I really like my 97 Road King..... Except the front brakes don't come close to being as effective as my newer bikes.

Anyone with experience upgrading to newer style brakes would be appreciated. Newer takeoff Brembos on ebay and such. I see some adapters out there too.

Info, EXPERIENCE and links to mods would be great!

Thanks and ride well!

Jim

 

Lots of threads on this very topic. Search for topics started by:
Schex3x
Hgm
Zimm
Gbrown

The cheapest and quickest way will be to buy expensive 4-pot spotters. I'll leave you to make up the stock list and do the math.
Good luck and happy research.
Tom

 

There are a series of things you can try. Changing pads to an aftermarket brand can give worthwhile improvements, as also will using a braided hose, in place of the stock one (comment applies to both front and rear). They are easy and relatively cheap to do.

After that costs and effort can go up! An aftermarket bolt-on caliper will be simple, but expensive. They way I went (referred to by T&V above) was to change swingarm, rear wheel and hence caliper to later 4-pot spec. All parts can be had, with patience, from Ebay (I live in the UK, but all my s/h stuff comes from US Ebay) at very modest cost.

I am about to upgrade further to the latest H-D Brembos, but they will need larger 300mm rotors than the previous spec I have. I propose using Lyndell composite rotors and pads, which ain't cheap! Choose which rung of the ladder you would like to step onto.

 

Graham is, as usual, spot on. Another option however is to use the 2000-2005 four pot front calipers with adapters which is what I did. The difference is amazing.

 

Where did you get the adapters?
Are they OEM or aftermarket parts?

 

Believe it or not, I found a pair of new take-off sliders available for less than a pair of adapters. Requires a bit more effort to strip and rebuild the forks, but I planned to do that anyway. In fact I've had a good time lately on US Ebay, with new take-off Brembos as well!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bikers-Choic...b2c72a&vxp=mtr

In my case different sliders would have required new powdercoat also.

 

Did you try squeezing the handle harder?

 

Do you have a pic of the completed install?

 

Similar to stock Dunlop tires, if I had better brakes than the OEM HD, I'd have to learn how to ride my bike all over again.

This dog is too old to learn new tricks....