If you really wanted the best brakes possible, you'd be on a Ducati and not a Harley. I still say that griping about lack of brake feel on a Harley is akin to bitching about sloppy steering on a GMC dually, or complaining that your Ferrari 458 won't pull a 10,000 trailer...


Fact is, HD needs to be aware of the cost/benefit on their bikes, and spending $X amount per unit to fit better brakes when probably 90% of their customers wouldn't notice or couldn't care doesn't make any financial sense.


Another guess here is that probably 90% of the people riding HDs don't even use 50 or 60% of the current braking capacity of their bikes. If I wanted to go fast, and corner hard, and brake enough to hoist my back tire, I'd have kept my Honda.


So like I said earlier, if you want to go through the time, trouble, and expense of fitting dual disks, have at it. If you enjoy your bike more because of it, it was worth it. And if it saves you from ***-ending a parked truck, it's even more worth it.

 

Are stock Harley brakes adequate?
If they weren't, wouldn't they be illegal? Aren't there safety standards?
Are two disks up front better then one? Well of course they are.
Does anyone have any real world experience to back this up? Well of course they do, and they expressed it.
What's the best way to make the stock brakes better? Is it worth it? Should you do it? Those are questions for a different thread. Someone should start one.

 

This thread is funny as hell....

 

You are right but, it's not that much of an expense honestly.

In my case. On the sportster i went overboard with steel lines and such and i am now scared of my front brakes now. If i had of kept it simple. It probably would have been about $300 considering i ebayed a lot and only paid 150 for the 1200r slider. The calipers i got came with lines. I just went berserk on the brakes overall. If i had to guess the total expenses. ~$900 total on the front end. Again... i went way overboard.. still have no idea what came over me.


if you noticed errors on the brake lines of the sporty, i caught and fixed them. i just used that picture because it was on hand

On the wide glide. Im at $350-400 for the singe disk upgrade that provided some improvement... but i still want more. It's not good enough. So im going 21x3.5, dual ness 15s, lyndall z+, and dual stainless. I could have kept it cheap (~$600)but, f**k it. i'm not 21, broke, and in college on the ramen diet. gotta enjoy the stuff i'm doing

If after all this, i still dont have the feel i like, the bike is get traded in on a fxdls or just plain sold. Ive really tried with this thing. I swear i have. Sporty is just more fun, handles better, and now stops like it hit a brick wall. dyna just coasts even when i have a fist full of brakes, long sloppy stop.... the narrow wheel/stock tire may have a lot to do with this..... i don't have the ***** to grab a fist full on my sportster now, it's seriously scary braking power.

 

OK that picture on the Right...well, it's making me "sea sick"

 

If some here are defining "better brakes" as the same stopping power with less lever effort, then dual disks, or the larger Ness rotors will probably accomplish that.

Here's another way, but this way has the added advantage of not adding any weight to the bike, plus it will give you a more manly handshake:

 

that's just the thing. they helps and it's definitely noticeable. but not as crisp and abrupt as i want.

may be fine for most. TinCupChalice will be giving a fresh perspective on the single ness rotor pretty soon. and the there this guy... well, if he hasn't flipped his bike yet.



https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-...l#post14926535

 

sorry. kinda all i had here

 

So this statement is a bit confusing. Are you agreeing with us that Harley doesn't install the best brakes possible for it's bikes (if that's the case then we should all be wanting to improve them)? Or are you saying that since it's a Harley we shouldn't want, or expect, the best brakes possible?

You see, we aren't saying that anyone should expect SuperSport braking performance from a bike that weighs nearly twice as much, but we are saying that as riders we should want to have the best possible brakes on our bike.

I still find it rather amusing that riders would never argue the "adequateness" of the stock Harley engine, exhaust, or intake, in response to questions about making those modifications. I have never seen someone, on any HD forum, ever say "Why would you change the exhaust? It is perfectly adequate for riding on the street." "It's not like we are riding race bikes." Instead you get all these threads on the torque curves provided by certain exhaust systems, or how much air a particular intake will provide, or the HP increase in a set of aftermarket cams. Non of which makes any difference in improving the safety of the bike, and non of which is ever needed in real world riding. But bring up brakes and the lack of Harley braking quality and that's exactly what you get. "If you really wanted great brakes you wouldn't be riding a Harley." "The stock brakes do an adequate job, you don't need anything better in real world situations." etc.

 

Neither. If you read some of the brake testing results included in this thread, you'd realize that some Harleys (even single disc) delivered shorter braking distances than some Ducatis.