I think that pad material is probably one of the most important things you can do for your brakes. People don't understand what's really going on. There was a good article in Grassroots Motorsports a few months ago. On our bikes, the front tire is what stops the bike. If you have enough brake to lock up the front wheel, then that's all you need and any more is wasted. If you want more braking and can lock up your wheel now, then get a bigger or stickier front tire.

Now, the 2nd or so stop, that's a little different. After the first stop, all that kinetic energy you had is changed into heat. That heat soaks into the rotor, mostly. Bigger rotors can hold more heat before they get to the "too hot" point. Better cooling (air flow on a car, NO rotor covers on a bike) means longer time until that "too hot" point. That "too hot" point depends on the pad material. Pads are a tradeoff. Good low temp stopping (first stop of the day) can usually mean poor high temp stopping. As a fer instance, on my Esprit Turbo, with the factory (Toyota) brake pads, I had 3 stops from 100 to say, 5 MPH. On that fourth try, it was like, well, I'd kinda like to be slowing down now, but no matter how hard I press, nothing is happening. The rotors had soaked up all the heat and were at a temp transferred to the pads that they were no longer working. Changing the pads only to EBC Yellowstuff has meant that I can now stop from 100 on that 4th and subsequent tries. The first stop of the day, though, takes a bit more effort as the brakes come up to temperature, and there is more dust than the OEM ones. I'll take the tradeoff for the ability to slow the car down. We don't (most of us, I think) track our Evo dressers, so I don't think heat management is really the issue, but twin rotors would certainly help that, as it instantly doubles the steel to hold heat and you can now dump 2x the heat into the system before heat soaking the pads.

So, Pete, when you say you need better brakes, what problems are you experiencing now? Heat soak (2nd or 10th high speed stop and no brakes), too much effort at the lever for a given braking effect, not able to lock up the front wheel, not slowing down enough, what? Each issue has a different solution, and 6 pot calipers is pretty low in fixing any of them. Not that 6 pot calipers aren't cool and all, it just that they won't get your bike stopped any faster.

 

Very informative post Dr. H.
My problem is a total lack of braking power. Bling factor is lowest on my list, I believe the coolest looking pieces are the ones where form follows function. I can't even come close to locking the front. The rear brake (for the first time in my motorcycling career of 15 years) actually does a better job stopping the bike than the front. I should try a new rotor and Lyndall pads and see where that gets me beforeI step up to 6 pot calipers...

 

Could also be a frozen caliper. Grab the caliper with your and and see if you can wiggle it in/out, pushing the piston back in it. It should travel on the pins. Then work the lever until the piston is back out where it was.

I'd try rebuilding the current system with a kit from HD for the caliper and the MC, new fluids of whatever type your bike takes, bleed the system properly (can be a biatch), OEM pads, scuff the rotors with some fine sand paper.