the lever (I think) anyway this fix works a treat - I have occasionally locked up the front wheel (not on purpose)

If your stock MC is wore out/junk get something else, it it's servicable put a Yamaha OEM rebuild kit in it and it's good to go. The stock XS MC has an 11/16 bore (.6875) and the V-Max has 5/8 (.625) and either will work. A MC with a smaller bore isn't necessarily better but it will develop more pressure for a given amount of stroke however the volumn of fluid needed by the calipers is based on the size of the pistons in the calipers, ie, their internal volumn and of course the length of the lines and the lever ratio of the MC itself dictates the size of the MC bore. What is the diameter of the caliper pistons in the ZXR-750 Kaw? What is the size of the rotors and what is the size of the brake pads? Brakes are a system and before you change a major portion of that system you better know to what effect the change will have on the system before you change it. All motorcycle MC's do not have the same lever ratio nor do cars. You can also use the MC from an early FJR (mirrows on handlebars) and non abs but why if yours is in good shape? The front MC from a late model non ABS FJR-1300 is from an engineering/mechanical standpoint, no better or no worse than that of a 1978 Yamaha or whatever as the rubber internals are of the same material and the cylinder itself is of the same type of aluminum but the bores and lever ratio varied/varies with application. There are new friction materials available that you can get the pads in however you must consider the rotor material when you go to a more aggressive pad material. The XS could benefit from a double piston caliper like most bikes now have. In this, the pistons are smaller because there are two pistons and they don't have the tendancy to stick like the large double ones do. In the early 90's the V-Max got R-1 derived double piston front brakes vs the single design the original ones had but the stopping distances remained the same. Just because a MC is from a 97 or 07 doesn't mean it will function any better than one from an 87 or whatever. I have an old MC from my old 85 FJ-1100 and it's made of the same internal material as the XS, ditto my V-Max. Are the threads on the Kawasaki mirrows left handed or right handed?

[aussixs11G]

mirror threads

the 'bar clamp is a 2 piece affair and the mirror screwed in without a problem

[Dan Hodges]

the 'bar clamp is a 2 piece affair and the mirror screwed in without a problem

Are you using mirrows with L/H threads or R/H threads? Are you using stock mirrows or something else? What about the brake light switch? If you put Standard handle bars on a Special the stock Special MC then fits the Standard bars on a weird angle and if you want it perfect you must then use the Standard MC as I had to do to get the correct angle of the MC cylinder on the handlebars. You can use a V-Max MC which has a 5/8 bore (.625/15.87mm) but with that combo you still have to deal with the brake light switch situation and at the end of the day after changing all this stuff you've accomplished nothing because a perfectly good OEM MC will work as good or better as one of the others and it won't be jury rigged. Actually, any front type MC that will phyiscally bolt on to the handlebar will work however unless it is superior in design/function to the stock piece it doesn't make sense to change all of the aforementioned just for the sake of change. The junk yards are full of late model metric bike MC's that can be bought for less money than what it cost to purchase a MC rebuild kit from Yamaha (a lot less) and so it goes, you get what you pay for.

[aussixs11G]

MC/mirrors

Mate
I did use the standard mirrors for some years with that Kwaka MC but now have gone with something different.
The smaller bore MC is an old fix to give better braking but when swapping MC one would be nuts not to re-kit the new unit.........

still the Kwaka MC but bar end mirrors ...